Science, Culture, and SETI

Abstract

We have traveled quite an intellectual distance in this book, moving from the historical process through which modern humans became increasingly aware of and able to imagine the existence and possible nature of extraterrestrial intelligence to some speculation, using an example from the history of anthropology, about what might happen if we do, in fact, make contact. The central thesis of my argument is that the defining feature of how our ability to contemplate ETI has grown and changed over time is tied to the ways in which culture, and the imaginaries associated with changing technological and ideational abilities and themes among humans, is experienced by scientists and the general public.