Speaking Beyond Earth

Paul E. Quast is an interdisciplinary scholar based in Scotland. He is a director for the Beyond the Earth foundation, an NGO studying the semiotics of information-exchange systems, while assessing emergent, long-term anthropogenic legacies for the benefit of future stewardship applications. David Dunér is a professor of history of science and ideas at Lund University, Sweden. He is a board member and director of METI International, and member of the working group on the Historical, Philosophical, Societal and Ethical Issues in Astrobiology within the European Astrobiology Institute.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsForeword: Beyond Ourselves: An Archaeological Reflection on Sending Messages to Other WorldsAlice GormanA Brief History and an Imminent FuturePart 1: Why We SpeakPrologue: Murmuring from Earth: A Human Portrait of Representational Phenomena Across Deep Space and Cosmic TimePaul E. QuastA Cultural History of “Speaking” for Earth: A Taxonomic Approach for Exoatmospheric “Messages”Paul E. QuastPart 2: What WeThe Tyranny of Assumption: What We Should and Should Not Expect ETI to Understand in Our MessagingJohn W. Traphagan and Kelly SmithSETI and Terrestrial Visual Perception: What Can We Learn About Communicating with Other Species from Human Visual Perception and Visual Ecology?Christopher GillespieApproaches to Communicating with Extraterrestrial IntelligenceJohn W. TraphaganHow We Think We Know What We Think We Know and How the Unknown Others May Think They Know What We Think We Know (and Show)Paul E. Quast and Klara Anna CapovaBetween pages 130 and 131 are 8 color plates with 14 photographsPart 3: Reading Outside the MessagePer aspera ad astra: But Does One Really Speak for Them All?Klara Anna Capova and Paul E. QuastFinding Meaning in Terra Nullius and Beyond: Uncovering Clues in the Exoatmospheric Archaeological RecordPaul E. QuastWho Will Speak for Earth? Stakeholders, Scholars, and Stewardship in the Future Exoatmospheric RecordPaul E. QuastAfterword: ChallengesCornelius HoltorfGlossaryAppendix: A Profile of Humanity: The Cultural Signature of Earth’s Inhabitants Beyond the AtmospherePaul E. QuastBibliographyAbout the Contributors Index