Bases teóricas y científicas

Emanuel Adler and Peter Haas in their paper “Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination” argued in favour of the study of epistemic communities (Adler and Hass 1992) and their impact on policy making. Hass’s definition of epistemic communities as “networks of knowledge-based experts” (Haas 1992:2) is especially useful here, because it explains the involvement of multinational and multidisciplinary teams of experts in SETI policy development. Correspondingly, the emergence of epistemic communities employed in space policy making, or cosmopolitics (Stengers 2010), marked the early phase of the Space Age, as did the establishment of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the production of one of its first documents: “Resolution 1472 XIV – International co-operation in the peaceful uses of outer space” (UN 1959).91 This process was also demonstrated in Jill Tarter’s comment during a lecture in the UK (2011) where she described the potential discovery of extraterrestrial life as follows: “the information is the property of all humankind”.

In reaction to SETI activities and the probability that some other life may be detected, it became necessary to consider also the political and ethical context of the discovery. Subsequently, questions have been raised over whether there should be a global control and coordination over the conduct of SETI activities. Similarly, should there be some sort of control over the content of messages we send to the universe (Atri, DeMarines et al. 2011)? Although there are draft policies available, those present a set of recommendations, and in fact there is no global control over active SETI projects, in other words over messaging activities.

Nonetheless, the Post-Detection SETI Protocol (PDP) has been developed by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the International Institute of Space Law, which state procedures following the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence worldwide. The SETI post-detection protocol has been designed to ensure access to the information and to coordinate the post-detection activities, now known as the “Declaration of principles following the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence”

91_{Retrieved from: http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/oosa/SpaceLaw/gares/html/gares_14_1472.html.}

Accessed 19 September 2012. Another UN space treaties include Agreement governing the activities of States on the moon and other celestial bodies. Also the Planetary Protection is being looked after by UN.

136

(Billingham, Michaud et al. 1991). One of the functions of international policies is to prevent false alarms and to eliminate a potential detection error, which also means not to disclose the unverified information to the public. The false alarm problem seems to follow the 1977 discovery of what is now known as the “WOW” signal (Figure 50). The signal was detected by Ohio State University, which was taking part in the SETI project at the time, and it was believed to originate from an artificial, extraterrestrial source.

Figure 50. The WOW Signal (1977). Image Credit: The Ohio State University Radio Observatory and the North American AstroPhysical Observatory.

Jill Tarter (NPR 2012) described the process of reviewing candidate radio signals, events that may have led to creating protocols as a code of conduct for SETI activity:

Early on in my career in France, I stayed awake for three days to prove a signal was a distant airport rather than something we were interested in because I thought my French colleague was going to call up Le Monde and tell them we found it. And another instance, I was at Green Bank, W.Va., and we had a second telescope in Georgia that helped us discriminate against our own technology. Unfortunately, this telescope got hit by lightning and we had three days to observe without it. And during that time, of course, we got a signal that was really interesting and we followed it for almost a whole day before we convinced ourselves that indeed, it was not coming from the star we had been tracking. It was a signal coming in from the

137

side lobes of the telescope. And this was a spacecraft that was orbiting the sun, and so was the planet Earth.92

As one can read, detecting a signal does not necessarily mean that contact with an alien civilisation has been made, which is the first reason behind developing the international policies. The SETI PDP is not the only policy related to human activities in outer space with implications for the SETI search. In 1960, NASA published a set of recommendations called “Proposed studies on the implications of peaceful space activities for human affairs”. Globally, space exploration is regulated by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.93 Despite the 2010 hoax message that the head of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and former director of the Malaysian Space Agency Dr Mazlan Othman had been appointed as an official contactee, the designated contact person is renowned physicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist Paul Davies, the chair of the SETI Post- Detection Task Group of the International Academy of Astronautics. The IAA established the permanent committee for SETI science to “examine all aspects of possible future contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, with special reference to international issues and activities”, this includes production of post-detection protocols and other policy documents and educational activities.94

Recently, SETI invited social scientists to participate in the ET debate, especially with regard to predicting the societal impact of ET life detection. The key debates include estimates of a first contact situation and societal reaction to the close encounter, religious implications of the discovery of alien life for Western society, as well as the potential impact of extraterrestrial life discovery on Third World societies (volume to be published in April this year). Unlike the messaging mode, where only scientists were involved in the message-creation process, SETI has invited vox populi in the debate. The Earth Speaks was launched in 2009 and is one of the projects run by the institute. By making this step towards public, SETI scientist are trying to achieve a better understanding of how a message could be produced and by

92_{National Public Radio. Available from http://m.npr.org/news/front/156366055?textSize=medium.}

Accessed 2 November 2012.

93_{Retrieved from http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/. Accessed 15 July 2012.} 94

More information about the group available from the IAA website http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/. Accessed 30 March 2013.

138

identifying “commonalities and differences in message content that are related to such factors as nationality, age, and gender.”95

The Earth Speaks project encourages people to submit their messages to ET (pictures, music, and text) via the project website.96 The rationale is “to foster a dialogue about what we should say to extraterrestrial intelligence, as well as whether or not we should be sending intentional messages”. This not only signifies that the limitations of previous messages have been realised but also but is a sign of another essential feature of SETI science - the democratisation tendencies within SETI science and scientific entrepreneurship. The Earth Speaks project uses online environment to interact with people globally and collect responses.