INDEX
abductions 2, 125, 128, 130–2
Adamski, G. 131, 136
Adler, A. 64, 188
All Sky Survey 23–4
analogy 2, 3, 5, 8, 52, 63, 85
Anaximander 6
ancient astronauts 134–5
Andrews, G.C. 134, 136
Angel, R. 64
Annis, J. 57
anthropocentrism 13, 16, 113
antimatter 138–9
Argus, Project 25
Aristotle 5–8, 191
Armstrong, L. 13
Arnold, K. 125–6
Arrhenius, S.A. 82, 86
asteroids 92, 104, 112, 114, 116, 165, 169–71
astrology 6, 45
bacteria 76, 84, 103–5, 115, 156
Bade, J. 83
Ball, J.A. 171
Barclay, D. 142–3
Becker, L. 83
Bell, J. 15
Benford, G. 35
Berry, C. 13
Billingham, J. 39, 48, 52, 60
biological determinism 52, 95
biospheres 113–14, 180, 183, 196
Biraud, F. 25
Birch, P. 166, 167–8, 196
black holes 15, 26, 57, 137–8, 168, 173–4
Blackmore, S. 131–2
Blair, D.G. 55
Blue Book, Project 127, 145–7, 150
Blum, H. 12, 150–1
Bond, C. 129, 141–2
Bond, J. 129, 141–2
Borman, F. 196
Bova, B. 61
Bracewell, R.N. 35, 195–6
Brahic, A. 67
Breuer, R. 101, 112
Brin, D. 160, 167–8
brown dwarfs 73
Bruno, G. 8
Burroughs, E.R. 11
Burrows, C. 71
Butler, P. 71
Campbell, B. 30, 70–1
Carter, J. 13
Cassini spacecraft 14, 110
catastrophe theory 65–6
catastrophes 91–3, 153
channelling 133
Charon 67
Chown, M. 138
Clarke, A.C. 24, 29, 152
Clementine probe 101–2
Clinton, W. 104
close encounters 128–36
Cocconi, G. 16, 17, 31
Coghlan, A. 115, 140
colonization 31, 58, 81, 84, 101–2, 112–24,
140–1, 158–77, 183, 192, 195, 197
Columbus, C. 46, 59–60
comets 78, 104, 112
Comte, A. 72
Condon, E.U. 147–9
Condon Report 147–9
context of discovery 2, 3, 42, 85–6
context of justification 2, 3, 85
Copernican principle 56, 60
Copernicus, N. 5, 7, 8, 44
Cook, T. 107
cover-ups 126, 129, 130, 136, 146, 151, 195
Crawford, I.A. 172–3
Crick, F. 82–4
Crosswell, K. 75, 92
Crowe, M.J. 3, 8, 9, 62
Cyclops Project 21–3, 28–9, 37, 48, 52, 60,
184
Däniken, E. von 134–5 Darwin, C. 46–7, 93, 120
Davies, J. 73–4
Davies, P. 85, 98–9, 191
Dawkins, R. 62
Dayton, L. 105
Descartes, R. 50, 60
Dick, S.J. 3, 11, 76, 191
dinosaurs 54, 88, 91–2, 153
Dixon, R. 17–18
dogs 32, 58, 96
dolphins 97, 168, 185
doppler effect 71–2
Drake, F. 4, 10, 16–19, 32–4, 37, 39, 48–66,
139, 166–7, 182, 192; Drake equation
48–60, 157, 164–7
Dutil, Y. 33
Dyson, F.J. 112, 167, 182–5, 195
Einstein, A. 47, 60, 136–7, 188
Eisenhower, D.D. 149
Europa 109–10, 197
falsification 18, 23, 43, 46, 59, 126, 136,
144, 172, 184
faster-than-light travel 137–8,172–3, 188–9
Fermi, E. 4, 152, 157; Fermi’s Paradox 4,
58, 152, 157–81
Ferris, T. 36–7, 59, 195
Feyerabend, P.K. 18, 39, 43–6
Flamm, L. 137
flying saucers 24, 125–6, 144
fossils 103
Frail, D. 74–5
freedom 123
Freudenthal, H. 32–3
Fuller, P. 126, 143–4
Gaia hypothesis 59
galactic community 1, 5, 20, 22, 27, 36–8,
168, 177–8, 191–2, 194
Galileo, G. 7, 8, 44, 46–7, 133–4; Galileo
spacecraft 108–9
garbage hypothesis 81, 165
Gauss, C.F. 10
Global Surveyor 106
Gold, T. 165
Good, T. 130, 150–1
Gorbachev, M. 125
Gott, J.R. 55, 119
Gould, S.J. 96, 99
Grady, M. 105
greenhouse effect 52, 107, 114
Greer, S.M. 128
Gribbin, J. 80, 86–7, 174
Grudge, Project 145–7, 150
Haldane, J. 80
Hart, M.H. 158–60, 166, 170, 172, 176, 196
Hecht, J. 72, 86, 111
Heidmann, J. 33, 62–3, 71, 75, 79, 184
Heine, M. 179
Henbest, N. 26–8
Hewlett, W. 24
Horgan, J. 67
Horrowitz, P. 18, 21, 29, 45–6
Hoyle, F. 82–3, 86, 88, 166
Hubble space telescope 47, 51, 67–8, 71–2,
103
Hughes, D. 66–8
Hynek, A.J. 127, 146–9
Impey, C.D. 97
information technology 41, 120–3, 195, 197
Inquisition 8
IRAS 68, 184
Jakosky, B. 51, 59, 81, 93–4, 105–6, 108
Jansky, K. 14
Jeans, J. 10, 65
Johansson, B. 114
Jones, E. 160–1
Jugaki, J. 184
Jupiter 13, 24, 52, 69–72, 92, 108–11
Kamp, P. van 70 Kant, I. 4, 8, 9, 50, 66
Kardaschev, N.S. 167, 182–5, 195
Kennedy, J.F.K. 1, 119, 134
Kepler, J. 8, 47
Kiernan, V. 103–6, 129
Kindler, G. 141
King, I. 75
Knight, J. 103
Kuhn, T. 6, 39, 44–5, 47, 127, 186
Kuiper, G.P. 67, 168
Laplace, P.S. 50
lasers 2, 27–30
Latham, D. 71
Lavoisier, A.L. 142
Lawson, A. 36
Learned, J.G. 30–1, 184
Lincos 32–3
Littrov, J. 10
logical empiricism 43–5
Lorenz, R. 111
Lovelock, J. 59
Lowell, P. 11, 16, 78–9
Lunar Prospector 102
Lunarians 9–10
Lynn, A. 75
McDonald, G. 89
McDonough, T.R. 126, 185
MacGowan, R.A. 76
McInnis, D. 118
McKinley, J. 104
McMullin, E. 41–2
McNally, D. 56, 89
Marconi, G. 15, 97
Marcy, G. 29, 71
Mariner spacecraft 11, 102, 107
Marochnik, L.S. 57
Mars 3, 7, 11–12, 14–16, 37, 40, 43, 45–6,
52, 54, 73, 76–9, 84–5, 92–4, 102–7,
110, 113–24, 197; Mars Climate Orbiter 122; Mars Global Surveyor 103, 107; Mars Observer Satellite 122;
Mars Polar Lander 106, 122; Martian
fossils 104–5; Martians 5, 9, 10, 15, 107
mathematics 22, 32–3, 35, 48, 186
Matthews, R. 137
Mayor, M. 71
Meaden, T.M. 143–4
Meier, E. 141 men in black 136
Mercury 73, 78, 92, 108, 110
meteors 78, 142, 146
Michaud, M. 192
Miller, S. 80, 110
Mir space station 139–40 Momote, H. 101
Moon 1, 6–8, 10, 27, 46, 56, 78, 87, 101–2,
119, 122–4, 140
Moore, G. 24
Morris, M. 168
Morrison, P. 16–17, 31
Muir, H. 51
Munévar, G. 124, 153–7, 164
Nadis, S. 114
nanobes 105
NASA 3, 13, 15, 21, 23–7, 40, 64, 73–4,
88, 104, 106–7, 110, 120, 122, 138,
184, 195, 197
navigation 6
Neanderthals 56
Neptune 13, 111, 114
Neumann, J. von 141, 160–1
neutrino searches 30–1
neutron stars 57, 65
Newton, I. 47, 154, 190
Oberg, J. 116
Occam’s razor 45–6, 107, 135, 143
Oliver, B.M. 21, 39, 48, 52, 60
O’Neill, G.K. 148
optical signals 27–30
Oparin, A. 80
Ozma, Project 17
Pain, S. 93
Pakvasa, S. 30
panspermia 81–7
Papagiannis, M.D. 112,170–1
paradigms 44–6, 127, 139, 190, 196
Pearce, F. 129
peer hypothesis 173–4, 196
Persinger, M. 132
Pioneer spacecraft 13
planetesimals 50, 67
Plato 6, 179
plausibility 2, 5, 42, 47, 52, 59, 61, 68,
85–6, 93, 112, 142, 169, 177, 184
Popper, K. 39, 43, 60
Poreda, R. 83
Pluto 9, 67, 111, 139, 180
Polyakov, V. 139
Pool, R. 83
probability 41–2, 50, 53
Proxmire, W. 40, 50
Ptolemy, C. 6, 7
Puccetti, R. 90–1, 97–8, 192
pulsars 15, 74–5
Purcell, E. 121
Queloz, D. 71
Randles, J. 126, 132–3, 143–4
Rardin, T.P. 127
Rather, J.D.G. 28
Raup, D. 92
Ravetz, J.R. 178
Reagan, R. 61
red giant 77, 83, 110–11, 119, 169, 190
Reichhardt, T. 51
Rescher, N. 186–7
RFI 27
Rhodes, C. 100
Roswell incident 129–30, 150
Ruzmaikina, T.V. 67 Ryle, M., Sir. 10
Sagan, C. 9, 16, 47–8, 55, 108, 162–3,
166–7, 183, 190
Sardar, Z. 178
Saturn 13, 92, 110–11
Scargle, J.D. 64, 69
Scheffer, L.K. 175–7, 195
Schiaparelli, G. 11
Schneider, J. 89
Schwartz, R.W. 28
science fiction 1, 2, 4, 89–90, 120, 137,
141, 168, 174–5, 194–5
Seife, C. 70
serendipity 124–5
Shapere, D. 81
Sign, Project 145–6, 150
Simmons, W.A. 30
Simpson, G.G. 95–6, 99, 152–3
SLIME 104
Smith, A.E. 115
Snyder, L. 86
solar flares 78
Spielberg, S. 18
Sputnik 16
Stark, A.A. 57
Stephenson, D.G. 179–80, 196
Stephenson, G. 133–4
Stern, S.W.P. 32
Stevens, T. 104
Sudbury crater 83
Sullivan, W.T. 20
Sweeney, J. 126
Targeted Search 23–4
Tarter, J. 21, 53, 61–2, 138
Tata, X. 30
Taylor, J. 155
teleportation 175–7, 195
terraforming 113–15
Tesla, N. 15
Tipler, F.J. 58, 141, 160–7, 170, 172, 195–6
Titan 13, 79, 110–11
Townes, C.H. 28
UFOs 2, 12, 125–51, 194–5, 197; Ufology
45–6
Uhuru satellite 15
Unwin, P. 105
Uranus 9, 111
Urey, H. 80, 110
Venus 52, 73, 77, 107–8, 115–16, 149;
Venusians 9, 15
Veggeberg, S. 113
Verne, J. 1
Verschuur, C.L. 17
Vidal-Madjar, A. 68, 87
Viking spacecraft 12, 45–6, 102–4, 106,
107, 113, 118
virtual reality 121–2, 142–3
Voyager spacecraft 13, 79, 109
Waldheim, K. 13
Walker, G. 70–1
Ward, M. 120
warp drive 137, 172
Weber, T. 12
Welles, O. 16, 151
Wells, H.G. 1
Werthimer, D. 29
Weston, A. 48, 155–6, 169
Wetherill, G. 92
Wickramasinghe, C. 82–3, 86, 166
Wilson, D. 101
Wolszczan, A. 74–5
wormholes 137–8, 141, 172
Yang, S. 70
Zey, M.G. 101, 114, 123
Zoo hypothesis 171–3, 177, 196
Zuckerman, B. 169–70, 175, 196
207
THE SEARCH FOR
EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
Are we alone in the universe? Is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence a waste of resources or a genuine contribution to scientific research? And how should we communicate with other life-forms if we make contact?
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been given fresh impetus in recent years following developments in space science which go beyond speculation. The evidence that many stars are accompanied by planets; the detection of organic material in the circumstellar disks of which planets are created; and claims regarding microfossils on Martian meteorites have all led to many new empirical searches.
Against the background of these dramatic new developments in science, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: a philosophical inquiry critically evaluates claims concerning the status of SETI as a genuine scientific research programme and examines the attempts to establish contact with other intelligent life-forms of the past thirty years. David Lamb also assesses competing theories on the origin of life on Earth, discoveries of ex-solar planets and proposals for space colonies as well as the technical and ethical issues bound up with them. Most importantly, he considers the benefits and drawbacks of communication with new life-forms: how we should communicate and whether we could.
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is an important contribution to a field which until now has not been critically examined by philosophers. David Lamb argues that current searches should continue and that space exploration and SETI are essential aspects of the transformative nature of science.
David Lamb is honorary Reader in Philosophy and Bioethics at the University of Birmingham.
THE SEARCH FOR
EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
A philosophical inquiry
David Lamb
London and New York
First published 2001 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2001 David Lamb
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Lamb, David, 1942–
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence : a philosophical inquiry / David Lamb.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Life on other planets. Title. QB54 .L35 2001
999–dc21
00-062787
ISBN 0-203-99174-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0–415–24341–6 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–24342–4 (pbk)
CONTENTS
List of abbreviations ix
1. Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence 5
2. The scientific status of SETI 39
3. Habitation, life and intelligence 61
4. Life in the solar system: terraforming and colonization 100
7. Contact with advanced supercivilizations 182
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank a number of people for their valuable assistance during the preparation of this book. Dr Doris Schroeder for finding those elusive sources which often turned out to be of immense value, and Dr Susan Easton who patiently read through at least two versions of the manuscript. My interest in SETI as a scientific inquiry emerged in the course of teaching the philoso-phy of science to university students during the 1990s. An earlier account of some of my thoughts on this subject can be found in a paper entitled ‘Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence: SETI and scientific methodology’, first published in D. Ginev and R.S. Cohen (eds) Issues and Images in the Philosophy of Science (1997: 223–51), a revised version of which is republished here with kind permission from Kluwer Academic Publishers. Special thanks to Richard Scothern, who shares my interest in the intelligence of non-human terrestrial beings, and who not only supplied me with valuable computer hardware but managed to bring me to a reasonable level of computer literacy. Thanks to my very good friend, Gonzalo Munévar, for his conversations, wisdom and wit, which I have been fortunate to enjoy over many years. Thank you also to the copy editor, Susan Dunsmore. Needless to say, I claim responsi-bility for any remaining errors.
ABBREVIATIONS
ASEPS astronomical studies of extrasolar planetary systems BUFORA British Unidentified Flying Object Research Association CAT consciousness-assisted technology
CE close encounter
CETI communication with extraterrestrial intelligence DUMAND Deep Underwater Muon and Neutrino Detector EBEs extraterrestrial biological entities
EEG electroencephalogram
ESA European Space Agency
ETA extraterrestrial activity
ETI extraterrestrial intelligence FRESIP frequency of Earth-sized planets FTL faster-than-light
GAO Government Accounting Office
GHz gigahertz
GRBs Gamma-ray bursts
HRMS High Resolution Microwave Survey IFO identified flying object
IRAS infrared astronomical satellite
LGM1 little green man 1
MCSA Multi-Channel Spectrum Analysers
META Megachannel Extraterrestrial Assay
MOP Microwave Observing Project
NASA National Aeronautical and Space Administration NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory
OBEs out of body experiences
RFI radio frequency interference
SCs supercivilizations
SEP solar electric propulsion
SETHI search for extraterrestrial human intelligence SETI search for extraterrestrial intelligence
SF science fiction
ABBREVIATIONS
SLIME subsurface lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystem TAC technology-assisted consciousness
TOPS Towards Other Planetary Systems
UFO unidentified flying object
USAAF United States of America Air Force UV ultraviolet
VR virtual reality
208
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104