Customer Reviews

Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials

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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.

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!)
[...]

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.

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 react. The subject is inherently difficult not only for its immense scope and implications but also for its nearly inextricable linking with the world of science fiction and fantasy. Michaud remains objective throughout and this cold objectivity makes his story all the more fascinating and compelling. The book is free of sensationalism, making no play at all on the science fiction aspects of the subjects. Nevertheless, the author doesn't shy away from popular subjects like space colonization and interstellar flight.

In thirty-three unnumbered chapters the author organizes his presentation under such headings as Searching for Intelligence; Probabilities of Life, Intelligence, Civilization, Technology and Science; Direct Contact, Why Don't We See Them?; a marvelous exposition on Reformulating the Problem; Contact Scenarios, Fears, Dangers; After Contact; and Some Conclusions Drawn.

The arrangement of headings, different typefaces and boxes in the text make the information easily accessible. The language is clear, never pedantic.

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 author. It's worth 3 stars for the meticulous research alone.

The author covers the search for extraterrestrials and what might happen if we find them from just about every angle in considerable detail. Significantly, he brings us up to speed with the latest thinking on the Drake equation, and his considerations go some way to answering the Fermi Paradox.

It's very difficult for a work as dense and complicated as this to provide a review that does it justice. I would simply urge anyone with an interest in SETI and possible contact scenarios to read this book. It does indeed seem to be the mother of all such books in this genre and clearly represents many years' of learning and experience - as well as work - on the part of the author.

To his credit the author keeps the tone of the book soberly factual and objective throughout, when it would have been easy for him to delve into areas that are the preserve of science fiction fans. If he's repetitive, its because its difficult not to be in a work that is treating a purely speculative subject. Personally, I don't feel the relatively small amount of repetition is a problem - it merely serves to highlight the totally speculative nature of the entire discourse. We may or may not encounter extraterrestrials for a myriad of reasons. They may or may not wish to communicate with us for another myriad of reasons.

But easy bedtime reading this is not - it's a dense, tightly-packed theoretical work loaded with thoughts, theories, questions and issues touching on science, philosophy, ethics, politics and history. In my view the author does full justice to what must be a very difficult subject to write well about.

This book is not easy but is well worth the effort - I urge any interested reader to pick it up. It's definitely a title I'm going to be holding onto.

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? What would an alien civilization be like and why would aliens want to communicate with us? What would aliens say and how would we decode their message or, would we want to? What would reception of such a message mean for our existing civilization? Why would long distance contact be so different in its implications and effects than direct contact? In discussing these and many other questions Michaud's very well written and meticulously footnoted book touches on human evolution and what it means to be human, technology, religion, social dynamics, politics, human psychology and motivation, the history of first contacts here on Earth and a myriad of other topics. Machaud lays out and explores the many hypotheses researchers have developed based on the only example they have--us--about alien cultures, technologies, capabilities and motives. This meaty book presents many issues, conjectures and questions to mull over in the days and years ahead. Contact is packed with ideas which are of concern to all of us and not just to fans of science fiction.

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 facets of the subject.

Michaud covers a lot of bases, but seems to maintain the ideal that contact has yet to be found. This seems somewhat contradictory to his, otherwise, comprehensive evaluation of the possibilities of contact, as there are mountains of literature chronicling verifiable sightings by upstanding eye-witnesses, physical evidence of landings, the abduction phenomenon, and declassified military documents concerning the subject of extra-terrestrials. While Michaud devotes countless pages to possible scenarios of contact in the future, he offers the reader little - if any - possibility that contact may have already occurred. To the serious and educated ufo researcher, this is laughable.

It is my conjecture that Michaud is either unaware of all the documentation supporting present visitation or he is simply turning a deaf ear to it: "out of sight, out of mind," as the old saying goes. I suppose this is to be expected coming from a member of SETI. Nonetheless, the book is remarkably inclusive on almost all other accounts and worth reading for anyone interested in pondering such ideas with a rational mind.

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 civilizations. Once rather curious arguement that Michaud makes is that Humanity shouldn't delude itself into thinking that aliens will act like Humans - but they - the aliens - will commit the Human act of opening up a dialouge. With apologies to David Brin, I think the words of my favorite science fiction character, the B-9 Enviromental Robot, is appropriate here to paraphase: "This book does not compute."

Joseph Baneth Allen