Adopt A Scientist
Doug Vakoch
Want to get to know the dozens of scientists who are pondering the cultural dimensions of astrobiology and space exploration?
Visit the Allen Telescope Array at Hat Creek Radio Observatory in northern California to celebrate the publication of Doug’s book Culture in the Cosmos: Extraterrestrial Life and Society. As a sponsor of this multidisciplinary workshop at Hat Creek, you will join anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, and astronomers at the forefront of SETI research, as they plan the next steps to prepare for contact. In the company of these scientists, as well as on a private tour of the Observatory, you’ll learn first hand about the innovative array that may give us the first empirical proof we’re not alone in the universe.
If you’d prefer to travel abroad, join Doug in Daejeon, Korea in the fall of 2009. In Daejeon you’ll attend the 60th annual International Astronautical Congress, which brings together scientists and engineers from the worldwide aerospace industry. Here Doug will lead a symposium on SETI and Society, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk informally with the speakers at the annual SETI dinner, which brings together members of the international SETI community for a longstanding yearly social event. After the Congress, join Doug for a tour of the Yonsei University Observatory and talk with the leaders of Korea’s new SETI program.
If your interests include the legal and ethical dimensions of space exploration, while in Korea you can meet some of Doug’s fellow members of the International Institute of Space Law to discuss the latest policy issues facing space scientists—including how we’ll decide whether to send messages to other civilizations! As the third largest city in South Korea and home to many of Korea’s hi-tech industries, Daejeon and the surrounding area also offer many opportunities for day trips tailored to your interests.
If we detect extraterrestrial intelligence, how will people around the world respond? Should we reply? If so, what should we say?
The scientist who grapples with these questions at the SETI Institute is Doug Vakoch, Director of Interstellar Message Composition. Doug coordinates an international team of scholars from the arts, sciences, and humanities to ponder how we might create messages that would represent Earth’s diverse cultures.
With a doctorate in psychology and degrees in comparative religion and the history and philosophy of science, Doug contemplates the deeper human significance of SETI and astrobiology.
“By thinking about how we should portray ourselves in messages to other worlds,” Doug explains, “we’re forced to clarify what we value most about ourselves and our own world. By thinking more about extraterrestrials, we learn more about what it means to be human.”
And if we never discover life in space?
“Whatever the result of our search—whether we learn that life is plentiful or rare,” Doug says, “we’re guaranteed to gain a better sense of our place in the universe.”