To say that art would be irrelevant to aliens is kind of preposterous - we don't know either way. I love Michio and think he is brilliant, but good lord scientists need to stop stepping into the territory of the "lower" human arts. It is entirely possible than alien life would be absolutely teeming with cultural achievement, just as much as it is possible that it would be purely acultural. To say that Shakespeare would be irrelevant to an unknown alien culture is sort of a low estimation of possible alien culture. Cultural products seem only to increase in presence as the intelligence of the species does. Maybe the ONLY reason they would come here is for Shakespeare.