Indigenous Studies Working Group Statement

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Sonya Atalay ◽  
William Lempert ◽  
David Delgado Shorter ◽  
Kim TallBear
Keyword(s):  
Working Group ◽  
Indigenous Studies ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Ethical Concerns ◽  
Short Working

In 2018, the authors were invited to share their perspectives as Indigenous studies scholars to the work of Breakthrough Listen, an organization affiliated with both the Berkeley SETI Research Center (BSRC) and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). This collectively authored statement highlights some of the ethical concerns these authors perceived regarding the history colonialism and the expectations to find “advanced” or “intelligent” extraterrestrial life. A prologue contextualizes the short working group statement and we then provide the unedited original statement in its entirety.

From Interstellar Imperialism to Celestial Wayfinding: Prime Directives and Colonial Time-Knots in SETI

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-70
Author(s):  
William Lempert
Keyword(s):  
Working Group ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Indigenous Studies ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Colonial Time ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Firsthand Experience ◽  
Prime Directive

This article traces parallels between James Cook’s 1768 Endeavour voyage to measure the transit of Venus and current initiatives searching for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). While separated by vast time and space, both are united in their appeal to celestial frontier science in the service of all humanity, and contain discrepancies between their ethical protocols and probable outcomes. Past, present, and future colonial projects are interwoven by drawing on Dipesh Chakrabarty’s “time-knot,” Star Trek’s “prime directive,” and firsthand experience in SETI’s Indigenous studies working group. This analysis cautions against the current trend toward unabated interstellar imperialism and suggests alternative approaches for engaging outer spaces and beings through celestial wayfinding.

An Introduction to Settler Science and the Ethics of Contact

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
David Delgado Shorter ◽  
Kim TallBear
Keyword(s):  
American Indian ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Indigenous Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Indian Culture ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
History Of

Providing the history and significance of the varied collection of articles in this American Indian Culture and Research Journal special issue, coeditors David Shorter and Kim TallBear describe involvement in an Indigenous studies working group formed in conjunction with the Making Contact 2018 workshop hosted by the Berkeley SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research Center. As a whole, “Settler Science, Alien Contact, and Searches for Intelligence” takes a critical eye to frontiers, space exploration, the history of science, and the colonial politics of surveillance technologies.

The Quest for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

2020 ◽  
pp. 290-299
Author(s):  
Hui Chieh Teoh ◽  
Katrina Pui Yee Shak
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
Human Desire ◽  
Substantial Effort

The constant depictions of contact with extraterrestrial life and their constant basic presence in science fiction shows the deep human desire for connection and transcendence with other life forms. In reality, continuous efforts on the search for aliens are being made by renown not-for-profit research organization such as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) since 1984. Over the years, plenty of detected signals were dismissed as noise from transmitters on Earth or orbiting satellites but one – the “Wow!” signal. However, artificial signals from extraterrestrial sources could be the key to detecting extraterrestrial intelligence. Apart from passively searching, some are doing active SETI, or known as METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), where humans create and transmit interstellar messages to aliens instead of waiting for theirs. Substantial effort in many areas – awareness, time, technological advancement, techniques – would be necessary to increase the probability of locating outer space intelligence.

Space, the final frontier: In the scientific pursuit of extraterrestrial life away from Earth

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-379
Author(s):  
Zion Elani
Keyword(s):  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence

For decades we have been searching for an answer to the knotty question, “do aliens exist?.” Other questions in line are: “where are they?,” “are they like us, sophisticated intelligent beings?” or “do they exist in the form of simpler lifeforms?,” “Have they ever visited us?,” “Why haven't we encountered them yet?,” “or have we?” To satiate this curiosity, astrophysicists and astronomers have come up with innumerable theories and ideas, engaged in building facilities and institutes and come up with a planet-wide effort for the search of extraterrestrial intelligence — SETI <mml:math display="inline"> <mml:mo>@</mml:mo> </mml:math> home. This article will take a ride through time, from the first documented idea to look for extraterrestrial beings to the current exploration of this field.

scholarly journals A numerical testbed for hypotheses of extraterrestrial life and intelligence

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.H. Forgan
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Stochastic Nature ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Biological Attributes ◽  
As If

AbstractThe search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been heavily influenced by solutions to the Drake Equation, which returns an integer value for the number of communicating civilizations resident in the Milky Way, and by the Fermi Paradox, glibly stated as: ‘If they are there, where are they?’. Both rely on using average values of key parameters, such as the mean signal lifetime of a communicating civilization. A more accurate answer must take into account the distribution of stellar, planetary and biological attributes in the galaxy, as well as the stochastic nature of evolution itself. This paper outlines a method of Monte Carlo realization that does this, and hence allows an estimation of the distribution of key parameters in SETI, as well as allowing a quantification of their errors (and the level of ignorance therein). Furthermore, it provides a means for competing theories of life and intelligence to be compared quantitatively.

The Signature Of Life

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Helmreich ◽  
Sophia Roosth ◽  
Michele Friedner
Keyword(s):  
Life Sciences ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence

This chapter examines the project of astrobiology and its object, the “signature of life,” by drawing on the work of Hillel Schwartz, particularly his writing on time in Century's End, on duplication in The Culture of the Copy, and on signification in “De-Signing.” Schwartz's work can provide a fresh angle on the doublings, redoublings, definitions, and redefinitions at the heart of astrobiology's quest for extraterrestrial life. His crabwise approach offers provocative paratactical techniques for traversing the networks of association, acknowledged and unacknowledged, that support the concept of the signature of life. The chapter first considers the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), through the optic of Schwartz's writings on copying and his work on noise before discussing astrobiology's notion of the signature of life. It also offers suggestions for thwarting the overreaching of the theoretical impulse in both life sciences and humanities.

scholarly journals The Life in the Universe Series

1998 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 326-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Billingham ◽  
E. DeVore ◽  
D. Milne ◽  
K. O'Sullivan ◽  
C. Stoneburner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Science Education ◽  
Planetary Systems ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Curriculum Project ◽  
Elementary And Middle School ◽  
The Universe

Students, young and old, find the existence of extraterrestrial life one of the most intriguing of all science topics. The theme of searching for life in the universe lends itself naturally to the integration of many scientific disciplines for thematic science education. Based upon the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), the Life in the Universe (LITU) curriculum project at the SETI Institute developed a series of six teachers guides, with ancillary materials, for use in elementary and middle school classrooms, grades 3 through 9. Lessons address topics such as the formation of planetary systems, the origin and nature of life, the rise of intelligence and culture, spectroscopy, scales of distance and size, communication and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Each guide is structured to present a challenge as the students work through the lessons. The six LITU teachers guides may be used individually or as a multi-grade curriculum for a school.

On the plurality of inhabited worlds: a brief history of extraterrestrialism

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Brake
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Real World ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Extraterrestrial Intelligence ◽  
The Real ◽  
History Of ◽  
Intelligence Science

This paper delineates the cultural evolution of the ancient idea of a plurality of inhabited worlds, and traces its development through to contemporary extraterrestrialism, with its foundation in the physical determinism of cosmology, and its attendant myths of alien contact drawn from examples of British film and fiction. We shall see that, in the evolving debate of the existence of extraterrestrial life and intelligence, science and science fiction have benefited from an increasingly symbiotic relationship. Modern extraterrestrialism has influenced both the scientific searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and become one of the most pervasive cultural myths of the 20th century. Not only has pluralism found a voice in fiction through the alien, but fiction has also inspired science to broach questions in the real world.

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