Reinventing SETI : new directions in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence / John Gertz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gertz, John, author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Life on other planets.

Interstellar communication.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2025]

Summary:

For millennia, humanity has looked up at the sprawling tapestry of stars and wondered what lay beyond. With time, we learned that each star is not a pinprick point in a domed sky, but a massive plasma sphere so far away that the distance becomes incomprehensible to the human mind, measured in light years of millions and billions. This distance invokes crucial questions. Do we share the universe with other intelligent lifeforms? If so, how do we approach the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)? Lastly, do we need to examine our assumptions about extraterrestrial intelligence? 'Reinventing SETI' clears out the cobwebs of outdated or wrongheaded SETI paradigms such as Fermi's Paradox, the Drake Equation, and METI (i.e., proactively sending signals from Earth to putative aliens). It argues that scientists should approach the pursuit of extraterrestrials (ETs) in a more effective manner.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

1 Fermi's Faux Paradox

2 Reconsidering a Sacred Cow: The Drake Equation

3 Standard Observational SETI: It's Time to Move On

4 What's There to Talk About Anyway?

5 METI: Beyond Folly to the Stupid, Arrogant, Delusional, and Downright Dangerous

6 Extraterrestrials Hit the Road-Or Not

7 There's No Place Like Home

8 Extraterrestrials Do Have a Solution: Robotic Probes

9 Humankind Is Utterly Unprepared: How Foolish Is That!

10 Getting Earth's Act Together by Act of Treaty

Epilogue

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on June 6, 2025).

ISBN:

0-19-780044-0

0-19-780042-4

0-19-780043-2

OCLC:

1510365850