Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Imagination ― Seti at the Intersection of Science, Religion and Culture

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) represents one of the most significant crossroads at which the assumptions and methods of scientific inquiry come into direct contact with—and in many cases conflict with—those of religion. Indeed, at the core of SETI is the same question that motivates many interested in religion: What is the place of humanity in the universe? Both scientists involved with SETI (and in other areas) and those interested in and dedicated to some religious traditions are engaged in contemplating these types of questions, even if their respective approaches and answers differ significantly. This book explores this intersection with a focus on three core points: 1) the relationship between science and religion as it is expressed within the framework of SETI research, 2) the underlying assumptions, many of which are tacitly based upon cultural values common in American society, that have shaped the ways in which SETI researchers have conceptualized the nature of their endeavor and represented ideas about the potential influence contact might have on human civilization, and 3) what sort of empirical evidence we might be able to access as a way of thinking about the social impact that contact with alien intelligence might have for humanity, from both religious and cultural perspectives. The book developed as a result of a course the author teaches at the University of Texas at Austin: Religion, Science, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Dr. John W. Traphagan is a Professor of Religious Studies and Centennial Commission in the Liberal Arts Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Traphagan holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh, an MAR in social and religious ethics from Yale University, and a BA in political science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Dr. Traphagan’s research interests revolve around the intersection between culture and science and have explored issues such as the cultural construction of illness in Japan, concepts of autonomy in biomedical ethics, and the relationship between culture, religion and science in the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence. He has published numerous articles and chapters in anthropology, medical and religious studies journals and books and is the author of Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan (SUNY Press, 2000); The Practice of Concern: Ritual, Well-Being and Aging in Rural Japan (Carolina Academic Press, 2004); and Rethinking Autonomy: A Critique of Principlism in Biomedical Ethics (SUNY 2013).