SETI and Democracy

TL;DR

This paper explores democratic decision-making processes for responding to extraterrestrial messages, analyzing various models and presenting survey data on public preferences, with insights from the COVID-19 pandemic response.

Contribution

It introduces a comparative analysis of democratic mechanisms for SETI/METI responses and provides empirical data on public opinion from a UK survey.

Findings

Public favors citizen assemblies for decision-making

Survey shows preference for democratic over unilateral responses

COVID-19 pandemic influences public trust in scientific advice

Abstract

There is a wide-ranging debate about the merits and demerits of searching for, and sending messages to, extraterrestrial intelligences (SETI and METI). There is however reasonable (but not universal) consensus that replying to a message from an extraterrestrial intelligence should not be done unilaterally, without consultation with wider society and the rest of the world. But how should this consultation actually work? In this paper we discuss various ways that decision making in such a scenario could be done democratically, and gain legitimacy. In particular we consider a scientist-led response, a politician-led response, deciding a response using a referendum, and finally using citizens' assemblies. We present the results of a survey of a representative survey of 2,000 people in the UK on how they thought a response should best be determined, and finally discuss parallels to how the public is responding to scientific expertise in the COVID-19 Pandemic