Abstract
Here we examine some of the basic concepts that are likely to be important in communicating with ETI. Basic concepts such as ‘trade’, ‘peace’, ‘trust’, even ‘war’, which are essential to any form of enduring worthwhile communication, are not so simple when we consider the invisible baggage. In this chapter we shall examine these issues within various frameworks we are familiar with from our human experience. This is not to say that these are the only frameworks possible; they are simply the ones we as humans, are familiar with, and within which we are likely to interpret these types of exchanges. Our ETI correspondents may well view them in other ways. Specifically, we look at various forms--collective and individual--of the presentation of self, including diplomatic issues. We also look at trade and exchange and what they may consist of, and at the necessity and possibility of legal frameworks. The implication of these issues for communicating with exotic races is also explored.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Not that this is the only possible scheme, but it has the advantage of being simple, concrete, and replicable.
- 2.
I owe the genesis of this experiment to Larry Niven’s The Draco Tavern (2006).
- 3.
Yes, an oxymoron, I know, but do not have a better words for a focused, aggressive, religiously motivated war, notably given the multiple glosses of the Muslim word jihad .
- 4.
Instantaneous universal communicative device proposed by LeGuin (Rocannon’s World, 1966; The left hand of darkness, 1969), here used as a thought experiment in instantaneous communication.
- 5.
The only non-empire state I can think of offhand is Iceland .
- 6.
That having been said, it is conceivable that a sufficiently sophisticated AI or near-AI, modeled carefully on a human diplomat, could, in theory, be transmitted at light speed to a receptive audience somewhere in interstellar space. This provides some interesting problems, but really does not change the paradigm much.
- 7.
Those who passed the imperial examination, whether they acceded to government office or not, were excused judicial torture for many less serious crimes.
- 8.
There is always the possibility of using some type of 3D printing by the receiving party. Notwithstanding, the actual “material” transmitted would be information for the printer, not the 3D object obtained.
- 9.
This concept, which is easily demonstrable in any public worship ritual, is a development of Guthrie’s statement that “participating publicly in a ritual is equivalent to acquiescence to the theological, moral, and cosmic beliefs behind the ritual” (Guthrie 1980).
- 10.
That they are technologically more advanced than us is a basic SETI assumption, so rasterizing television signals should not provide an insurmountable technical challenge.
- 11.
There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. I gratefully acknowledge Larry Niven as the originator of this term.
References
Adams, D. et al. (Eds.). (1984) Undermining rural development with cheap credit. London: Westview Special Studies in Social Policies and Development.
Agnew, J. A. (1982). Technology transfer and theories of development: Conceptual issues in the South Asian context. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 17, 1–2.
Anderson, B. (2011). Facing the future enemy. Theory Culture Society, 28(7–8), 216–240.
Araki, H. (1978). The wandering infant-noble theme in Japanese legends and mass media. World Anthropology Folklore in the Modern World, 147–54.
Arbib, M. A. (1979). Minds and millenia: The psychology of interstellar communication. Cosmic Search, 1(3), 21–25.
Ashkenazi, M. (1991). Local Japanese responses to missionary activities. Social Compass, 38(2), 141–154.
Ashkenazi, M. (2012). Development is destruction, and other things you weren’t told at school. In V. Franke & R. Dorff (Eds.), Conflict management and ‘whole of government’: Useful tools for U.S. national security strategy? (pp. 91–125). Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute.
Augsburger, D. W. (1992). Conflict mediation across cultures: Pathways and patterns. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox.
Avenhaus, R., & Zartman, W. I. (Eds.). (2007). Diplomacy games: Formal models and international negotiations. Berlin: Springer.
Avruch, K. (1998). Culture and conflict resolution. Washington, DC: United States Institute for Peace.
Avruch, K. (2001). Notes toward ethnographies of conflict and violence. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 30(5), 637–648.
Bailey, F. G. (1968). Parapolitical systems. In M. J. Swartz (Ed.), Local-level politics (pp. 281–294). Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Bailey, F. G. (1969). Stratagems and spoils. New York: Schoken.
Baldacchino, G. (2009). Thucydides or Kissinger? A critical review of smaller state diplomacy. In A. F. Cooper & T. M. Shaw (Eds.), The diplomacies of small states: Between vulnerability and resilience (pp. 21–40). New York: Palgrave/MacMillan.
Balikci, A. (1973). Conflict and society. In T. Weaver (Ed.), To see ourselves (pp. 370–379). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Co.
Barbrook, R. (2007). New York prophecies: The imaginary future of artificial intelligence. Science as Culture, 16(2), 151–167.
Barlett, P. F., & Brown, P. J. (1991). Agricultural development and the quality of life. In A. Podolefsky & P. Brown (Eds.), Applying cultural anthropology: An introductory reader (pp. 76–83). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.
Barth, F. (1966). Models of social organization. Glasgow: The University Press.
Barth, F. (1981). Process and form in social life. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Beattie, G. (1983). Talk: An analysis of speech and non-verbal behaviour in conversation. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Befu, H. (1974). Gift-giving in a modernizing Japan. In T. S. Lebra, & W. P. Lebra (Eds.), Japanese culture and behavior (pp. 208–21). Honolulu, Hawaii: The University Press of Hawaii.
Bercovitch, J., & Jackson, R. (2009). Conflict resolution in the twenty-first century: Principles, methods, and approaches. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Biddle, B. J. (1986). Recent development in role theory. Annual review of sociology 1986, 67–92.
Biddle, B. J., & Theory, R. (2013). Expectations, identities, and behaviors. New York: Academic Press.
Bobrow, D. G., & Brady, J. Michael. (1998). Artificial intelligence 40 years later. Artificial Intelligence, 103(1–2), 1–4.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press.
Brahm, E. (2003). Conflict stages. In G. Burgess & H. Burgess (Eds.), Beyond intractability. Boulder: Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado.
Burton, J. W. (1990). Conflict: Resolution and prevention. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Bushell, D., Jr., & Burgess, R. L. (1969). Some basic principles of behavior. In R. L. Burgess Jr. & D. Bushell (Eds.), Behavioral sociology (pp. 27–48). NY: Columbia University Press.
Bylinsky, G. (1981). Life in Darwin’s universe: Evolution and the cosmos. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
Campany, R. F. (2002). To live as long as heaven and earth: A translation and study of Ge Hong’s traditions of divine transcendents. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Carrigan, R. A. (2006). Do potential SETI signals need to be decontaminated? Acta Astronautica, 58(2), 112–117.
Carrigan, R. A. (2010). Starry messages: Searching for signatures of interstellar archaeology. arXiv:1001.5455.
Censor, D. (2005). Relativistic electrodynamics: Various postulate and ratiocination frameworks. Progress in Electromagnetics Research, 52, 301–320.
Chadefaux, T. (2014). Early warning signals for war in the news. Journal of Peace Research, 51(1), 5–18.
Chang, S.-K. (2010). Editorial: A general framework for slow intelligence systems. International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, 20(01), 1–15.
Ćirković, M. M. (2004). Forecast for the next Eon: Applied cosmology and the long-term fate of intelligent beings. Foundations of Physics, 34, 239–261.
Ćirković, M. M., & Bradbury, R. J. (2006). Galactic gradients, postbiological evolution and the apparent failure of SETI. New Astronomy, 11(8), 628–639.
Ćirković, M. M., & Vukotic, B. (2008). Astrobiological phase transition: Towards resolution of Fermi’s paradox. Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, 38(6), 535–547.
Cohen, A. (1977). The social organization of credit in a West African Cattle Market. In W. Steffen, S. Schmidt, L. Guasti, et al. (Eds.), Friends followers & factions (pp. 223–242). Berkeley CA: University of California Press.
Cooper, A. F. (2007). Beyond Hollywood and the boardroom: Celebrity diplomacy. Geographic Journal of International Affairs, 8, 125–129.
Cooper, A. F., & Shaw, T. M. (Eds.). (2009). The Diplomacies of small states: Between vulnerability and resilience. New York: Palgrave/MacMillan.
Crapanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874–900.
Curtis, P., & Nichols, D. (1993). MUDs grow up: Social virtual reality in the real world. Palo Alto: Xerox PARC.
Dahrendorf, R. (1968). Essays in the theory of society. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
Dawkins, R. (2006). The selfish gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dawkins, R. (2009). The god delusion. New York: Random House.
De Nys, M. J. (2009). Considering transcendence: Elements of a philosophical theology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Dick, S. J. (2010). The postbiological universe. Acta Astronautica, 62(8-9), 499–504.
Dror, I., & Stevan H. (2008). Offloading cognition onto cognitive technology. arXiv:0808.3569.
Epstein, A. L. (1973). The reasonable man revisited: Some problems in the anthropology of law. Law and Society Review, 7(4), 643–666.
Fagan, B. M. (1984). The Aztecs. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co.
Fasan, E. (1970). Relations with alien intelligences. Berlin: Berlin Verlag.
Faulconer, J. E. (Ed.). (2003). Transcendence in philosophy and religion. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Finn, H. K. (2003). The case for cultural diplomacy—Engaging foreign audiences. Foreign Affairs 82(6).
Firestone, R. B. (2011). The case for the younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact event: Mammoth, megafauna and Clovis extinction. http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8fj3d8mc. Accessed February 21, 2016.
Firth, R. (1977). Exchange on a Polynesian Island. In W. Goldschmidt (Ed.), Exploring the ways of mankind (pp. 265–273). New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Forde, C. D. (1963). Habitat, economy and society. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
Forgan, D. H., & Elvis, M. (2011). Extrasolar asteroid mining as forensic evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence. International Journal of Astrobiology, 10(4), 307–313.
Fridman, P. A. (2011). SETI: The transmission rate of radio communication and the signal’s detection. Acta Astronautica, 69, 777–787.
Gamst, F. C. (1974). Peasants in complex society. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.
Gardner, R., & Heider, K. G. (1968). Gardens of war: Life and death in the New Guinea stone age. New York: Random House.
Gato-Rivera, B. (2003). Brane worlds, the subanthropic principle and the undetectability conjecture. arXiv:physics/0308078.
Gilboa, E. (2008). Searching for a theory of public diplomacy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616, 55–77.
Glozman, E., Barak-Corren, N., & Yaniv, I. (2015). False negotiations: The art and science of not reaching an agreement. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 59(4), 671–697.
Gluckman, M. (1954). Rituals of rebellion in South-East Africa. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Gluckman, M. (1972). The ideas in Barotse jurisprudence. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Goffman, E. (1956). The nature of deference and demeanor. American Anthropologist, 58, 473–503.
Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Anchor Books.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual. New York: Anchor/Doubleday.
Goffman, E., & Best, J. (2005). Interaction ritual: Essays in face to face behavior. Rochester NY: Aldine Transaction.
Goldsmith, D. (1990). Who will speak for Earth? Possible structures for shaping a response to a signal detected from an extraterrestrial civilization. Acta Astronautica, 21(2), 149–151.
Goodall, J. (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of behavior. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Grady, S. M., & Reality, V. (2003). Simulating and enhancing the world with computers. New York: Facts on File.
Grandi, F. (2013). Why do the victors kill the vanquished? Explaining political violence in post-world war II Italy. Journal of Peace Research, 50(5), 577–593.
Griffith, S. B. (Trans.) (1963). Sun Tzu—The art of war. New York: Oxford University Press.
Guthrie, S. (1980). A cognitive theory of religion. Current Anthropology, 21(2), 181–204.
Hall, E. T. (1959). The silent language. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Hicks, F. (1979). Flowery war in Aztec history. American Ethnologist, 6, 87–92.
Hoebel, E. A. (1967). The law of primitive man. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Homans, G. (1969). Elements of behavior. In D. W. Miner & S. Greer (Eds.), The concept of community (pp. 5–19). Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Jaekson, J. A. (Ed.). (1972). Role. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jönnson, C., & Hall, M. (2003). Communication: An essential aspect of diplomacy. International Studies Perspectives, 4, 195–210.
Kahn, H., et al. (1978). Kahn, Mead, and Thompson: A three-way debate on the future. Futurist, 12(4), 229–232.
Kingsley, S. A. (2001). Optical SETI observatories in the New Millennium: A review. http://www.coseti.org/pdf/4273–06.pdf
Kohl, J. V., & Francoeur, R. T. (1995). The scent of eros: Mysteries of odor in human sexuality. New York: Continuum Publishing Company.
Kurzweil, R. (2010). Merging with the machines: Information technology, artificial intelligence, and the law of exponential growth. World Future Review, 2(2), 57–61.
Kuttner, R. E. (1981). The nature of extraterrestrial communication. Cosmic Search, 20–21.
Landes, D. S. (1998). The wealth and poverty of nations: Why are some so rich and others so poor. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Leach, J. W., & Edmund L. (Eds.). (1983). The Kula: New perspectives on Massim exchange. In Proceedings of the Kula and Massim Exchange Conference 1978. King’s College, University of Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Learned, J. G., & Kudritzki, R., et al. (2008). The Cepheid galactic internet. arXiv:0809.0339.
Lefebvre, V. A., & Yuri, E. N. (2000). Cosmic intelligence and black holes. arXiv:astro-ph/0005546.
LeGuin, U. K. (1969). Rocannon’s world (1966), The left hand of darkness (1969).
Liang, Q., & Wang, X. (1999). Unrestricted warfare. Beijing: PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House.
Litwak, R. (2007). Regime change: US strategy through the prism of 9/11. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Lyng, S. (1988). Theoretical observations on applied behavioral science. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 24(1), 101–117.
Maine, Sir H. S. (1906). Ancient law, its connection with the early history of society and its relation to modern ideas, with an introduction and notes by Sir Frederick Pollock (Vol. 4th American from the 10th London edition). New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Malinowski, B. (1961). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.
Malinowski, B. (1968). In Tewara and Sanaroa—Mythology of the Kula. In R. A. Georges (Ed.), Studies on mythology (pp. 72–101). Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press.
Marshall, C. (1999). Warfare in the medieval world. Austin: Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers.
Maruyama, M. (1976). Designing a space community. Futurist, 10(5), 273–281.
Mauss, M. (1966). The gift (I. Cunnison, Trans.). London: Cohen & West.
McGraw, A. P., & Tetlock, P. E. (2005). Taboo Trade-offs, relational framing, and the acceptability of exchanges. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(1), 2–15.
McLemore, S. D. (1970). Simmel’s ‘Stranger’: A critique of the concept. Pacific Sociological Review, 13(2), 86–94.
Melin, M. M., Gartner, S. S., & Bercovitch, J. (2013). Fear of rejection: The puzzle of unaccepted mediation offers in international conflict. Conflict Management and Peace Science, 30(4), 354–368.
Merkle, R. C. (1992). Self replicating systems and molecular manufacturing. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 45(10), 407–413.
Michaud, M. A. G. (1979). Extraterrestrial politics. Cosmic Search, 11–14.
Michaud, M. A. G. (1998). Policy issues in communicating with ETI. Space Policy, 14(3), 173–178.
Molton, P. (1978). Exotic life and exobiology. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 31, 156–160.
Molton, P. (1981). The discovery, care and feeding of intelligent aliens. Spaceflight, 23, 176–180.
Moore, S. F. (1978). Law as process. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Moriarty, J. R. (1969). Ritual combat: A comparison of the Aztec “War of Flowers” and the medieval “melée”, presented at a meeting of the Southwestern Monuments Association in 1968.
Morris, D. (1982). The pocket guide to manwatching. London: Triad/Granada.
Morrison, P., Billingham, J., & Wolfe, J. (Eds.). (1977). The search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Moffet Field CA/New York: NASA/Dover Publications.
Narveson, J. (1985). Martians and morals: How to treat an alien. In E. Regis (Ed.), Extraterrestrials: Science and alien intelligence (pp. 245–265). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Niven, L.1970. Ringworld. New York: Ballantine.
Niven, L. 1973. Protector. New York: Ballantine.
Niven, L. 1975. Tales of Known Space. New York: Ballantine.
Niven, L. 2006. The Draco Tavern. New York: TOR Books.
Nudler, O. (1990). On conflicts and metaphors: Toward an extended rationality. In J. Burton (Ed.), Human needs theory (pp. 177–201). London: MacMillan Press Ltd.
Ouwehand, C. (1964). Namazu-E and their themes: An interpretative approach to some aspects of Japanese folk religion. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Palisi, B. J. (1970). Some suggestions about the transitory-permanence dimension of organizations. British Journal of Sociology, 200–206.
Polanyi, K. (1968). Primitive, archaic and modern economies. (G. Dalton, Trans. & Ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co.
Powers, R. B., & Kirkpatrick, K. (2013). Playing with conflict teaching conflict resolution through simulations and games. Simulation & Gaming, 44(1), 51–72.
Rampelotto, P. H. (2010). The search for life on other planets: Sulfur-based, silicon-based, ammonia-based life. Journal of Cosmology, 5, 818–827.
Raup, D. M. (1985). ETI without intelligence. In E. Regis (Ed.), Extraterrestrials: Science and alien intelligence (pp. 36–43). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Regis, E. (Ed.). (1985). Extraterrestrials: Science and alien intelligence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Reinhard, W., & Sturge, K. (2011). A short history of colonialism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Rice, C. (2008). Rethinking the national interest. Foreign Affairs, 87(4), 2–26.
Ross, M. H. (1986). A cross-cultural theory of political conflict and violence. Political Psychology, 7(3), 427–469.
Sahlins, M. D. (1972). Stone age economics. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Sakurada, K. (1980). The Ebisu-Gami in a fishing village. In D. Dorson (Ed.), Studies in Japanese folklore (pp. 122–132). New York: Arno Press.
Sanduloviciu, M., & Lozneanu, E. (2011). Ball lightning as a self-organization phenomenon. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102(D4), 41719.
Schank, R., & Birnbaum, L. (1994). Enhancing intelligence. In J. Khalfa (Ed.), What is intelligence (pp. 72–106). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schneider, J. (1977). A model for a non-chemical form of life: Crystalline physiology. Origins of Life, 8, 33.
Schneider, B. R., & Lawrence, G. (Eds.) (2001). Battlefield of the future: 21st century warfare issues. Maxwell Air Base: Air War College.
Scott, J. C. (1976). The moral economy of the peasant. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Shostak, S. (2010). Efficiency in SETI. Acta Astronautica, 68(3-4), 347–350.
Shuch, P., & Almar, I. (2007). Shouting in the jungle: The SETI tranmission debate. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 60, 142–146.
Simmel, G. (1950). The stranger. The Sociology of Georg Simmel. In K. Wolff (Trans, Ed.).Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Skinner, B. F. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York: Appleton-Century Crofts.
Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement in the design of a culture. In Jr. R. L. Burgess & D. Bushell Behavioral Sociology. New York: Columbia University Press.
Skinner, B. F., & Ferster, C. B. (2011). About behaviorism. New York: Vintage.
Skinner, B. F., & Ferster, C. B. (2014). Contingencies of reinforcement: A theoretical analysis. MA: BF Skinner Foundation.
Skinner, B. F., & Ferster, C. B. (2015). Schedules of reinforcement. MA: BF Skinner Foundation.
Smart, J. M. (2012). The transcension hypothesis: Sufficiently advanced civilizations invariably leave our universe, and implications for METI and SETI. Acta Astronautica, 78, 55–68.
Solomon, M. R., Surprenant, C., et al. (1985). A role theory perspective on dyadic interactions: The service encounter. The Journal of Marketing, 99–111.
Sullivan, W. (1964). We are not alone: The search for intelligent life on other worlds (Rev ed.). New York: Signet.
Swartz, M. J. (Ed.). (1968). Local-level politics: Social and cultural perspectives. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Symons, D. (1974). Aggressive play and communication in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). American Zoologist, 14(1), 317–322.
Tan, K. (2006). The duty to protect. Nomos, 84–116.
Traphagan, J. (2014). Extraterrestrial intelligence and human imagination: SETI at the intersection of science, religion, and culture. New York: Springer.
Turnbull, C. M. (1972). The mountain people. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Venkatesan, P. (2010). “Nanoselves”: NBIC and the culture of convergence. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(2), 119–129.
Watson, O. M. (1970). Proxemic behavior: A cross-cultural study. The Hague: Mouton.
Watson, R. A. (1979). Self-consciousness and the rights of nonhuman animals and nature. Environmental Ethics, 1(2), 99–129.
Wood, M. (1934). The stranger: A study in social relationships. New York: Columbia University Press.
Yoshida, T. (1977). The Japanese concept of ‘stranger’. Annual meeting. Houston: American Anthropological Association (Unpublished conference paper).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ashkenazi, M. (2017). Frameworks of Communication and Exchange. In: What We Know About Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44456-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44456-7_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44455-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44456-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)