(I participated in a workshop organized by two anthropologists studying SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence): Claire Webb and Michael Oman-Reagan. The topic called for us to think broadly about the future in relation to SETI. My own contribution revolves around the SETI/METI divide and the question of time.) As Pioneer crafts hurtle off into interstellar space with their plaques celebrating Eurocentric, heteronormative humanity atop a school-child’s depiction of the solar system, people have inevitably thought of better things they could have sent to the stars. These have been the subject of numerous discussions and Kickstarter campaigns. But all of these concerns and alternative plans reflect on one of the chief obstacles to communication with ETI—coevalness. SETI doesn’t take place in coeval timespace; even signals to (or from) nearby systems (e.g., Proxima Centauri) take a few light years to reach there. Their past is our p...
Occasional posts on anthropologically interesting science fiction, anthropological futures and my own future as an anthropologist.