If ET Calls, Who Answers?
Meet Paul Davies, chairman of the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup.
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Paul Davies. Photo by Dave Tervis.
If we’re ever suddenly confronted by evidence of alien intelligence, Paul Davies will be one of the first to know. Davies, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist at Arizona State University, is chairman of the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, a volunteer committee whose mission is to “prepare, manage, advise and consult in preparation for the discovery of a putative signal of extraterrestrial intelligent (ETI) origin.” Never mind that the chance of humankind being contacted by aliens is remote, “it makes sense to think through some of the implications should it happen,” he says. While the group is a think tank (it has no legal status and no authority to impose or enforce its recommendations), it has reflected on all manner of post-detection issues and made preparations to counsel all parties concerned.
Earlier this year I sat down with Davies in his office at the Beyond Center in Tempe, Arizona, to discuss the themes of his mind-bending new book “The Eerie Silence” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), in which he suggests reorienting and expanding the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). “Traditional SETI is stuck in a conceptual rut,” he maintains, and fails to account for the possibility that an alien species may not look, think, or behave like us. In part one of this Failure Interview—which coincides with SETI’s 50th anniversary next month—Davies addressed issues like: What has SETI accomplished in its first 50 years? And have scientists been looking for ET “in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way?”
In part two, we look back at two mysterious signals detected by astronomers, then forward to consider what might happen in the wake of a genuine signal or message from ET. Like any good ambassador, Davies emphasizes that the lines of communication are open, and if an extraterrestrial wishes to get in touch, it can log on to the Invitation to ETI Web site (founded by Canadian researcher, Allen Tough) or send an email to hello at ieti dot org. Should you find yourself tempted to try to impersonate ET, be advised that Tough and Davies have established a series of tests designed to weed out hoaxers, one of which is revealed below.
What is the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup?
It’s a curious group made up of leading SETI scientists and activists, as well as representative members of the media, two lawyers, a theologian, a philosopher, and a couple of science fiction writers. Everyone is involved one way or another with SETI or SETI research. We met here at Arizona State University in February 2008. We are planning a meeting in October 2010 in Prague, and possibly a second meeting this year in Texas [as well as get-togethers in Cape Town in 2011 and Naples in 2012]. The group considers its job to anticipate the Big Day and to act as an advisory body for any astronomers confronted with this momentous discovery. But I don’t think it’s a very representative committee. I would like to add some sort of elder statesman, as well as representatives of the world’s religions.
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