The future of SETI: Finite effort or search without end?

Harrison, Albert A.

doi:10.1016/j.futures.2009.04.016

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(29 reference statements)

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“…This extended perspective now brings clearly into view the closely-related multi-disciplinary 'sibling' fields of SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (e.g., Ekers et al 2002;Harrison 2009;Morrison, Billingham & Wolfe 1979;Shklovskii & Sagan 1966;Tarter 2001Tarter , 2004Tarter et al 2010), and Astrobiology, the study of how life might arise and evolve in the Universe (e.g., Chyba & Hand 2005;Domagal-Goldman et al 2016;Mix et al 2006). In this expanded conception, then, we are-here on our "pale blue dot" (Sagan 1995)-simply a single 'element' (in the language of set theory) of what may be a set of intelligent technology-using civilisations, which itself forms a sub-set of intelligent lifeforms in general (i.e., not necessarily technology-using), which itself forms a sub-set of lifeforms in general (i.e., not necessarily intelligent), which arise on places/planets where lifeforms could arise (i.e., habitable planets, in general).…”

Section: Astrobiology Setimentioning

confidence: 97%

Big History in its Cosmic Context

Voros

2019

JBH

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ntroduction and Origin Big History represents an increasingly-visible and-popular approach to the modern scientifically-based understanding of how humankind came to be herewhat David Christian (2018) has notably called an "origin story". It is both a very powerful conceptual model-usually based upon the foundational concept of increasing material-energetic complexity over cosmic timescales as well as a very engaging narrative that helps us to make sense of the entirety of the past, literally, from the beginning of the Universe with the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago to our present-day planet-wide informationbased technological civilisation (e.g.,

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Section: Astrobiology Setimentioning

confidence: 97%

Big History in its Cosmic Context

Voros

2019

JBH

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“…This may be false, as many buildings on Earth, such as skyscapers, serve double duty as office buildings and antenna carriers. Determining the actual communication costs, without the commercial part, is not trivial, and will be relevant for future SETI efforts with maturing technology (Harrison, 2009).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benchmarking information carriers

Hippke

2018

Acta Astronautica

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“…This more active 'stance' could conceivably influence the timing of any potential contact to some degree, although proposals to do so are considered quite controversial, having strongly-argued positions both pro and con [see, e.g., 44], owing to the risky possibility that an intelligent, proximal (e.g., solar neighbourhood) entity might also be belligerent/malevolent-hazardous. The suggestion for SETI to remain in the passive stance to avoid this possibly-existential risk is sometimes referred to in the SETI literature as the prudence of 'refraining from "shouting out into the jungle" before we know what is out there' [e.g., 5, p. 163].…”

Section: Other Possible Additions To the Parameter Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

On a morphology of contact scenario space

Voros

2018

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

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The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility space of scenarios of 'contact'-the discovery of extra-terrestrial life, whether intelligent or not-using a morphological approach utilising seven principal parameters, chosen both for their descriptiveness of the scope of possibilities, as well as for their relevance in examining potential societal impacts arising from different scenarios, including, for example, the proximity of the discovery. Several classes of contact scenario are examined, and existing approaches to the search for extra-terrestrial life and intelligence are situated within the range of possible search strategies and targets illuminated by this particular choice of parameters, as are some examples of contact scenarios from popular culture. The resulting possibility space can also suggest new search strategies and potential targets, one of which is highlighted-that of 'galaxy-scale macro-engineering'. It is hypothesised that an example of this might already be known to us, namely the intriguing galaxy 'Hoag's Object' (PGC54559), and some specific empirical observations are suggested in order to test this hypothesis. Some possible extensions to the parameters used, as well as some preliminary observations about modelling the range and extent of human societal responses to contact, are also made. Highlights: Applies morphological methods to model the possibility space of discovering extra-terrestrial life  Develops a 7-parameter schema 'LSEARCH' for examining possible detection scenarios  Classifies selected historical and proposed searches, and scenarios drawn from popular culture  Proposes a novel target for closer empirical observation: Hoag's Object (PGC54559)  Discusses and outlines possible extensions to the present schema for further future work

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The future of SETI: Finite effort or search without end?

Cited by 6 publications

References 22 publications

Big History in its Cosmic Context

Big History in its Cosmic Context

Benchmarking information carriers

On a morphology of contact scenario space

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