On the Frontier of Redefining “Intelligent Life” in Settler Science

Abstract

This article posits that the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI) remains grounded in a hierarchical and progressivist worldview that has fueled colonialism throughout history. Building upon the work of Enrique Dussel and Arthur Lovejoy in particular, the author demonstrates how previous earthly explorations produced a covering over of others, rather than a “discovery.” Those working in SETI fields must consider these histories. This article advocates for more engagement with Indigenous studies scholarship to reach a genuine frontier—a metaparadigm shift beyond object-oriented scientific methods, which are a key component of what the author calls “settler science.”

SETI in 2021

“…Further articles in the AICRJ issue examined more broadly the ethics of contact and SETI, and other aspects of astronomy and space exploration. Shorter (2021) discussed the language and analogies used in SETI, emphasizing the need to address the colonial history of science and contact in order to ethically explore space and seek to contact extraterrestrial life. Lempert (2021) explained how efforts which begin with the purest of scientific intentions can serve imperialist interests in a culture of settler colonialism, drawing connections between the Endeavour voyage to study the transit of Venus in 1768, which ultimately led to severe colonial violence, and SETI.…”

A Third University is Possible? A Collaborative Inquiry within Engineering Education

“…Apprehending the post+colonial is to feel the beyond and before of it, 'the not yet and, at times, the not anymore' of Indigenous sovereign land and life," posting in relation to colonialism (p. xxii) [2]. Shorter offers a visualization of this sort of post+ing through "The Great Chain of Being," a sixteenth-through nineteenth-century concept through which "European intellectuals understood our entire system of life as a great chain wherein power and intelligence extended from the highest point (God), down to the most lifeless substances, rocks" (p. 30) [28]; see Figure 1. In it, the triangle "represents how settlers like to imagine Native people: behind them in terms of civilization, below them in terms of societal advancement, or, in the rare instances that assume contemporaneity, perhaps above settlers in terms of not being tainted by capitalism or materialism," (p. 31) where the posts+ can give insight toward the degree to which the triangle and y-axis expand or contract through re-entrenchment or dissolution of colonialism as an assembled set of technologies and the infrastructures maintaining those technologies.…”