Final Exam

INTRODUCTION
SETI research sits at a peculiar spot in our society. While it is not fully embraced as a
legitimate or productive field of research, few people (in the Western world, at least) would dismiss the
questions being asked by SETI scientists as insignificant. The popularity of the sci-fi genre and
various TV programs that explore the possibility of alien life (intelligent or not) is evidence that this
topic matter holds a certain degree resonance with the public. However, the entertainment value
provided by these productions and the powers they have to stir one's imagination does not necessarily
entail a desire to pursue SETI research and accept all the costs that might be involved for a process that
is very likely to fail. To truly believe in the cause of SETI research takes a certain degree of
commitment; alongside a particular cultural background that might incite such a decision in the first
place.
This paper attempts to look at, and analyze, these various factorsparticularly in the media and
cultural backgroundsthat work to indoctrinate individuals into the SETI cause. In this way, SETI
functions as a sort of religious institution that depends on the acceptance of its participants to
perpetuate. This is not to say that SETI is proactively brainwashing the public or anything of the
sort. Nor am I acknowledging the hypodermic needle model often portrayed when discussing the
effects of popular media. I am simply suggesting that the belief in alien life (much less in intelligent
alien life) is far from a universal human attribute and the ability to even imagine life on another planet
is a recent phenomenon (Traphagan, Lecture).

A BRIEF LOOK AT A LONG HISTORY

While SETI, as an institution, did not come into existence until very recently, the processes that
laid the groundwork for it occurred over centuries involved numerous scientific revelations and
ideological shifts. One of the most significant factors that motivates SETI and its believers is the sheer

magnitude and scale of the Universe--In the four centuries since the invention of the telescope our
concept of the universe has expanded... from a clutch of planets... to a stupefyingly vast omneity that is
tens of billions of light-years across...(and) home to approximately 10^22 stars (Shostak; Are We
Alone?). The introduction and eventual acceptance of the Theory of Evolution solidified the notion
(at least with the scientific community) that the development was a natural and arguably predictable
phenomenon. Together, these two enabled the imagining and discussion of alien life. With little to
disprove their existence, it is not surprising that scientists eventually began to delve further into the
subject and ponder the various possibilitiesperhaps of an intelligent alien being!
It is interesting to note that not everyone shares the same enthusiasm towards SETI as, say,
Europe and the US, despite Western scientific ideas and methods having spread across the globe over
the last century.

ALIENS IN POPULAR MEDIA

Another factor I believe contributed to the support of SETI research is the influence popular
media had on the public's imagination of alien life. While the majority of early literature on the topic
was placed only within the realm of science-fiction, there remains the possibility that regular exposure
to these images and ideas might have a greater impact on our societies position and affect towards ET.
Comic strips and graphic novels like Flash Gordon and Superman opened our imaginations to the
wondrous (and terrifying) possibilities that might inhabit our galaxy.

Eventually, this popular fantasy began to become a possible reality. With the development of
his Drake Equation, Frank Drank stimulated interest not only in the scientific community, but in the
public sphere as well. I believe that as SETI research began to gain momentum and garner serious
consideration, the public's reluctance to accept the possibility of the existence of alien life and ETI
slowly diminished. With space exploration programs on the rise and the efforts of SETI researchers

and theorists in the public's eye with radio and television programming, it almost became the norm in
Western society to at least acknowledge that there is the slightest chance that we are not alone and they
are out there somewhere (unless it conflicted with your set of beliefs, of course).

XENOPHILIA
I believe it is not an accident that the Western world, specifically the US, was the first to take up
arms in the race for SETI. Firstly, the US was one of the few nations at the time to have the excess
funds to pursue such an endeavor. I would imagine that it did not so much as even cross the minds of
any of the third world nations to spend the millions of dollars necessary to enable such a program,
even if there had been wide support of the cause in that country. Simply having the money available
would do a lot to encourage the minds behind these operations to devote the many years of their lives
required for the cause.
There is one other aspect of the Western world that I think warrants discussion: its fascination
with the cultural other. Within the academic community, anthropologists have long viewed the study of
the other as a useful tool in understanding ourselves as human beings. The goal with SETI is not too
far off, as it is, in the end, trying to establish where exactly our place in the universe is. Even going
beyond academic research, we see that the US is and has been one of the leading consumers of
international tourism (www.statista.com). Of course, this can be owed to the population's access to
greater wealth and travel services, but I imagine, also, this is a sort of residual affect of Manifest
Destiny as our interest in exploring the unexplored has far from diminished.

SO IS SETI A SCIENCE? OR A RELIGION? OR BOTH?

All of these factors I have discussed contributed to the establishment and continuance of SETI
as an institution. I would argue that SETI, as an institution that might facilitate a group's set of beliefs,
is very similar to what someone might call a religion. I would also argue, however, that as an

institution of knowledge, SETI upholds many of the same conventions as any other scientific
community, namely the use of the scientific method and a propensity towards empiricism. For this
reason, I would say SETI is in fact a field of scientific research, however fringe it might seem.
The main feature of SETI that might make it seem religion-like, is the centralized entity that
underlies all of its logic: them. And not just any themthe ones that we will make contact with at some
point in the future. Even if a SETI supporter imagines a universe filled with countless alien
civilizations, it all boils down to that one all-important moment we meet an other worldly messiah.
While I wouldn't go so far as to call this relationship reverence or worship, but the belief in the
existence of this entity bears as much significance to the SETI community's system of beliefs as any
deity or supernatural force that might underlie the logic behind any religious system.
Another issue for SETI seems to be its lack of conclusive evidence on the existence of alien
life. I imagine this is suppose to be analogous to the criticisms faced by religions that have no
empirical evidence of the deity(s) or supernatural forces they believe in. This brings me to my final
point. It feels as if this debate around SETI being religion-like is almost brought onto it by the
SETI community itself. Bainbridge's conclusion summarizing the results of a sociological survey he
conducted highlights this tension that SETI researchers sometimes engineer between the hostile and
religious geocentrists; the reasonable UFOfiles that still cling to their spiritual or religious
needs; and the Allopatrists who are open-minded and unencumbered by the weight of religious
beliefs (Bainbridge; Cultural Beliefs about Extraterrestrial). Whether due to a sense of insecurity
about itself as a legitimate field of research, or intentional hostility towards religious institutions, I
feel the SETI community would be better off not antagonizing any other group and accepting the fact
that it itself is founded on the belief in other-worldly beings with unimaginable capabilities that, for
whatever reason, might be interested in what the human race and planet Earth has to offer. And I think
that's cool.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I would reiterate that the belief in intelligent alien life and the desire to pursue
the type of research that might, one day, prove its existence is not a universal human condition. There
are particular conditions and processes that the US underwent that led the eventual development of
SETI as a scientific field of research. Public interest in the topic was fueled by various media outlets
that worked to solidify and normalize the concept of alien lifeforms and allowed it to creep into their
minds as a viable reality and into the mainstream. This all comes together to form an institution of
knowledge that is founded upon a system of beliefs that very much resemble a religious institution.
However, I believe its similarity to religion should not affect SETI's legitimacy as a science, and
that the comparison is a construct derived from the imagined tension between the scientific and
religious communities.