| Description |
1 online resource (xii, 250 pages) |
| Contents |
Tables and Figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence as an Interdisciplinary Effort; Part I -- Does Extraterrestrial Life Exist?; Chapter 1 -- Are We Alone? Estimating the Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Chapter 2 -- Encountering Alternative Intelligences: Cognitive Archaeology and SETI; Chapter 3 -- The Lifetimes of Scientific Civilizations and the Genetic Evolution of the Brain; Chapter 4 -- ""L"" on Earth; Part II -- Reactions to Discovering Life Beyond Earth; Chapter 5 -- Can SETI Fulfill the Value Agenda of Cultural Anthropology? |
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Chapter 6 -- American Attitudes about Life Beyond Earth: Beliefs, Concerns, and the Role of Education and Religion in Shaping Public PerceptionsChapter 7 -- Cultural Beliefs about Extraterrestrials: A Questionnaire Study; Chapter 8 -- The Science and Politics of SETI: How to Succeed in an Era of Make-Believe History and Pseudoscience; Part III -- Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence; Chapter 9 -- Cultural Aspects of Interstellar Communication; Chapter 10 -- Cosmic Storytelling: Primitive Observables as Rosetta Analogies |
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Chapter 11 -- Direct Contact with Extraterrestrials via Computer EmulationChapter 12 -- The Inscrutable Names of God: The Jesuit Missions of New France as a Model for SETI-Related Spiritual Questions; Chapter 13 -- ET Phone Darwin: What Can an Evolutionary Understanding of Animal Communication and Art Contribute to Our Understanding of Methods for Interstellar Communication?; Chapter 14 -- A Journalist Perspective on SETI-Related Message Composition; Notes on Contributors; Index |
| Summary |
Astronomers around the world are pointing their telescopes toward the heavens, searching for signs of intelligent life. If they make contact with an advanced alien civilization, how will humankind respond? In thinking about first contact, the contributors to this volume present new empirical and theoretical research on the societal dimensions of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Archaeologists and astronomers explore the likelihood that extraterrestrial intelligence exists, using scientific insights to estimate such elusive factors as the longevity of technological societie |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Extraterrestrial beings.
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HISTORY -- General.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
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Extraterrestrial beings.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Vakoch, Douglas A., editor.
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Harrison, Albert A., editor.
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| LC no. |
2011014736 |
| ISBN |
9780857452122 |
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0857452126 |
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