| CONFESSIONS OF AN ALIEN HUNTER A Scientist's Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Seth Shostak Frank Drake (Fwd.) Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2009 |
Rating: 4.5 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-1-4262-0392-3 | ||||
| ISBN-10 1-4262-0392-6 | 309p. | HC/BWI | $27.00 | |
Seth Shotak is senior astronomer with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. This interesting book is part memoir, but mostly a report on the history of SETI — the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence1 — and its current status. Shostak discusses every aspect of his topic, including the scientific basis for SETI, its funding,2 how it's treated in movies,3 what would happen if a genuine signal were detected, and some far-out, future methods of signalling. He also spends quite a bit of time on the UFO phenomenon4 and on UFO organizations like MUFON (the Mutual UFO Network) because their members contribute a large portion of his e-mail.
Drawing on the latest research in astrobiology and artificial life, Shostak speculates on the biological makeup of possible alien creatures. And he spends some time on that great assassinator of SETI, the central question that outsiders, especially those concerned with expenditures that somebody might consider frivolous, always ask — that question being: "Why should anybody spend time and money looking for signals from space aliens?"
"Despite all the reasons for quitting [SETI], doing so would be ill-advised. The sort of arguments the skeptics make would dissuade any explorer. Imagine being a member of the Spanish court in the late 15th century, counselling Columbus. You might suggest he give wooden ships a pass and hang fire for 500 years, after which he could cross the Atlantic in hours, eating low-grade meals off his lap. Yet Columbus discovered an extraordinary new world, and his wooden ships were (just) good enough to find it." – Page 293 |
In Rocket to the Moon, one of the 1950s B movies, there's a scene in which the inventor, who's built his own moon-rocket and is a day away from launching, gets a visit from a general — who confiscates his entire operation. "Guided missiles are government business," declares the general. "Strictly government!"
There's a substantial number of people who feel that's what would happen to SETI if contact was made. I suppose it's all part of the general tendency to believe in conspiracies and government crackdowns. But, as Shostak makes clear several times, this is not something that could be suppressed. It is of course an international effort. More than that, it is run by people with a bone-deep ethos of sharing information. If a message comes, we will know about it.
Columbus is not the most appropriate analogy; the Ming Dynasty explorer Zheng He works better these days, especially when the rights of native peoples enter the equation. Also it was the court of Castillo y Aragon, and the courtiers would have been advising Ferdinand and Isabella. But, historical quibbles aside, Shostak's point is valid: listening for ET signals is a relatively inexpensive means of exploration with the potential for enormous payoff. For that reason it is, like pure science generally, well worth the gamble — and right now, since we can do it now.
On pages 104-105, Shostak argues that as your sample size expands to include more and more different species, the extreme values of IQ keep expanding too. That is, the more species you test, there's always a smarter species than you saw before at the right-hand end of the bell curve, and a dumber one at the left. Maybe he just explains this poorly, but I don't buy it.
I don't buy his argument on page 199 either. He says here that, since hypothetical aliens would not detect our technical civilization thousands of years ago — because it wasn't here — they never would have bothered to visit Earth. Sorry; they could have seen the signs of life on our planet: the presence of free oxygen in the atmosphere. We are almost able to detect life signs on planets of other stars. Given that, aliens of a certain mindset would want to take a closer look, and might even leave observation gear.
Shostak knows his subject, both the science and the history. He writes well, using a folksy style with flashes of wit. He chooses adjectives well, avoids getting too technical, and is good at meshing the esoteric quest with concerns of everyday life so that the text remains accessible to the layman.
I did find a relatively large number of grammatical goofs, a couple of arguments that seemed bogus, and some errors of fact. I marked the book down from the top rating for that reason. But it is for the most part accurate and enjoyable. That makes it a worthy introduction to the topic. I recommend it and consider it a keeper.
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