The Scientific and Philosophical Possibilities of Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life
This week, we dive into a new topic: the possibility of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and what scientific, religious, and philosophical perspectives might have to say about this possibility.
Fiction Reading
For this week, here are things to be working on when it comes to your fiction reading.
First, you should finish Binti.
Second, start reading Out of the Silent Planet (content warning - there are some stressful moments in the book where the protagonist considers self-harm).
Philosophy Content
There’s just one philosophy reading for today. It is by, well…Joe. Yeah, professors who assign their own material are the worst.
As you read, keep this question in mind:
For each of the theories of personhood described in the article, which would count intelligent extraterrestrial life as people? Should intelligent extraterrestrials count as people?
Here’s the article: “Personhood and Natural Kinds,” by Joe Vukov.
Science Content
The potential for life outside of Earth is biologically exciting and finding evidence of extraterrestrial life would be
For the first video - and it might seem to be a little out of left field - think about this:
What things on Earth can we, as humans, productively consume and metabolize? What things are edible?
Why is this the case? What are the biological elements/properties at play that determine this compatibility?
(and this is a tough one) What would the implications be if we were to discover extraterrestrial flora and fauna that was compatible with our digestive processes? What hypotheses might be able to explain why that might be the case?
For the second video, the presenter provides a lovely overview of the famous Drake equation. It’s a rough estimate of the likelihood that there’s intelligent, technological life elsewhere in our section of the galaxy (not the universe, just the Milky Way), with whom we might be able to communicate. Here’s what I’d like you to do with this video: draw out the Drake equation for yourself as practice and see if you’re able to explain what each of the different components are (or you can cheat and use the interactive calculator linked here).
This [optional] episode of the Drabblecast is not required. I thought it was an interesting story though, as it really highlighted that we make quite a few assumptions about what other minds might be like (e.g. that other minds will be like our own!) that might not be justified.