Ian Bogost
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678976
- eISBN:
- 9781452948447
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678976.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter explores the concept of alien phenomenology. SETI’s (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) fundamental assumption states that if there is life in the universe, it ought to be able to ...
More
This chapter explores the concept of alien phenomenology. SETI’s (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) fundamental assumption states that if there is life in the universe, it ought to be able to recognize its counterparts by pointing radio astronomy apparatuses like the VLA (Very Large Array) in their direction, and to understand their answer. In the 1980s, German American Philosopher Nicholas Rescher argued against SETI’s insistence that the signs of extraterrestrial life would resemble detectable communication technology. Rescher suggested that extraterrestrials are perhaps so alien that their science and technology is incomprehensible to us; we could never understand it as intelligence. The alien might not be life, at all. The alien is not limited to another person, or even another creature.Less
This chapter explores the concept of alien phenomenology. SETI’s (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) fundamental assumption states that if there is life in the universe, it ought to be able to recognize its counterparts by pointing radio astronomy apparatuses like the VLA (Very Large Array) in their direction, and to understand their answer. In the 1980s, German American Philosopher Nicholas Rescher argued against SETI’s insistence that the signs of extraterrestrial life would resemble detectable communication technology. Rescher suggested that extraterrestrials are perhaps so alien that their science and technology is incomprehensible to us; we could never understand it as intelligence. The alien might not be life, at all. The alien is not limited to another person, or even another creature.
Ian Bogost
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816678976
- eISBN:
- 9781452948447
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816678976.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Humanity has sat at the center of philosophical thinking for too long. The recent advent of environmental philosophy and posthuman studies has widened our scope of inquiry to include ecosystems, ...
More
Humanity has sat at the center of philosophical thinking for too long. The recent advent of environmental philosophy and posthuman studies has widened our scope of inquiry to include ecosystems, animals, and artificial intelligence. Yet the vast majority of the stuff in our universe, and even in our lives, remains beyond serious philosophical concern. This book develops an object-oriented ontology that puts things at the center of being—a philosophy in which nothing exists any more or less than anything else, in which humans are elements but not the sole or even primary elements of philosophical interest. And unlike experimental phenomenology or the philosophy of technology, this book’s alien phenomenology takes for granted that all beings interact with and perceive one another. This experience, however, withdraws from human comprehension and becomes accessible only through a speculative philosophy based on metaphor.Less
Humanity has sat at the center of philosophical thinking for too long. The recent advent of environmental philosophy and posthuman studies has widened our scope of inquiry to include ecosystems, animals, and artificial intelligence. Yet the vast majority of the stuff in our universe, and even in our lives, remains beyond serious philosophical concern. This book develops an object-oriented ontology that puts things at the center of being—a philosophy in which nothing exists any more or less than anything else, in which humans are elements but not the sole or even primary elements of philosophical interest. And unlike experimental phenomenology or the philosophy of technology, this book’s alien phenomenology takes for granted that all beings interact with and perceive one another. This experience, however, withdraws from human comprehension and becomes accessible only through a speculative philosophy based on metaphor.
