SETI and Post-Detection: Towards a New Research Roadmap

摘要

Since SETI began, there has been consistent multidisciplinary interest in "post-detection" matters. A considerable literature exists, spanning decades and many domains of research. However, profound changes in and around SETI/technosignatures work, recent efforts at revising the Rio Scale, and proposals to revise the Protocols (i.e., "Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence") have sparked a renewed multidisciplinary conversation. There is an urgent need for effective interdisciplinary collaboration which brings SETI scientists, social scientists, humanists, legal experts, science policymakers, risk management experts, et al., into a sustained and sustainable conversation about SETI in society as the world changes. This multi-authored, multi-disciplinary discussion paper (not necessarily consensus) is an effort in that direction, bringing social scientists, a legal expert, and SETI/technosignatures researchers together in a conversation to ask: what basic research needs to be done, now, to fill in our knowledge and guide policy about crucial post-detection matters? Here, we rethink the catch-all notion of "post-detection" as three entangled themes: preparation for discovery, process of discovery, and protocol during detection/discovery. We emphasize that discovery is best understood as a process, not a moment, and that different expertises are applicable throughout. We briefly review prior and recent work on "post-detection" themes, and suggest some general directions for supplementing the Protocols with Codes of Conduct and Best Practices guidelines. Aspects of the current global context for SETI/technosignatures research are briefly covered, including concepts of science and social responsibility, challenges for trust, and the increasingly complex existential risk landscape. We sketch areas for research roadmapping, including: social media safety for researchers; the increasing diversity of active pla