The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Cargo Cult Thinking with J.W. Traphagan

Interplanetary Initiative Fellow J.W. Traphagan will explore assumptions implicit in the debate and argue that astronomers engaged in Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence research have tended to be shaped by a cargo cult mindset in which there is an assumption that contact with aliens will be positive and beneficial to humanity. This often leads to naïve ideas that fail to adequately assess potential risk in first-contact scenarios.

Light refreshments will be served. 

Speaker Bio: 

A professor emeritus of anthropology in the Human Dimensions of Organizations program at the University of Texas at Austin, J.W. Traphagan is a current Interplanetary Initiative Fellow. The fellowship is offered in collaboration between the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies and Interplanetary Initiative. It focuses on projects that address the human, social and cultural implications of exploring outer space. Traphagan’s project will explore how the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA's) programs and narratives around space exploration are shaped by Japanese religious ideas.