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The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate Author(S): Steven J

The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate Author(S): Steven J

Other Worlds: The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Debate Author(s): Steven J. Dick Source: Leonardo, Vol. 29, No. 2 (1996), pp. 133-137 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576349 Accessed: 18/08/2010 10:39

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http://www.jstor.org INSAP CONFERENCE PAPERS Other Worlds: The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate

StevenJ.Dick

ABSTRACT

The extraterrestriallifede- IIne of the most cultural influences whose inhabitants were batehas greatly influenced sci- pervasive desper- cultureand both of has been the idea that life far su- to distribute their wa- ence,popular forms, perhaps ately trying secularand theological worldviews. perior to our own, may exist beyond the . This idea may ter resources epitomized a solar Todayitcomprises a non-anthropo- be tied to the gods and goddesses of ancient and to the system constantly subject to centricworldview of its own, here spiritual/celestial beings of religion or it may be, as some change [8]. The failure of the Vi- termedthe "biophysical cosmol- have a manifestation of an emotional need for landers to detect even or- ogy."This cosmology is stillunveri- suggested, king fied,but if extraterrestrial intelli- is live in a time on was a imaginary beings [1]. What is certain that we ganic genceis discovered,the cultural when the search for extraterrestrial life surrounds us. The Vi- setback to the cause of cosmic impactof the debate thus far will king landers have shown that, down to the level of parts per . But optimists pointed havebeen but a minorprelude. billion, no molecules exist on Mars-at least at the out that this result to organic applied W two landing sites. The first beyond our only one ; they had faith have apparently been irrefutably confirmed around a , that outside the solar system were and the Hubble Space has recently reported nu- innumerable other planets, a faith only recently supported by merous planetary systems in formation in the Orion region the confirmation of pulsar planets-hardly the kind the ex- [2]. The flagship radio search for extraterrestrial traterrestrial optimists were seeking. But if planets could (SETI) was funded and then precipitously canceled by the form around , they argued, planets could form any- U.S. Congress, yet continues in a variety of forms around the where, and on these planets, they believed, chemical and bio- globe [3]. Reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and logical evolution had occurred. Despite numerous experi- abound, the latter now championed even by ments in prebiotic biology in the four decades since the one Harvard professor [4]. In short, from the halls of pathbreaking experiment of Miller and Urey [9], this belief is to popular belief, extraterrestrials are a part of our culture, still far from certain. The only way to know for sure, many sci- even if our attitudes toward them have been ambiguous. entists believed, was to observe, and this is what SETI was all The intriguing history of the debate throughout the nine- about. Its aim was to test for the ultimate product of cosmic teenth century is now well known [5]. Here we concentrate evolution: intelligence. on the twentieth century [6], outlining how the extraterres- Since 1961, the idea of cosmic evolution has been encapsu- trial life debate has played an important role in both scien- lated in the famous [10]: tific and popular cultures, as well as in shaping our worldview. N= R*f nefff L,

where each symbol on the right side of the equation repre- COSMIC EVOLUTION AND THE CULTURES sents a factor on the way to the number of communicating OF SCIENCE in the (N). The first three factors are as- In assessing the cultural significance of the extraterrestriallife tronomical, estimating respectively the rate of formation, debate, we should not overlook what it tells us about one of the fraction of with planets and the number of planets the main elements of our culture: science itself. We cannot dis- per star with environments suitable for life. The fourth and cuss here the full scope of the scientific approach to the prob- fifth factors are biological, estimating the fraction of suitable lem, which has been exemplified by several authors [7] and a planets on which life has developed and the fraction of those voluminous literature now encompassing many fields; we men- life-bearing planets on which intelligence has evolved. The tion here only two general aspects of the scientific debate. last two factors are social, estimating the fraction of cultures First, the extraterrestrial life debate points out, as no other that are communicative over interstellar distances and the scientific controversy does so sweepingly, how completely the lifetime (L) of communicative civilizations. The uncertain- concept of cosmic evolution has triumphed in Western civili- zation. Indeed, much of the twentieth century debate may be seen as a test of cosmic evolution, or the idea that matter and StevenJ. Dick (historian of science), U.S. Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts life are naturally evolving throughout the . Percival Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20392, U.S.A. Lowell understood at the beginning of this century that the Originally presented at the conference "The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena," Villa Mondo Migliore, Rocca di Papa, Italy, 27June-2 July 1994. solar system was evolving; his vivid picture of a dying Mars

? 1996 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 133-137, 1996 133 _~?l(lrL ' ???" l?r~~~T~~LL lr****l7*I~~**~nr.. r~.*-l aII?T: ?? . I, [12]. The attempts to demonstrate cos- I?U*. ,. mic evolution show-again, more i,-"?? clearly than any other scientific contro- versy has-the many different ap- proaches that scientists take to solving problems and the many ways they inter- pret evidence until, in the end, some form of consensus is reached. believed he had evidence for in- telligent constructions on Mars; Peter van de Kamp believed he had evidence for a around Barnard's Star [13]; and evidence of the building blocks of life in and interstellar clouds has been used differently by different scientists to draw conclusions about the likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). The contrasting approaches and claims of those who proclaim the likelihood of extraterrestrials and of their oppo- nents, who believe that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, demonstrate that science does, in fact, consist of many cultures. Nowhere are these cultures more evi- dent than in the UFO controversy, which a majority of scientists have re- fused even to discuss, while others have concluded that the elusive lights in the sky might be spaceships piloted by extra- terrestrials. The difference in scientific attitudes toward UFOs-the difference, say, between J. Allen Hynek [14], who came to believe that UFOs were an im- new after over- - portant phenomenon ..| . \ II *VIL-- ' H coming initial skepticism, and Harvard Observatory Director Donald Menzel [15], who believed they had prosaic ex- planations-are extremely interesting as Fig. 1. Cover of "A Signal from Mars. March and Two Step," by Raymond Taylor. Pub- a means of probing what science is all lished in 1901, during the height of the canals furor, the composition is an ex- about. Both were scientists, and very of music the of extraterrestrial ample inspired by question intelligence. good ones at that, but they had very dif- ferent approaches toward UFOs and drew very different conclusions about ties, already shaky enough for the astro- tration (NASA) SETI program whole- them. These two approaches, I would nomical parameters, nevertheless in- heartedly embraced as a unified re- suggest, are at opposite poles of a whole crease as one progresses from the astro- search program [11]. Although that spectrum of cultures of science, a spec- nomical to the biological to the social. program has now lost its federal fund- trum whose origin, and dynamics Depending on whether you are an opti- ing, cosmic evolution from the deserve further study. mist or a pessimist, the number of civili- to intelligence is still the guiding idea zations in our galaxy may be estimated for astronomical research. SETI, I would POPULAR CULTURE: at 100 million or 1, the latter number even more than the suggest, controversy representing our own Earth. (If the pes- over terrestrial biological evolution that UFOS, simists are not careful, they will prove forms a subset of cosmic evolution, has AND CINEMA that life does not exist on Earth!) But spread this attitude of cosmic evolution Illuminating as the extraterrestrial life the significance of the Drake Equation into popular culture. debate is for an understanding of the tri- was not that it gave any definitive an- Second, a salient characteristic of the umph of the concept of cosmic evolu- swer, nor even that it was a tool around extraterrestrial life debate in the con- tion and the nature of science and its which an uncertain discussion could fo- text of science is that it shows that there many cultures, it is clear that its signifi- cus, but that it was the very embodiment is, in fact, no monolithic scientific cul- cance goes well beyond the relatively pa- of the concept of cosmic evolution. This ture such as the one C.P. Snow defined rochial boundaries of science. The idea was a concept that the United States Na- more than 30 years ago in his writings of extraterrestrials clearly fascinated a tional Aeronautics and Space Adminis- contrasting science with the humanities wide audience as early as 1686, when

134 Dick, Other Worlds Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle's Con- new ones, there was an increasingly inti- EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE AS versations on the Plurality of Worldsap- mate relationship between science and WORLDVIEW peared. As Crowe and Guthke have science fiction. Not only did scientists shown [16], extraterrestrials have been more frequently use fiction to speculate The extraterrestrial life debate has had the subject of prose and poetry from the about alien contact, but science fiction an overarching influence that tran- seventeenth century onward. also influenced many who actually be- scends both science and popular culture Still, no one could have foreseen the came involved in scientific programs to and goes even beyond the concept of extent to which the idea would pervade search for extraterrestrials [21]. The sci- cosmic evolution. The idea that abun- popular culture by the twentieth cen- entifically informed alien fiction of dant life exists in the universe is more tury. Some of this was triggered by Arthur C. Clarke, , Stanislaw than another theory or hypothesis; it is events in science, especially Lowell's Lem, Hal Clement and , sufficiently comprehensive to qualify as theory. The idea of a signal from Mars among others, lent a credibility to the a worldview. Since, according to SETI inspired the popular imagination in a subject that it had not had in the first advocates, it is testable, it is a scientific variety of realms ranging from music half of this century [22]. worldview perhaps best described as a (Fig. 1) to technology. No sooner had In the emotionally intense and visually cosmology. Because it combines the radio been invented than its pioneers, stunning media of cinema and TV, the characteristics of the biological universe including Tesla and Marconi [17], were alien followed an evolution similar to its with those of the physical universe, it suggesting that we should listen for sig- development in science fiction, progress- may most accurately be termed the "bio- nals from Mars. Even Menzel, an avid ing from the unsophisticated aliens of physical cosmology" [23]. amateur radio fan, could not resist ex- early 1950s films to the mature and mys- Like other cosmologies, the biophysi- ploring the idea in an article in the terious aliens in Arthur C. Clarke and cal cosmology makes claims about the magazine Short Waveand Television.The Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. large-scale nature of the universe: most same article included the opinions of In the late 1960s, the primary mission of importantly, it claims that life is one of Lee de Forest and Nikola Tesla and the the starship Enterprise in the popular TV its basic properties. Adherents believe following editorial comment by Hugo show "StarTrek" was to seek out new civi- that life is not merely an accidental or Gernsback: "the question of radio com- lizations. In the 1970s, aliens played cen- incidental property of the universe, but munication with distant planets still tral, if very different, roles in the Star an essential one. The biophysical cos- holds supreme charm for all red- Warstrilogy (1977-1983) and in CloseEn- mology incorporates many assumptions, blooded radio experimenters" [18]. countersof the Third Kind (1977). In the not least that life is an inevitable out- But it was in science fiction that the 1980s, the movies ET and Alien evoked come of cosmic evolution. SETI pessi- alien came alive. In 1897, H.G. Wells powerful emotions in representations of mists emphasize that life is unlikely to brought the invading Martian into litera- alien nature that, once again, were at op- have evolved elsewhere in the universe. ture with his War of the Worlds.In the posite extremes. Evidence of the appeal Some evolutionary biologists, including same year, the German Kantian philoso- of the alien theme is provided by the fact Ernst Mayr at Harvard, agree, but oth- pher Kurd Lasswitz ushered in a more that ET was one of the most popular ers, including Mayr's Harvard colleague benign Martian in AufZwei Planeten(On films of all time. Stephen Jay Gould, concede only that Two Planets) [19]. In an enormous num- CloseEncounters elaborated an idea of humanoidlife is unlikely throughout the ber of works since then, the alien has be- the alien that was pervasive in popular universe [24]. One of the cultural ef- come a standard theme of science fic- culture: that of the UFO, which eventu- fects of the ETI debate is therefore that tion, used for a variety of purposes. The ally led to an incredible spinoff in the it brings to the fore this argument over alien has evolved from the beings found form of the alien abduction craze. Al- the contingency of life, as well as many in the predictable but immensely popu- though the first wave of UFO sightings other fundamental themes. lar space opera adventures of Edgar Rice came in 1897-the year that the novels Like all cosmologies, the biophysical Burroughs to the philosophical beings of of Wells and Lasswitz appeared-the cosmology redefines the place of hu- Olaf Stapledon to the subtle and almost alien was only a minor theme in these manity in the universe; it is in this bio- ethereal creatures of Bradbury's Martian fictions and the UFO question re- logical sense that the extraterrestrial life Chronicles(1950). C.S. Lewis, in his space mained dormant for 50 years. I find it debate may be seen as the last battle trilogy beginning with Out of the Silent an amazing historical fact that, while over . This battle is Planet, used the alien theme in defense Lowell's canal controversy raged over evident in discussions of the elegantly of Christianity [20]. In short, during the the decade following 1897, the UFO misnamed "anthropic principle"-the first half of this century, aliens helped controversy did not. Even while invad- idea that the universe is so finely tuned man explore traditional themes from a ing spaceships were the occasional sub- that it must be made for man. In my new and less parochial perspective. One ject of the developing science fiction of view, this concept is really an extension sees in cosmic and theological alien lit- the time, no one seriously suggested of the "biocentric principle" enunciated erature a pattern of search for a higher that they were really in the skies of by Harvard biochemist L.J. Henderson truth and , whether embodied in planet Earth. Only in the post-World in 1913 in connection with the fitness of Stapledon's Star Makeror in a variety of War II era of nuclear uncertainty, be- the environment for life [25]. The argu- other superior beings. Throughout it all, ginning in 1947, did UFOs catch on ment that the universe is fit for life is re- one also sees the terrestrial theme of and embark on a career that has now ally an argument in favor of extraterres- good versus evil played out across the lasted for 50 years. In my opinion, this trial life, and only by using other universe. During the second half of this is a clue to their real nature, which is arguments can the biocentric principle century, the career of the alien dramati- most probably to be found in the hu- be converted to an "anthropic"one, as it cally accelerated. Along with the elabora- man mind rather than in an objective has been in the work of physicists J.D. tion of old themes and the invention of (much less an extraterrestrial) reality. Barrow and Frank Tipler [26]. In my

Dick, Other Worlds 135 view, we need to separate the idea that dying on this earth could redeem the in- plurality of worlds and still others found life is bound up with the fabric of the habitants of another world." The stan- ways to reconcile the two [28]. universe from the idea that mankind is dard answer was that he could, because During the twentieth century, - central; in other words, a biocentric Christ could not die again in another logical explorations of the implications principle makes sense to me and an world [27]. For Copernicans of any reli- of extraterrestrial contact have been anthropic principle does not. gious persuasion, the problem was a sporadic, peripheral and never raised to Finally, in speaking of ETI as world- thorny one that extended beyond spe- quite the same level of substantial de- view, I should mention its impact on re- cific religious doctrine. Despite Scrip- bate as in the previous two centuries. ligion and theology-an impact that has tural objections raised during the seven- Nevertheless, in Christianity, the doc- very deep roots in the Western tradition. teenth century, by the early eighteenth trine of Incarnation has remained a cen- The problem was recognized already in century the concept of extraterrestrial tral focus of discussion and the consen- the fifteenth century, in relation to the life was incorporated into natural theol- sus has been that a discovery of reconciliation of Christianity with the ogy. In a history that should interest intelligence beyond the Earth would not Aristotelian doctrine opposing a plural- those studying the theological implica- prove fatal to the religion or its theol- ity of worlds. By that time, most Chris- tions of an actual discovery of extrater- ogy. The most substantial theological tian theologians agreed that God could restrial intelligence, during the nine- discussion of the subject was given by create other worlds. But if this were the teenth century some theologians the Roman Catholic priest Kenneth case, they wondered "whether Christ by rejected Christianity, others rejected the Delano in his book Many Worlds, One God [29]. The author's position was that Fig. 2. Leo Morey, cover of the April 1930 issue of AmazingStories magazine. The illustration any person with a religious faith that in- embodies the ambiguities of the concept of alien contact: although it appears to show an alien cluded "an idea of the us the secrets of the it was used to illustrate a adequate great- teaching Galaxy, story entitled "The Conquest ness of God's creative of of Earth," Isaac R. Nathanson. From Lester del FantasticScience Fiction Art, 1926-1954 ability, by Rey, humble in the uni- (New York:Ballantine, 1975). AMAZINGStories is a registered trademark of TSR, Inc. humanity's position verse, and of the limitless love and care God has for all His intelligent creatures" APRIL should not be afraid to examine the im- plications of intelligence in the uni- verse. Delano quotes with approval Alice Meynell's lines: in the eternities Doubtlesswe shall comparetogether, hear A million alien Gospels;in whatguise He trod the Pleiades,the Lyre,the Bear [30].

Although Delano made it clear that Catholic opinion was not unanimous, he certainly reinforced the prevalent idea in Church doctrines of flexibility toward a discovery of extraterrestrials. The same flexibility was expressed in a study of religious implications of the problem for other religions [31]. However, this flexible attitude of the world's religions toward extraterrestrials was not shared by some external to those religions, who predicted that the world's religions would not be able to survive extraterres- trial contact [32]. This is obviously a subject in need of much further debate.

PROSPECT It is clear that we have only touched the tip of the iceberg in discussing the cul- tural significance of the extraterrestrial life debate. Given the passionate debate inspired by the mere possibility of extra- terrestrials, one can only imagine the re- ti ol{tif on j action to an actual discovery. Only k within the last several years has a more ti-vatt Verri \XT-iUliamson serious interest arisen in the "cultural Isaac R. N??th;ai"l '', I IZ aspects of SETI" (CASETI). The most important effort has been a series of

136 Dick, Other Worlds NASA in 1991- 3. For an overview of SETI programs and related cation," Shortwaveand Television406 (1937). Hugo workshops sponsored by research, see G. , ed., in the Gernsback was the editor of the and the in which a of about 20 his- Progress magazine, 1992, group Searchfor ExtraterrestrialLife (San Francisco, CA: As- quotation is from his brief editorial comment. torians, scientists, behaviorial scientists tronomical Society of the Pacific, 1995). 19. H.G. The War the Worlds and dis- Wells, of (serialization, government policy experts 4. John E. Mack, Abduction:Human Encounterswith 1897; book, 1898) in Seven ScienceFiction Novels of cussed the implications of an actual con- Aliens (New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994). H.G. Wells (New York: Dover, 1934); K. Lasswitz, TwoPlanets, Hans H. Rudnick, trans. (Carbondale, tact [33]. One of the to 5. Michael The Extraterrestrial many insights J. Crowe, Life Debate, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1971). emerge from these discussions was that, 1750-1900: TheIdea of a Pluralityof Worldsfrom Kant to Lowell U.K.: Univ. Press, 20. A Princess in novel form in while historical analogues must be used (Cambridge, Cambridge of Mars, published 1986); StevenJ. Dick, Pluralityof Worlds:The Origins 1917, was the first of Burroughs's John Carter se- with caution, they might still be very use- of theExtraterrestrial Life Debate from to Kant ries, with The Chessman of Mars (1922) and The ful. In particular, the reception of (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982); Swordsof Mars (1936) considered among the best. worldviews such as the and Karl S. Guthke, The Last Frontier:Imagining Other Three of Olaf Stapledon's works especially embrace Copernican Worldsfrom the CopernicanRevolution to Modern Sci- the alien theme: Last and First Men (1930), Star Darwinian and the effects of cross-cul- enceFiction (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press, 1990); Maker(1937) and The Flames (1947). Modern edi- tural terrestrial intellectual contacts (as Stanley L. Jaki, Planets and Planetarians:A History of tions of Last and First Men and StarMaker have been Theories the York: to cultural of Originof PlanetarySystems (Edinburgh: published (New Dover, 1968). Ray Bradbury's opposed physical contacts) Scottish Academic Press, 1978). TheMartian Chronicles(New York:Doubleday, 1970) such as the transmission of Greek knowl- was first published in 1950; C.S. Lewis's Out of the 6. See Steven of in N.S. J. Dick, "Plurality Worlds," Silent Planet (New York: Macmillan, 1965) was first edge via the Arabs to Western in ed., Histori- Europe Hetherington, Encyclopediaof Cosmology: published in 1938. the thirteenth century might well serve cal, Philosophicaland ScientificFoundations of Modern as to about the effects of Cosmology(New York and London: Garland Publish- 21. David W. Swift, SETIPioneers (Tucson, AZ: Univ. guides thinking ing, 1992) pp. 502-512; and StevenJ. Dick, The Bio- of Arizona Press, 1990). contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. logical Universe:The TwentiethCentury Extraterrestrial The nature of the reaction will un- Life Debate and the Limits of Science (Cambridge, 22. Among the classics of these science fiction writ- ers the alien U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996). emphasizing theme are Arthur C. doubtedly depend largely on whether or Clarke, The City and the Stars (New York: Harcourt, not there is a receipt or exchange of in- 7. Joseph S. Shklovskii and Carl Sagan, Intelligent 1956), Childhood's End (New York: Ballantine, in the Universe Francisco, CA: Rendezvouswith Rama York: formation. Such an is, of Life (San Holden-Day, 1953), (New Ballantine, exchange 1966); Donald Goldsmith and Tobias Owen, The 1973) and 2001: A Space Odyssey(New York: New course, problematic, considering the Searchfor Life in the Universe(Reading, MA:Addison American Library, 1968); Fred Hoyle, The Black distances involved and how different Wesley, 1992). Cloud (New York: Harper, 1957); Stanislaw Lem, Solaris (New York: Berkeley Publishing, 1970); Hal alien be from ours. But 8. Percival Mars intelligence may Lowell, (London: Longmans, Clement, Mission of Gravity (Garden City, NY: Green and if somehow message decipherment were Co., 1895). Doubleday, 1954); and Carl Sagan, Contact (New York:Simon and Schuster, possible, it would give new meaning to 9. S. Miller, "A Production of Amino Acids Under 1985). Possible Primitive Earth Conditions," Science 117 the long-sought goal of objective knowl- 23. StevenJ. Dick, ThePlanetary Report 9 (1990) pp. (1953) pp. 528-529; S. Miller and H.C. Urey, "Or- 13-17. edge, as aspects of terrestrial and extra- ganic Compound Synthesis on the Primitive Earth," terrestrial were compared. Science130 (1959) pp. 245-251. 24. Stephen Jay Gould, "SETI and the Wisdom of Casey Stengel," in TheFlamingo's Smile: Reflections in The search for such knowledge-per- "Extraterrestrial Life 10.J.P.T. Pearman, Intelligent Natural History (New York:Norton, 1985); E. Mayr, and Interstellar Communication: An Informal Dis- haps even for wisdom-has been one of The Growthof Biological Thought:Diversity, Evolution in A.G.W. ed., InterstellarCom- the themes of science fiction cussion," Cameron, and Inheritance (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. major (Fig. munication York: W.A. (New Benjamin, 1963) pp. Press, 1982) pp. 583-584; E. Mayr, "The Probability and remains one of the forces F. "The Radio Search for Intelli- 2) driving 287-293; Drake, of Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life," in Edward Extraterrestrial in G. Mamikunian and behind SETI. gent Life," Regis, Jr., ed., Extraterrestrials:Science and Alien Intel- M.H. Current Briggs, eds., Aspectsof Exobiology(Ox- ligence (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, In raising such hopes, we are indulg- U.K.: 323-345. ford, Pergamon Press, 1964) pp. 1985) pp. 23-30. ing in an age-old search for our place in 11. Steven "The Search for J. Dick, Extraterrestrial 25. L.J. Henderson, The Fitness of the Environment the universe. Our hope of finding extra- and the NASA Intelligence High Resolution Micro- (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1913). terrestrials is, in a sense, ironic; as Rabbi wave Survey (HRMS): Historical Perspectives," has written in this con- Space Science Reviews 64 (1993) pp. 93-139; J. 26. J.D. Barrow and F Tipler, The AnthropicCosmo- M. U.K.: Oxford Univ. "Never before have so been Billingham andJ. Tarter, "SETI,"inJ. Rummel, logical Principle (Oxford, Press, text, many Ivanov and V. Kotelnikov, eds., Space Biology and 1986). so enthusiastic about so trivial" Medicine,Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: American Insti- being 27. Steven 2 and has us to tute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1993). J. Dick, [5] Chapter pp. 43, 88, [34]. History already prepared 198 (note 48); Grant McColley and H.W. Miller, some degree for the discovery, to the ex- 12. C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific "Saint Bonaventure, Francis Mayron, William Revolution U.K.: Univ. and the Doctrine of a of tent that many would be surprised if in- (Cambridge, Cambridge Vorilong, Plurality Press, 1959). Worlds," Speculum12 (1937) p. 388. telligence were not found beyond the Earth. Still, can us to- 13. Peter Van de Kamp, "Astrometric Study of 28. Crowe [5] and Dick [5]. nothing prepare Barnard's Star from Plates Taken with the 24-inch for an actual 29. K. Delano, Worlds, One God (Hicksville, tally discovery, compared Sproul Refractor," AstronomicalJournal 68 (1963) Many NY: Press, 1977). to which the historical debate over pos- pp. 515-521. Exposition sible extraterrestrials will have 30. Alice Meynell, "Christ in the Universe," Poems probably 14. J.A. Hynek, The UFOExperience: A ScientificIn- (New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913). been a minor prelude. quiry (Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery, 1972). 31. M. Askenazi, "Not the Sons of Adam: Religious 15. D.H. Menzel, Flying Saucers (Cambridge, MA: Responses to ETI," SpacePolicy 8 (1993) 341-350. Harvard Univ. Press, 1953); D.H. Menzel and E.H. pp. References and Notes The Taves, The UFOEnigma: DefinitiveExplanation of 32. Roland Puccetti, Persons:A Studyof PossibleMoral the UFOPhenomenon (New York:Doubleday, 1977). Agents in the Universe(London: MacMillan, 1968). 1. Robert Plank, TheEmotional Significance of Imagi- A the InteractionBetween nary Beings: Study of Psycho- 16. Crowe [5] and Guthke [5]. 33. J. Billingham et al., "Social Implications of De- and in the Modern World pathology,Literature, Reality tecting an Extraterrestrial : A Report of IL: Charles C. 17. "Radio to Stars, Marconi's New York (Springfield, Thomas, 1968). Hope," the Workshops on the Cultural Aspects of SETI," Times "Back (20January 1919) p. 1; StevenJ. Dick, SETIInstitute Preprint (Mountain View, CA, 1994). 2. Alexander Wolszcan, "Confirmationof Earth-Mass to the Future: SETI Before the ," The Planets the Millisecond Pulsar PSR Orbiting PlanetaryReport 15, No. 1, 4-7 (1995); Nikola Tesla, 34. N. Lamm, "The Religious Implication of Extra- B1257+12," Science264 (1994) pp. 538-542. C.R. "Talkingwith the Planets," Collier'sWeekly 26, No. 19 terrestrial Life," in A. Cannell and C. Domb, eds., Wen and Xihai of New O'Dell, Zheng Hu, "Discovery (1901) p. 4. Challenge: Torah Views on Science and Its Problems Objects in the Orion Nebula on HST Images: (New York:Felheim Publishers, 1978). Shocks, Compact Sources and Protoplanetary Disks," 18. D.H. Menzel, "Can We Signal Mars by Short- AstrophysicalJournalNo. 410 (1993) pp. 696-700. wave? The Possibility of Interplanetary Communi-

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