  | Book Details Title: The Contact Paradox: Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Bloomsbury Sigma) |
Book DescriptionReview “With concise and approachable writing, Cooper crafts a worthwhile popular science work about questions that, as scientists continually improve the human capacity for gathering information about the rest of the universe, are becoming increasingly important.” ―Starred review from Publishers Weekly“There is growing interest in the possibility of ‘alien intelligence’, and in how best to search for it. Keith Cooper’s broad and balanced perspective on current debates and programmes deserves wide readership.” ―Martin Rees“A thorough and timely overview of the latest thinking in SETI and its controversial offspring, METI. This is a stimulating, provocative and ultimately optimistic enquiry into the biggest question we’re ever likely to answer: are we alone?” ―Alastair Reynolds, Science Fiction Author“The mystery of humanity’s place in the universe enthrals millions. Whatever strangeness prevails out there, shouldn’t we explore, at least with curious minds? The Contact Paradox surveys what science has revealed about this odd cosmos, the vastness of our ignorance and curiosity about any ‘others’ out there, and some of the steps we can take – even now – to prepare.” ―David Brin, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author“In an engrossing narrative, Keith Cooper dissembles our expectations for intelligent alien life down to a set of assumptions we can gorge on with scientific precision. It is a meal guaranteed to expand what you thought was possible, and brings the search for life beyond the Earth from the realm of fiction to that of a scientific endeavour.” ―Elizabeth Tasker, Associate Professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and author of The Planet Factory.“’Are we alone in the universe?’ has no answer yet, but Cooper delivers an enlightening exploration of the question.” ―Kirkus Reviews“Cooper delivers an exciting, provocative tome to which science buffs will flock.” ―Booklist“This eloquent, fascinating book likewise upends a standard assumption, in this case that humans would actually want to meet extraterrestrial intelligence. Whether you’re the planet’s biggest xenophobe or SETI’s biggest fan, Keith Cooper will both delight and challenge you in these pages.” ―Open Letters Monthly“Cooper offers the reader a balance of thought-provoking views and opinions, not only his own, but tapping into the thoughts of leading figures in SETI and related fields.” ―Inside Outer Space.com Read more About the Author Keith Cooper is the Editor of Astronomy Now. He has held this role since 2006, and is also Editor of the NASA-sponsored Astrobiology Magazine. Keith specializes in writing about astrophysics, planetary science, cosmology and astrobiology, and he has written for New Scientist, Sky & Telescope, Physics World, Centauri Dreams and the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Read more Customers Review: I really liked this book for many reasons with the main being it is designed to get you thinking outside the box. Searching for extraterrestrials is just one approach the books takes using it as a foundation to explore many avenues of how humans think about the future or things in general that are overwhelming to the mind.I remember watching a lecture about black holes by Leonard Susskin where he talked about the human brain being not designed to comprehend things of great enormity such as what happens in say a billion years or even a million. He then goes on to basically say we had to self evolve through the sciences and academia to be able to process issues concerning great amounts of times or overwhelming information.There is an important connection in relation to the “paradox” in the title.Susskin is mentioned along with many other physicists and scientists in this book to drive home several key points with one of the main being a consistent theme. This theme involves the importance of keeping the science of SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence-)well funded and motivated even if we have not heard/found any solid evidence of activity yet.I will generalize as much as possible the gist of some of the main point so as to not have to cite the book and leave plenty open to an interested reader.For starters i am a big fan of the authors style of writing. I am talking about Keith Cooper who seems to write more honestly than many academics. Cooper is not in academia but writes in a professional and honest way that 100% constantly covers both sides of the story meaning his own thoughts – you have to work to figure out. I studied philosophy in college and though i did not expose myself to much science i definitely am schooled on honest journalism. Cooper writes in a professional and honest way that i like that stays true to the legendary Karl Poppers ideas of scientific honesty.Cooper never stays on one side of the argument with his stance being neutral but still in favor of pushing forward with SETI while stressing the importance of being aware of the possible detrimental aspects. After about ten years or so of reading academic style texts and authors i was so happy with this authors writing style. He never tries to be cute and humorous nor does he seem to be caught up in the all to common ego trip that often accompanies big opinions. He also does not clarify everything he is talking about (in a good way) leading to the reader having to do some research of their own – which i feel was the intended technique.I often found myself going online to look up further examples or diagrams etc with the most researched thing being the Dyson Sphere which is talked about extensively. I found myself printing out pictures and taping them to the inside of the book which i recommend doing.Cooper covers how we have been sending signals into space via radio waves since the sixties. Part of the problem and a big part of Coopers arguments involve being aware that there will little chance of a response or detection and this should not deter us. He makes a good point saying that the search for planets/stars etc is well funded while the science of sending radio or laser waves for multi reasons – is ridiculously underfunded. This lack of funding is based on the lack of results but here lies the paradox. To even begin to see results of fluctuations of any kind we would need to double and triple the amount of SETI activity to begin to encompass the enormity of not just out own Milky Way galaxy but far beyond.Cooper says a lot in this book but one of the fun things he does is get you thinking about science fiction as a useful tool. I have always appreciated science fiction but after hearing many books that Cooper recommends that have stories based around SETI ideas has kindled an interest that i will pursue. I am a big fan of Victorian historical literature because i am able to get into an imaginary time machine and experience history in a real way. I will now look into some of the suggested reading by Cooper to further understand many of the concepts covered.One of the most interesting debates in the clashing of the SETI community with the METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence) community for obvious reasons.There are 2 camps of how to use lasers or radio waves to push into space. Through radio waves we can send coded messages that will float around in out galaxy for a limited amount of time until the signal fades away. On a side note i was bummed to find out that radio signals to fade (i thought a radio broadcast Dead show from 1974 would be forever floating in space-i was wrong). Then there is the camp that does not want any messaging sent out in the style of trying to contact aliens but agrees with signals that will detect signs of life with the main detection thing being energy.In the scientific community Copper explains that it is agreed that if there is a civilization out there then they would have to be using energy somehow and if they have been around much longer than humans on earth then they should be into what is called a Type 2 Kardashev civilization- which means it is interplanetary. This also means that it would be already common place to be beyond relying on just one planet to sustain and propagate life. This idea makes it essential to at least detect possible energy signs in space. The downside to the messaging model is not only could it attract the common evil aliens that want to destroy earth- as is common in movies- but it could attract aliens that have a completely different set of ideologies and ethics or even purpose for existence.This is a very interesting thing to think about. Cooper actually begins the book brilliantly covering what altruism is in relation to sentient life including animals to push forward the argument about what is compassion and altruism.He brings up great examples in nature with dolphins being one of the good comparisons. This is a good example because i remember reading Richard Dawkins book The Ancestors Tale – which talks about dolphins being the closest common ancestor to humans. Dolphins are a great example to look for sign of alturism because they have been found to help humans in ways that appear that they are compassionate. Cooper points out that although it seems like animals such as dolphins and wales have helped people there is no evidence that they are doing it because they genuinely want to . Now flip back to the idea of aliens being things that a. would want to help us out of intrinsic alturism or even want to make contact. Here is where Copper talks about anthrocentrism which is a word i have not used but usually combine it with anthropomorphism which i use in a broad sense. Anthrocentrism is the fallacy of assuming other civilizations or groups of people would operate just like humans do.Here is where the dividing line lies with actually sending messages into space with the idea of making contact vs using lasers or Dyson Spheres to detect energy.By the way the whole section on Dyson Spheres is worth reading the whole book alone. I have already researched them aside from this book due to Cooper sparking an interest.I will leave it up to the reader to explore this book and will cut it short here. In conclusion this book gets you thinking outside the box- which is the overall point more so than questioning the contact paradox which is a sort of inner coded message.I highly recommend this book and stress that i have barely even touched the abundance of ideas in Coopers classic.
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12 reviews