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SETI: A Critical History
Part I Constructing SETI
Introduction
| SETI: A Critical History is a copy of the following
PhD thesis, reproduced here with permission: SETI's Scope How the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Became Disconnected from New Ideas About Extraterrestrials by Mark A. Sheridan (email) Drew University May 2009 © 2009 by Mark A. Sheridan All rights reserved |
| Contents
Cover Dedication Opening quote Some important events in the history of SETI 1. Introduction >> Part I. Constructing SETI 2. SETI science Greenbank3. SETI as popular science ETI portraiture as a rhetorical site Part II. Expanding the ETI discourse 4. The rehabilitation of "mind" 5. The Soviet critique of SETI Differences in attitudes toward ETIs6. The evolutionists' critique of SETI Dueling improbabilities7. The philosophers' critique of SETI 8. Plausible non-humanoid ETIs ETIs with non-humanoid sensorial Part III. Implications of the expanded ETI discourse for SETI 9. Reactions to the "nature"-based critiques Project Cyclops10. Inflection SETI's standing in the scientific community11. Evanescence 1993: annus horribilis12. Conclusion Bibliographical essay Bibliography SETI: Primary and secondary sources |
Because they devised a way to experimentally test the question of whether ETIs exist, SETI's architects claimed to be establishing the ETI discourse on firmly scientific grounds for the first time. By aggressively appropriating the mantle of scientific rigor in this way they perforce established the scientific community as an interested party and exposed their project to peer review. Their approach to institutionalizing SETI proved more hasty than methodical; they appeared more eager to get to their radio telescopes and begin searching than to engage in a dialog that exposed their assumptions and methods to expert critical evaluation. A tension between SETI and the scientific community resulted and grew more obvious with time. While SETI's organizers conceived of their project as institutional science, their critics in the scientific community charged that SETI fell short of that standard and was, instead, "popular" science.
Once SETI's organizers decided to seek government funding, which occurred as early as 1961, the American public became a second key constituency. This relationship was, initially, much closer and warmer than their relationship with the scientific community. A Cold War-weary public immediately embraced SETI as an appealing metaphor of engagement with the radically Other. SETI's most enduring legacy to date is its profound impact on American popular culture, especially ETI portraiture.
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