EAN: 9783319417448

SCIENCE CULTURE AND THE SEARCH FOR LIFE ON OTHE...

This book explores humanity's thoughts and ideas about extraterrestrial life  paying close
attention to the ways science and culture interact with one another to create a context of
imagination and discovery related to life on other worlds. Despite the recent explosion in our
knowledge of other planets and the seeming era of discovery in which we live  to date we have
found no concrete evidence that we are not alone. Our thinking about life on other worlds has
been and remains the product of a combination of scientific investigation and human imagination
shaped by cultural values--particularly values of exploration and discovery connected to
American society. The rapid growth in our awareness of other worlds makes this a crucial moment
to think about and assess the influence of cultural values on the scientific search for
extraterrestrial life. Here the author considers the junction of science and culture with a
focus on two main themes: (1) the underlying assumptions  many of which are tacitly based upon
cultural values common in American society  that have shaped the ways researchers in
astrobiology and SETI have conceptualized the nature of their endeavor and represented ideas
about the potential influence contact might have on human civilization  and (2) the empirical
evidence we can access as a way of thinking about the social impact that contact with alien
intelligence might have for humanity.

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