Is life what we make of it?

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2011

Astronomers are now able to detect planets orbiting stars other than the Sun where life may exist, and living generations could see the signatures of extra-terrestrial life being detected. Should it turn out that we are not alone in the Universe, it will fundamentally affect how humanity understands itself—and we need to be prepared for the consequences. A Discussion Meeting held at the Royal Society in London, 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, on 25–26 January 2010, addressed not only the scientific but also the societal agenda, with presentations covering a large diversity of topics.

Futures , 2023

Inspired by past efforts to delineate potential future reactions to a discovery of extraterrestrial life, this work draws on the humanities literature of monster studies and monster theory to conceptualize the overall activity of the search for extraterrestrial life as a monstrous endeavor. This work highlights four interlinked aspects that appear to signify its potentially monstrous character: its hybridity as a field of inquiry, its conduct under conditions of severe uncertainty, its employment of abduction and anticipation, and its aim of producing knowledge about novel and ontologically liminal phenomena. An operationalization of the monster as a heuristic is being employed to explore ex ante the potential public reactions to a monstrous future discovery of extraterrestrial life and to suggest a coping strategy to handle those reactions. The suggested strategy is monster assimilation, which aims at adapting both the monster and the cultural categories against which it is evaluated. Recognizing the importance of explicating cultural assumptions to enable this adaptation of cultural categories, this work proposes that enhancing "futures literacy" in the science, policy, and society nexus across diverse cultures might eventually prove critical in enabling the easier assimilation of a monstrous future discovery of extraterrestrial life at an earlier stage.

Acta Astronautica, 2008

Current searches for evidence of extraterrestrial (ET) life are accomplished in a number of distinctly different ways. The various searches can be viewed in three general categories: (1) 'SETI' searches for messages from extraterrestrial civilizations, (2) exploration for extrasolar or habitable planets, and (3) searches and research within the solar system (e.g., planetary missions, meteorites, cosmochemistry). Each search-type occurs in different locations, uses different scientific instruments and methods, and seeks different types of evidence and data. Moreover, the meaning and implications of a 'discovery' in each of the categories are different, as are the policy, legal and societal ramifications. In considering how to manage future communications about the discovery of extraterrestrial life, it will be important to understand these distinctions, anticipate relevant concerns and issues, and be prepared to explain them clearly to the public.

2009

"The search for and discovery of extraterrestrial life, especially an independent origin of life, raise interesting philosophical issues (most or all of which can be connected to important practical issues), in at least three interrelated areas: (1) epistemology, (2) value theory (especially ethics), and (3) worldviews. This chapter samples of a variety of views in these areas, touching slightly on some policy and theological connections, both of which are covered more extensively elsewhere in this volume. The first section will explore epistemological areas such as (a) dealing with the limitation of knowing only one kind of biology, (b) challenges of discerning an independent origin of life, and (c) challenges for assessing the biological status of a region or entire planet. The ethical considerations of the second section will explore (a) the role of an independent origin of life vs. interplanetary transport, (b) ethical views ranging from anthropocentric to cosmological, and (c) potential policy implications. The third section will touch briefly on basic worldviews that revolve around (a) randomness and chance (an “accidental” universe), (b) purpose and meaning (a deliberate universe), and (c) a “bootstrapped” universe in which meaning and purpose emerge in the universe through valuing cultural beings (a “cultural cosmos”)."

2013

Today, human beings are venturing into deep space. As questioning beings who continuously seek to transcend ourselves, and as the scientific quest for extraterrestrials continues, we are prompted to philosophise about extraterrestrials in the event of detection. The search for extraterrestrials is also a search for ourselves. What is it to be human? This question is highlighted in arguments for and against this quest and in the discussion about communication with extraterrestrials. Constraints and convergence in our evolutionary context and a galaxy with so many similarities make a too different alien science unlikely. Aliens cannot be too alien. Strict protocols are in place before sightings can be confirmed. Some results seem very promising, others not. The detection of cosmic companions in our galaxy will bring humans together like never before.

2013

In this article we reflect on the motives underlying the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI) with a view to show that far from turning away from Humanity it is profoundly rooted in human aspirations. We suggest that those motives derive their driving force from the fact that they combine two powerful aspirations of Humanity. On the one hand, there is the transcendental motive that drives history of science, the human enterprise that claims to escape any communitarian closure of horizon and brings our humanity to transcend itself toward the other, which was formerly referred to under the title Universal Reason. On the other hand, there is the anthropological motive by virtue of which the human being tends to project on the other and even in inanimate nature a double of himself. The mixture of both motives is deemed responsible for a remarkable bias in the current understanding of the SETI program. Despite the fact that such a program might well be aimed at any biological formation which could be arbitrarily different from all known forms, it is focused instead on a very special kind of being: beings that possess both the natural property of the type of mentality we identify with: intelligence, and the ideal one of being possible co-subjects for a Science of Nature. 1. Mixed motives for a scientific program One may have legitimate grounds for puzzlement about SETI. SETI is the acronym of a research program to detect optical or radio signals as a communication with intelligent beings inhabiting the planets of stars other than our Sun. That research has been unsuccessful to date despite the progress already made in two areas. On one hand, progress has been made in the astronomical identification of exoplanets located in the habitable zone of their stars. The observatory satellite Kepler dedicated to the hunt for exoplanets has allowed identification of over a thousand candidates for the status of telluric exoplanets awaiting confirmation from telescopic observation on Earth. On the other hand, progress has been made in the detection of trace physicochemical components of life in space (biosignatures). The analysis of the light spectrum of exoplanets orbiting their star (so far only uninhabitable planets more like a hot gaseous Jupiter than like Earth) has made possible the determination of the chemical composition of the atmosphere of a few of those exoplanets, revealing the

How will humanity react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life?Speculation on this topic abounds, but empirical research is practically non-existent. We report the results of three empirical studies assessing psychological reactions to the discovery of extraterrestrial life using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software. We examined language use in media coverage of past discovery announcements of this nature, with a focus on extraterrestrial microbial life (Pilot Study). A large online sample (N = 501) was asked to write about their own and humanity’s reaction to a hypothetical announcement of such a discovery (Study 1), and an independent, large online sample (N = 256) was asked to read and respond to a newspaper story about the claim that fossilized extraterrestrial life had been found in a meteorite of Martian origin (Study 2). Across these studies, we found that reactions were significantly more positive than negative, and more reward vs. risk oriented. A mini-meta-analysis revealed large overall effect sizes (positive vs. negative affect language: g = .98; reward vs. risk language: g = .81). We also found that people’s forecasts of their own reactions showed a greater positivity bias than their forecasts of humanity’s reactions (Study 1), and that responses to reading an actual announcement of the discovery of extraterrestrial life showed a greater positivity bias than responses to reading an actual announcement of the creation of man-made synthetic life (Study 2). Taken together, this work suggests that our reactions to a future confirmed discovery of microbial extraterrestrial life are likely to be fairly positive.

Nature, 2021

Frontiers in psychology, 2017

How will humanity react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life? Speculation on this topic abounds, but empirical research is practically non-existent. We report the results of three empirical studies assessing psychological reactions to the discovery of extraterrestrial life using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) text analysis software. We examined language use in media coverage of past discovery announcements of this nature, with a focus on extraterrestrial microbial life (Pilot Study). A large online sample (= 501) was asked to write about their own and humanity's reaction to a hypothetical announcement of such a discovery (Study 1), and an independent, large online sample (= 256) was asked to read and respond to a newspaper story about the claim that fossilized extraterrestrial microbial life had been found in a meteorite of Martian origin (Study 2). Across these studies, we found that reactions were significantly more positive than negative, and more reward vs...

Aeon, 2017

Suppose we woke up tomorrow to learn that extra-terrestrial life had been discovered. What difference would that make? Set aside the extreme scenarios of popular fiction. The truth will probably be more mundane – not massive spaceships suddenly filling the sky, but instead micro-organisms found deep inside an ice-covered moon, a non-random radio signal from a distant star system, or the ruins of a long-dead alien civilization. What difference might those discoveries make? Would they strengthen or weaken our faith in God, or science, or humanity? Would they force us to re-evaluate the importance of our own lives, values, and projects?