The question is: how broad is the distribution of stuff that a civilization like ours might look for?
If the distribution is extremely broad, then I agree that knowing the distribution isn’t that helpful. (For example, they know the distribution of years at which we might be listening, but it doesn’t help them since there are lots of years.)
In that case they simply need to have the technology to put a sign up that says “We are here.” Adding the little arrow would be a bonus ;-) That should be simple enough by manipulating the frequency of light from selected stars in the galaxy.
Actually trying to make a sign seems out, since it only works from one direction, and I assume that we lack the resolution. Manipulating the frequency of stars is fair game if a small enough manipulation would work, that’s the kind of thing I meant by “disfigure.”
The question is: how broad is the distribution of stuff that a civilization like ours might look for?
If the distribution is extremely broad, then I agree that knowing the distribution isn’t that helpful. (For example, they know the distribution of years at which we might be listening, but it doesn’t help them since there are lots of years.)
Actually trying to make a sign seems out, since it only works from one direction, and I assume that we lack the resolution. Manipulating the frequency of stars is fair game if a small enough manipulation would work, that’s the kind of thing I meant by “disfigure.”