Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

What We Know About Extraterrestrial Intelligence pp 213–241Cite as

ET Civilizations

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 823 Accesses

Part of the book series: Space and Society ((SPSO))

Abstract

In this chapter, we shall examine a concept often used, and worse, misused, in the discussion of ETI: civilization. The term has been used broadly, and very loosely, by many xenology writers. Here the term is examined carefully, to tease out a useful characterization for discussing ETI. Principally, the problem is how do we account for collective action in a star-spanning species? I argue here that a particular perspective on civilization, seen as a standard, could help us understand how inter-stellar communities could function even limited by C. This also brings us back to the previous discussion of ‘fashion’ which could be a critical factor in the evolution of civilizations, and an answer to questions about the L variable of the Drake equation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    I feel uncomfortable using the word ‘ignoramus’ which, by its history and definition is pejorative, but cannot find a more appropriate English term. Closer to what I mean is a combination of two states defined in the Passover Haggadah : the child who does not know—tam—and the child who “does-not-know-how-to-ask”.

References

  • Adams, S. T. (1986). Artificial intelligence, culture, and individual responsibility. Technology in Society, 8(4), 251–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angeles, P. (1976). ETIs and the problem of intelligence. In J. Christian (Ed.), Extra terrestrial intelligence: The first encounter (pp. 161–175). Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashkenazi, M., & Jacob, J. (2000). The essence of Japanese cuisine: An essay on food and culture. Richmond: Curzon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bainbridge, W. S. (1984). Computer simulation of cultural drift: Limitations of interstellar colonization. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 37, 420–429.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, J. A. (1973). The zoo hypothesis. Icarus, 19, 347–349.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ball, J. A. (1980). Extraterrestrial intelligence: Where is everyone? American Scientist, 68, 56–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbrook, R. (2007). New York prophecies: The imaginary future of artificial intelligence. Science as Culture, 16(2), 151–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedau, M. (2002). The scientific and philosophical scope of artificial life. Leonardo, 35(4), 395–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjoerk, R. (2007). Exploring the galaxy using space probes. International Journal of Astrobiology, 6(02), 89–93.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Bracewell, R. L. (1960). Communications from superior galactic communities. Nature, 186(4726), 670–671.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Bracewell, R. L. (1974). The galactic club: Intelligent life in outer space. Stanford: Stanford Alumni Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bray, D. (2009). Wetware: A computer in every living cell. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brin, G. D. (1983). The ‘Great Silence’: The controversy concerning extraterrestrial life. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 24, 283–309.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, B. (1981). Evolution of technological species. In J. Billingham (Ed.), Life in the universe (pp. 277–296). Boston: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Childs, S. T., & Herbert, E. W. (2005). Metallurgy and its consequences. In A. Brower Stahl (Ed.), African archaeology (pp. 276–300). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chung-Li, C. (1955). The Chinese gentry: Studies on their role in 19th C. Chinese Society. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ćirković, M. M. (2006). Macroengineering in the galactic context: A new agenda for astrobiology. arXiv:astro-ph/0606102

  • Cooper, E. (1986). Chinese table manners: You are how you eat. Human Organization, 45(2), 179–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cotta, C., & Morales, Á. (2009). A computational analysis of galactic exploration with space probes: Implications for the Fermi paradox. arXiv:0907.0345

  • Cwiertka, K. (2006). Modern Japanese cuisine: Food power and national identity. London: Reaktion Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Bary, W. T. (1957). Chinese despotism and the Confucian ideal: A seventeenth-century view. In J. K. Fairbank (Ed.), Chinese thought and institutions (pp. 163–203). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deardorff, J. W. (1986). Possible extraterrestrial strategy for earth. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 27, 94–101.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Dore, Ronald. (1973). British Factory–Japanese Factory. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dror, I., & Harnad, S. (2008). Offloading cognition onto cognitive technology. arXiv:0808.3569

  • Friese, Heinz. (1963). Qualification for office: Expertise or character. In J. M. Menzel (Ed.), The Chinese civil service (pp. 77–83). Lexington, Mass: D.C. Heath and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, M. H., & Zuckerman, Ben (Eds.). (1982). Extraterrestrials: Where are they?. New York, NY: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, J. & Blakeslee, S. (2007). On Intelligence. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, E. J., & Ranger, T. O. (Eds.). (1992). The invention of tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntingdon, S. P. (1997). The clash of civilization and the remaking world order. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joseph, N. (1969). Science and civilisation in China (Vol. 1–7). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kardashev, N. S. (1964). Transmission of information by extraterrestrial civilizations. Soviet Astronomy, 8(2), 217–221.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Krack, E. A., Jr. (1963). Sponsorship and the selection of talent. The Chinese Civil Service, 84–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuiper, T. B. H., & Morris, M. (1977). Searching for extraterrestrial civilizations. Science, 196, 616.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Kuttner, R. E. (1981). The nature of extraterrestrial communication. Cosmic Search Spring, 20–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehman, W. (1981) Frankenstein unbound: Towards a legal definition of artificial intelligence. Futures, 13(6), 442–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden, C., & Wilson, E. O. (1983). The dawn of intelligence. The Sciences, 23–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (1995). The embodied computer/user. Body & Society, 1(3–4), 97–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marien, M. (2011) Humans and machines: A new world order? World Future Review, 3(1), 126–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, R. M., & Mannari, H. (1976). Modernization and the Japanese Factory. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGowan, R. A., & Ordway, F. I. (1966). Intelligence in the universe. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNally, P., & Inayatullah, S. (1988). The rights of robots: Technology, culture and law in the 21st century. Futures, 20(2), 119–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menzel, J. (Ed.). (1963). The Chinese civil service. Lexington: D. C. Heath & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. K. (1936). The unanticipated consequences of purposive social action. American Sociological Review, 1(6), 894–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michaud, M. A. G. (1982). The last question. Cosmic Search 1982, 6–7 (First Half).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, B. (1973). Civilizational complexes and inter civilizational encounters. Sociological Analysis, 79–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, W. J., & Sagan, C. (1981). Galactic civilizations: Population dynamics and interstellar diffusion. Icarus, 46, 293–327.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, W. J., & Sagan, C. (1985). Nonlinear diffusion and population dynamics. In B. R. Finney & E. M. Jones (Eds.), Interstellar migration and the human experience (pp. 302–309). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niven, L. (1970). Ringworld. New York: Ballantine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nivison, D. S. (1963). The criteria of excellence. The Chinese Civil Service, 92–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, B. M. (1976). Proximity of galactic civilizations. Icarus, 25, 360–367.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ostriker, J. P., & Turner, E. L. (1985). The inclusion of interaction terms into population dynamics equations of interstellar colonization. International Astronomical Association, 85–475.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plaks, A. H. (1998). The confucianization of the Kaifeng Jews: Interpretations of the Kaifeng Stelae inscriptions. In J. Goldstein (Ed.), The Jews of China (pp. 36–49). New York: ME Sharpe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raup, D. M. (1985). ETI without intelligence. In E. Regis (Ed.), Extraterrestrials: Science and alien intelligence (pp. 36–43).  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redfield, R. (1955). The social organization of tradition. Far Eastern Quarterly, 15, 13–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rescher, N. (1985). Extraterrestrial science. In E. Regis (Ed.), Extraterrestrials: Science and alien intelligence (pp. 83–116). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagan, Carl. (1963). Direct contact among galactic civilizations by relativistic interstellar spaceflight. Planetary and Space Science, 11, 485.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Schank, R., & Birnbaum, L. (1994). Enhancing intelligence. In J. Khalfa (Ed.), What is intelligence (pp. 72–106). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, P. R. (1997). Iron technology in east Africa: Symbolism, science, and archaeology. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanklin, E. (1981). Two meanings and uses of tradition. Journal of Anthropological Research, 37(1), 71–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singer, C. (1982). Settlements in space and interstellar travel. In M. H. Hart & B. Zuckerman (Eds.), Extraterrestrials where are they? (pp. 46–61). New York, NY: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson, D. G. (1981). A classification of extraterrestrial cultures. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 34, 486–490.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Steward, J. H. (1963). Theory of culture change. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tipler, F. J. (1981). Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist. Physics Today, 34, 9–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tipler, F. J. (1985) Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist. In E. Regis (Ed.), Extraterrestrials: science and alien intelligence (pp. 133–50) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tough, A. (1986). What role will extraterrestrials play in humanity’s future? Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 39, 491–498.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, Edwin. (1984) Galactic colonization and competition in a young galactic disk. In IAU symposium 112: The search for extraterrestrial life: Recent developments.

    Google Scholar 

  • Umesao, T. (1986). Keynote address: The methodology of the comparative study of civilization. Senri Ethnological Studies, 19, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vallentine, J. W. (1985). The origins of evolutionary novelty and galactic colonization. In B. R. Finney & E. M. Jones (Eds.), Interstellar migration and the human experience (pp. 266–276). Berkeley: University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Hoerner, S. (1975). Population explosion and interstellar expansion. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 28, 691–712.

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, C., Hoover, R., & Kotra, R. K. (1980). Interstellar colonization: A new parameter for the Drake equation? Icarus, 41, 193–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, W. L. (1958). A black civilization: A social study of an Australian tribe. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, S. (2010). If the universe is teeming with aliens—Where is everybody? Fifty solutions to the Fermi paradox and the problem of extraterrestrial life. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, D. (1995). Central civilization. Civilizations and world systems: Studying world historical change (pp. 46–74). Walnut Creek, California, USA: Altamira.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, R. R. (1995). Cyber(body)parts: Prosthetic consciousness. Body & Society, 1(3–4), 239–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Villalonga, Spain

    Michael Ashkenazi

Authors
  1. Michael Ashkenazi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Ashkenazi .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ashkenazi, M. (2017). ET Civilizations. In: What We Know About Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44456-7_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation