HW#11: Detecting Life in Space
 

I'll tell you one thing about the universe, though. The universe is a pretty big place. It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it's just us... seems like an awful waste of space. Right?  - Ellie Arroway, Contact
 

25 points - Due: Thursday 5/20/10 in class at 10:30 AM

You have options on this homework assignment.  In either case, please involve friends and family, and solicit their opinions about these questions. Please choose either to:

1) Watch the movie, Contact, (1997), written by Carl Sagan and directed by Robert Zemeckis.  Write a short 250+ word essay about whether the portrayal of humanity's response to the confirmation of contact with an intelligent extra-terrestrial civilization is reasonable, and provide specific examples from the movie where you and your friends or family members who watched with you feel the director did or did not err in that portrayal.

OR

2) Read The Social Effects of Detection, available online from the SETI institute (http://www.seti.org), which includes two short articles, Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence and What Are the Possible Societal Effects of a SETI Success?   

Discuss the content of these articles with friends or family.  Comment on the articles in an essay of at least 250 words.  Do you think that contacting intelligent civilizations would or would not provoke panic, or massive changes in religious worship?  Do you think society should "prepare" for the possibility in some way?

Other interesting resources to explore:

Fraknoi, A. (2003) Cosmic Decoders: Exchanging Messages with Alien Civilizations. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. http://www.astrosociety.org/education/family/resources/seti.html

Schetsche, M. (2005) SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and the Consequences: Futurological Reflections on the Confrontation of Mankind with an Extraterrestrial Civilization.  http://www.astrosociology.com/Library/PDF/Contributions/SETIandConsequences_ENG.pdf

Shostak, S. (2006) Contact: What Happens if a Signal is Found. Spaceref. com.  http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1149

Shostak. S. (2005) Alien Contact.  Firstscience.com. http://www.firstscience.com/SITE/ARTICLES/shostak.asp