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- From: mt90dac@brunel.ac.uk (Del Cotter)
- Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,sci.anthropology,rec.arts.sf.science
- Subject: Invitation to SETI mailing list
- Summary: CONTACT X -- INVITATION for PARTICIPATION in simSETI
- Keywords: SETI,simulation,alien,cultures,speculation
- Message-ID: <C0p1wo.Bu2@brunel.ac.uk>
- Date: 11 Jan 93 14:36:19 GMT
- Organization: Brunel University, West London, UK
- Lines: 113
-
- The message below is an invitation to join a simulation of a successful
- Contact with ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence. If you are interested in
- participating in simSETI, contact Jim Moore at:
-
- simseti-request@ucsd.edu
-
- Please trim the Newsgroups line as appropriate when posting followups.
- ---Message follows---
-
- *******************************************************
- * CONTACT X -- INVITATION for PARTICIPATION in *
- * *
- * simSETI *
- * *
- *******************************************************
-
- CONTACT is a national academic conference which brings together some of the
- nation's foremost scientists, science fiction writers and artists to
- exchange ideas, explore possibilities and stimulate new perspectives about
- humanity's future. Since anthropologists study "alien" cultures and science
- fiction writers & artists create them, each group may learn something about
- "The Other" from such interaction. Our goal: To encourage serious and
- creative inter-disciplinary speculation guided by the principles of science.
-
- Each year we meet at CONTACT to promote the integration of human factors
- into space age research and policy, emphasize the interaction of the Arts
- and Sciences and their technologies, and develop ethical approaches in
- cross-cultural contact, whenever and wherever it occurs.
-
- ABOUT simSETI: How would Earth respond to a successful SETI (Search for
- Extraterrestrial Intelligence)? There are three approaches to finding out:
- conduct a real SETI and see what happens (very accurate, but no room for
- mistakes); armchair speculation (accuracy depends on the speculator, with
- only persuasiveness to validate the ideas prior to "testing"); or to try to
- simulate the event (questionable accuracy, but probably the most "realistic"
- we can hope for).
-
- simSETI is a simulated ETI detection event, begun at CONTACT IX in March,
- 1992 and continued via Internet since then. In it, an "ET team" has created
- an alien and the planet, ecology, and culture to go with it; these ETs have
- sent a signal which has been received by an "Earth team" which is trying to
- decode, interpret, and respond to the signal. So far, the Earth team has
- largely decoded the first set of signals and concluded that they do indeed
- represent a message (apparently containing information about a planetary
- system and some elementary math notation, etc). Additional messages
- received within the last month are still being deciphered, and more are
- expected in the weeks preceding CONTACT X (copies of these signals are
- available by email from the address below).
-
- CONTACT X will be held in Santa Clara, CA, from 26-28 Feb. 1993. During the
- conference we will attempt to interpret the ET signals, what they tell us
- and what they tell us about the senders themselves. We will then try to
- formulate a "global policy," respond, and see what happens. Some people
- will be onsite, and the rest will continue to participate via email.
-
- What each of us will really learn from this exercise will depend on our
- interests. For some, simSETI represents a cryptography puzzle; for others,
- the challenge lies in re-constructing the ETs based on fragmentary clues
- plus general physical, biological, and cultural principles. It is
- impossible to predict whether or not we will learn anything about ourselves
- that is directly useful for NASA planners. That is in the nature of a
- simulation--if we knew what insights it would provide, there would be no
- point in doing it (other than to have fun!).
-
- If you are interested in participating in simSETI, contact Jim Moore at
-
- simseti-request@ucsd.edu
-
- We especially hope for participation from continents other than North
- America. Because CONTACT is based here and most onsite participants are
- American, this simulation of a global event risks missing out a global
- perspective.
-
- ************************************************************************
- * CONTACT is the brainchild of Jim Funaro (Anthropology Dept., *
- * Cabrillo College, Aptos CA 95003), with input from many others *
- * over the 9 years it has been going. You can read about CONTACT *
- * in the October 1992 issue of _Omni_ ("How to build an alien", by *
- * Keith Ferrell); write to Jim Funaro for more background on CONTACT *
- * or for registration information to attend CONTACT X in person (no *
- * registration required for email participants). A newsletter is *
- * published four times a year and is available for $15 annually from *
- * Greg Barr, CONTACT Newsletter, 1412 Potomac Ave. SE, Washington DC *
- * 20003-3032. *
- * *
- * CONTACT consists of: *
- * SYMPOSIA: Interdisciplinary forums in which professional *
- * scientists, writers and artists present scholarly papers for *
- * publication and for discussion with the audience. *
- * *
- * THE BATESON PROJECT: A seminar of invited experts each year *
- * addresses a selected topic of academic and public interest *
- * relating to our future on Earth or in space. *
- * *
- * CULTURES OF THE IMAGINATION: An educational scenario involving *
- * world building (physical sciences), creating an appropriate *
- * alien ecology and biology (life sciences), culture design *
- * (social sciences), and/or cross-cultural contact (sciences, *
- * arts, and humanities). *
- * *
- * WORKSHOPS: Educational mini-courses directed by professionals *
- * provide theoretical background and "hands-on" experience in *
- * world construction, bioform design, culture building, inter- *
- * cultural contact, etc. *
- * *
- ************************************************************************
-
-
- ---Message ends---
- --
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