Historical Framing of Extraterrestrial Life and Society: Culture, Analogy, and Contingent Impacts

To the point

Steven J. Dick argues that the discovery of extraterrestrial life would have uncertain, culturally dependent impacts on science, religion, and public life, and that we should study these possibilities with a historically informed, cross‑disciplinary approach that respects diverse worldviews and uses analogies carefully.

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The Societal Impact of Extraterrestrial Life: The Relevance of History and the Social Sciences

This chapter reviews past studies on the societal impact of extraterrestrial life and offers four related ways in which history is relevant to the subject: the history of impact thus far, analogical reasoning, impact studies in other areas of science and technology, and studies on the nature of discovery and exploration. We focus particularly on the promise and peril of analogical arguments, since they are by necessity widespread in the field. This chapter also summarizes the relevance of the social sciences, particularly anthropology and sociology, and concludes by taking a closer look at the possible impact of the discovery of extraterrestrial life on theology and philosophy. In undertaking this study we emphasize three bedrock principles: (1) we cannot predict the future; (2) society is not monolithic, implying many impacts depending on religion, culture and worldview; (3) the impact of any discovery of extraterrestrial life is scenario-dependent.