This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. The book emphasizes the consequences of contact rather than the search, and takes account of popular views. As necessary background, the book also includes brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create.
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From the reviews: "Will we find extraterrestrial intelligence - and should we want to? Such are the questions examined in Contact with Alien Civilizations. Michael A.G. Michaud, a space policy analyst and former diplomat, provides an engrossing overview of the probabilities, promises, and risks of encountering smart aliens. Drawing heavily on the scientific and scholarly literature (he apologizes for not thoroughly discussing science fiction), Michaud's approach is to compile diverse expert opinions on alien-related topics and relentlessly scrutinize premises about what the extraterrestrials would be like. His analysis suggests that contact is a serious - and not necessarily pleasant - possibility.... Space exploration, Michaud suggests persuasively, is a way of spreading humanity's bets amid the current uncertainty as to who else might be out there. If intelligent extraterrestrials are detected, then being a spacefaring civilization will place us in a stronger position to deal with them, whether cooperatively or not. And if no contact occurs, then expanding beyond Earth could help ensure the survival of at least one civilization -our own- in a universe where civilized life is rare and hard to find." (Kenneth Silber, The Space Review, Monday, July 9, 2007) "Michaud deals with what may happen when we finally come face to face with beings from distant worlds. … A tremendous amount of research has gone into this book, and the extensive reference lists are by far the best that I have seen covering this topic. … there is no doubt that the reference lists alone make the book essential to anyone setting out to make a serious study of possible intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos." (Patrick Moore, BBC Sky at Night, April, 2007) "This wide-ranging book … looks into the possibility of contact with ET, examines the implications of SETI from all conceivable angles: scientific, philosophical and cultural. … this book is a remarkably uplifting one in the context of the possibilities it describes and the potential for the human race. Upon reading this superb book, easily the best on the subject that I have come across, what conclusions will you draw from it?" (Keith Cooper, Astronomy Now, 2007) "Michael Michaud’s Contact with Alien Civilizations is a well-informed, impressively researched presentation of an often fantastical subject. … I’d recommend this book as ideal for anyone interested in a broad … detailed view of a thought-provoking subject." (De Witt Douglas Kilgore, Space Times, July/August, 2007) "Michaud points to the limits of our technology as well as to SETI searches limited in their coverage. … He highlights the complexities, difficulties, and disappointments that go with trying to establish a code of conduct for the legal aspects of encountering aliens. … This is a timely book; there is not a dull word in it. Recommended." (P. Chapman-Rietschi, The Observatory, Vol. 127 (1200), October, 2007) "Michaud explores the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life and whether humanity should actively pursue or not. … A mind opener to the possibility of extraterrestrial life, beneficial to any reader. Well written and organized; extensive bibliography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates." (A. Gider, CHOICE, Vol. 44 (11), July, 2007)
From the Back Cover
This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. As necessary background, the book also includes brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create.
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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Before the publication of David Grinspoon's Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life (2003), which I highly recommend (see my review), I was frankly starved for speculations and information about the search for extraterrestrial life. With this volume however I think I am sated. This could be called the mother of all SETI books and then some.
The text runs to 376 dense pages. There are 72 pages of "References," although I wish there were a separate bibliography in which the works referenced were presented alphabetically by author. I don't find this newfangled practice of omitting a bibliography convenient. Regardless Michaud seems to quote just about anybody even remotely connected with SETI including many scientific lights, Carl Sagan, David Darling, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Drake, Seth Shostak, Jill Tarter, Frank Tipler, et al., along with scifi literary illuminati like Olaf Stapledon, not to mention religious people, politicians, and even a poet or two.
He begins with what he calls "a condensed history of speculations...up to 1959" which is followed by "brief descriptions of the scientific searches" for ETs and their signals, and then he launches into a step by step consideration of the Drake equation. He brings us up to date on the latest thinking. As most SETI knowledgeable people know, the Drake equation on the probability of there being intelligent life elsewhere has been given a big boost in recent years by the discovery of planets revolving around other stars, and by our learning just how inhospitable environments can be and still harbor microbial life, as in deep ocean vents and far down into the earth's crust. To me this last discovery is especially exciting because (as Michaud points out) it greatly increases the number of places in the cosmos where life could be thriving--around brown dwarfs (or maybe even ON them!), in interstellar space, in dust clouds and of course under frozen surfaces, such as exist on Europa.
Skeptics as well as wide-eyed optimists are quoted. The UFO controversy is examined. Consequences of contact are explored, etc. But with all the speculations, learned and otherwise, we are still left with just one example of life from which to extrapolate. So, interesting as all this material is, it is not nearly as interesting as just one itty-bitty, bonafide example of extraterrestrial life would be. I hope I live long enough for one to be found.
To conclude let me concentrate on a couple of issues that I find most interesting.
First, the issue of colonization of the galaxy. I prefer to ask not Fermi's "Where are they?" but "Why should they?"
The assumption that there is an innate propensity for life to reproduce ad infinitum is one that is hard to argue with when applied to life on earth. The assumption that life elsewhere will have a similar urge is also reasonable. However when we look at the average lifespan of species on this planet we realize that something like a million years is the norm. How much of the galaxy could a species that exists for a million years colonize? Further qualify this by asking what is the average lifespan of a species that leaves the environment to which it is adapted? It may well be that if we ourselves go space-faring, we may find artifacts of extinct ETs but not the ETs themselves.
There is also the question why would intelligent beings want to live in hostile environments? Some of their kind, like some of our kind, might very well volunteer for the uncertainties of a lifetime in space and a lifetime in space for their progeny, but most probably would not. And how massively advanced does a civilization have to be to go space-faring, confident that nothing will go wrong over the span of a hundred years, a thousand years, ten-thousand years...? Humans as presently constituted would find living on a spaceship for even months at a time very difficult. Think of how our ideas have changed since the time of Shakespeare, a mere four hundred years ago. By the time the space travelers are gone a generation or two, it is possible that they may change their minds about the virtue of the mission.
As Freeman Dyson said, "Interstellar travel...is essentially not a problem in physics or engineering but a problem in biology." (p. 130) He might well have added "psychology."
Another issue is that of sending out probes or self-replicating "Von Neumann machines" that would terra form the galaxy while endowing the new turf with the seed of their makers. But again, why would they? Darwinian biological creatures tend to reproduce to the carrying capacity of their environments; but any creatures that have the intelligence to colonize space would presumably be beyond such biological imperatives. In fact, the real question is why would any advanced society want to create more of its kind? It seems to me more likely that such creatures would want instead to observe life forms different from themselves in so far as possible. Michaud recalls that Andrew Clark and David Clark characterized sending out self-replicating probes as "galactic vandalism." Michaud adds that such probes could end up threatening the civilization that made them. (pp. 170-71) It's possible that sufficiently complex self-replicating machines could "evolve" into something with intentions very different from that of their creators.
There are historical examples of civilizations reigning in their exploratory and reproductive instincts, such as the Chinese before the European Age of Exploration, and the declining birth rates today in industrialized countries. It may very well be the case that once biological creatures reach a certain level of understanding, they stop all activity because there is no desire to do anything. If we build machines that have an intelligence vastly superior to ours, unless somehow the desire to continue is built into them, why would they continue?
I don't think anyone really interested in SETI can afford to miss this exciting book.
The text runs to 376 dense pages. There are 72 pages of "References," although I wish there were a separate bibliography in which the works referenced were presented alphabetically by author. I don't find this newfangled practice of omitting a bibliography convenient. Regardless Michaud seems to quote just about anybody even remotely connected with SETI including many scientific lights, Carl Sagan, David Darling, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Drake, Seth Shostak, Jill Tarter, Frank Tipler, et al., along with scifi literary illuminati like Olaf Stapledon, not to mention religious people, politicians, and even a poet or two.
He begins with what he calls "a condensed history of speculations...up to 1959" which is followed by "brief descriptions of the scientific searches" for ETs and their signals, and then he launches into a step by step consideration of the Drake equation. He brings us up to date on the latest thinking. As most SETI knowledgeable people know, the Drake equation on the probability of there being intelligent life elsewhere has been given a big boost in recent years by the discovery of planets revolving around other stars, and by our learning just how inhospitable environments can be and still harbor microbial life, as in deep ocean vents and far down into the earth's crust. To me this last discovery is especially exciting because (as Michaud points out) it greatly increases the number of places in the cosmos where life could be thriving--around brown dwarfs (or maybe even ON them!), in interstellar space, in dust clouds and of course under frozen surfaces, such as exist on Europa.
Skeptics as well as wide-eyed optimists are quoted. The UFO controversy is examined. Consequences of contact are explored, etc. But with all the speculations, learned and otherwise, we are still left with just one example of life from which to extrapolate. So, interesting as all this material is, it is not nearly as interesting as just one itty-bitty, bonafide example of extraterrestrial life would be. I hope I live long enough for one to be found.
To conclude let me concentrate on a couple of issues that I find most interesting.
First, the issue of colonization of the galaxy. I prefer to ask not Fermi's "Where are they?" but "Why should they?"
The assumption that there is an innate propensity for life to reproduce ad infinitum is one that is hard to argue with when applied to life on earth. The assumption that life elsewhere will have a similar urge is also reasonable. However when we look at the average lifespan of species on this planet we realize that something like a million years is the norm. How much of the galaxy could a species that exists for a million years colonize? Further qualify this by asking what is the average lifespan of a species that leaves the environment to which it is adapted? It may well be that if we ourselves go space-faring, we may find artifacts of extinct ETs but not the ETs themselves.
There is also the question why would intelligent beings want to live in hostile environments? Some of their kind, like some of our kind, might very well volunteer for the uncertainties of a lifetime in space and a lifetime in space for their progeny, but most probably would not. And how massively advanced does a civilization have to be to go space-faring, confident that nothing will go wrong over the span of a hundred years, a thousand years, ten-thousand years...? Humans as presently constituted would find living on a spaceship for even months at a time very difficult. Think of how our ideas have changed since the time of Shakespeare, a mere four hundred years ago. By the time the space travelers are gone a generation or two, it is possible that they may change their minds about the virtue of the mission.
As Freeman Dyson said, "Interstellar travel...is essentially not a problem in physics or engineering but a problem in biology." (p. 130) He might well have added "psychology."
Another issue is that of sending out probes or self-replicating "Von Neumann machines" that would terra form the galaxy while endowing the new turf with the seed of their makers. But again, why would they? Darwinian biological creatures tend to reproduce to the carrying capacity of their environments; but any creatures that have the intelligence to colonize space would presumably be beyond such biological imperatives. In fact, the real question is why would any advanced society want to create more of its kind? It seems to me more likely that such creatures would want instead to observe life forms different from themselves in so far as possible. Michaud recalls that Andrew Clark and David Clark characterized sending out self-replicating probes as "galactic vandalism." Michaud adds that such probes could end up threatening the civilization that made them. (pp. 170-71) It's possible that sufficiently complex self-replicating machines could "evolve" into something with intentions very different from that of their creators.
There are historical examples of civilizations reigning in their exploratory and reproductive instincts, such as the Chinese before the European Age of Exploration, and the declining birth rates today in industrialized countries. It may very well be the case that once biological creatures reach a certain level of understanding, they stop all activity because there is no desire to do anything. If we build machines that have an intelligence vastly superior to ours, unless somehow the desire to continue is built into them, why would they continue?
I don't think anyone really interested in SETI can afford to miss this exciting book.
29 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By David Brin
Format:Hardcover
I recommend this excellent tome: Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials, by Michael Michaud. Unlike many other books about the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life, this one does not leap upon a simple, single "explanation" for the apparent loneliness of humanity, but rather lays out some of the scope and range of this wide-open field, showing some of the disputes that have made this such a colorful field in recent years.
I admit being biased a bit. I have worked with the author a few times in trying to make sense of SETI, especially the issue of whether Earth civilization should start shouting at the cosmos ([...]) in order to draw attention to this little planet. This book is among the few places where a reader can get a balanced view of the arguments, hearing all sides and getting a chance to weigh things for yourself.
David Brin (With permission of Cheryl!)
[...]
I admit being biased a bit. I have worked with the author a few times in trying to make sense of SETI, especially the issue of whether Earth civilization should start shouting at the cosmos ([...]) in order to draw attention to this little planet. This book is among the few places where a reader can get a balanced view of the arguments, hearing all sides and getting a chance to weigh things for yourself.
David Brin (With permission of Cheryl!)
[...]
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By Troy Gordon
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is most definitely well researched. The author goes to great pains to present every possible angle to the reader and provide them with famous lines from greats in the field like Carl Sagan. The ideas presented can be quite interesting, and likely new to anybody who is not already involved in the science behind the search. The downfall of the book is that the author says the same things a hundred different times in several different chapters. It gets old, repetitive, and boring quite quickly. I honestly feel the 376 pages of text could have been done in far fewer, but somehow a smaller book would have appeared less informed/intelligent/scholarly. The history in the beginning is interesting, but once you get into the thought provoking hypothesizing middle and end, it drones. I can't recommend any other options, and if you can read dry school texts that remind you of English grammar class in high school and enjoy it, this book may be worth while. I was fighting to finish this book, constantly bored with it, and I love to read. Could have been a great read, but the organization and repetition makes you brain wonder what else there is in the world it would rather be doing.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Work
This is an excellent work by one of our most brilliant minds in the field of earthly diplomacy.
We can, of course, have no idea how and where we may discover intelligent... Read more
We can, of course, have no idea how and where we may discover intelligent... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Leo J. Moser
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very well written and very thought-provoking!
This book is the most thoroughly-researched and closely-referenced work I have ever read. For another reviewer to give it 1 star is totally disingenuous and quite insulting to the... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Sřren Aabye Kierkegaard "Ed"
3.0 out of 5 stars
objective but narrow-sighted
If one is narrowly focused in ruminating about the notion of Extra-Terrestrial contact, this book ought to advance and instill a much broader range of consideration within all... Read more
Published on January 20, 2009 by Jimbo83478
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Deeply Flawed, Onesided Survery of SETI
Sadly, Michael A.G. Michaud uses outdated arguments and information to present a rather one-sided view of SETI that fails to examine the total impact contact with alien... Read more
Published on May 22, 2007 by Joseph Baneth Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars
A True Service
Michael Michaud has performed a service for the specialized as well as the lay reader with this comprehensive review of who might be out there, how do we find out and how might we... Read more
Published on March 19, 2007 by Robert G. Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars
More interesting ideas per page than most books I've read
What is man's place in the Universe? Is the Universe teeming with life, and intelligent life at that or, are we an oasis of intelligence in an otherwise empty Universe? Read more
Published on March 19, 2007 by Silverback
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