METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

METI International, simply known as METI, is a non-profit research organization that creates and transmits interstellar messages to search for extraterrestrial civilizations.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] In July 2015, the papers to form METI were filed by its founder and president, Douglas Vakoch.[8] METI is headquartered in San Francisco, California.[2][5]

METI, 100 Pine Street, San Francisco, California 94111

Overview

METI targets nearby stars and also rethinks the nature of the messages to send.[8][9] On October 16, 17, and 18, 2017, METI sent a message consisting of a scientific and mathematical tutorial to the red dwarf Luyten's Star, located just over 12 light years from Earth.[10][11][12] This message was transmitted from a radio transmitter at the EISCAT research facility in Tromsø, Norway.[13] One of the goals of METI is to examine people's views of transmitting messages.[1]

METI builds an interdisciplinary community to design interstellar messages, within the context of the evolution of intelligence and language.[14] In May 2016, METI convened the meeting “The Intelligence Of SETI: Cognition And Communication In Extraterrestrial Intelligence” in Puerto Rico.[1][4] Two years later, in May 2018, METI held the meeting “Language in the Cosmos” in conjunction with the International Space Development Conference.[14][15] This meeting was held in Los Angeles and examined the connection between astrobiology and linguistics.[9] On March 22, 2017, METI held a workshop in Paris to examine the question "What is life?" from an extraterrestrial perspective.[16]

METI also searches for life beyond Earth.[17] Specifically, METI conducts an optical Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).[1] METI's optical SETI observatory in Panama looks for laser pulses from advanced civilizations, and it has examined anomalous stars like the nearby red dwarf star Ross 128,[18] as well as HD 164595, 94 light years from Earth.[17] None of these searches has yielded evidence of artificial signals from extraterrestrial intelligence.[17][18]

Criticism

David Brin wrote, "whether small groups of zealots should bypass all institutions, peer critique, risk appraisal or public opinion, to shout ‘yoohoo’ into a potentially hazardous cosmos. Ćirković’s book offers plenty of grist for discussion and consensus-seeking, before rushing to force a fait accompli on our children."[19]

Notable members

Notable members of METI's Board of Directors and Advisory Council include:

• Iván Almár, Consultant, Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Scences, Hungary
• Setsuko Aoki, Professor of Policy Management, Keio University, Japan
• Jacques Arnould, Ethics Advisor, Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), France
• Jerome H. Barkow, Professor Emeritus of Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University, Canada
• Nelly Ben Hayoun, Designer of Experiences, Nelly Ben Hayoun Studios, UK
• Lowry Burgess, Professor of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
• Kerri Chandler, Founder of Madhouse Records, USA
• Nathaniel C. Comfort, Professor of History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA
• Paul Davies, Regents' Professor and Director of the Beyond Center, Arizona State University, USA
• Steven J. Dick, Former Chief Historian, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
• David Dunér, Professor of History of Science and Ideas, Lund University, Sweden
• George Dvorsky, Chair of the Board, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, Canada
• José Gabriel Funes, Professor of Philosophy of Nature, Catholic University of Córdoba, Argentina
• Ellen Howell, Senior Research Astronomer, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, USA
• Chris Impey, Associate Dean, College of Science and Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona, USA
• Mary Lee Jensvold, Director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI), Central Washington University, USA
• James Kasting, Evan Pugh University Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA
• Guillermo A. Lemarchand, Researcher and Science Policy Consultant, UNESCO, Argentina
• Jeffrey A. Lockwood, Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities, University of Wyoming, USA
• Roger Malina, Arts and Technology Distinguished Chair and Professor of Physics, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
• Lori Marino, Founder and Executive Director, Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, Inc., USA
• David Messerschmitt, Roger A. Strauch Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Elisabeth Oberzaucher, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Austria
• Alexander Ollongren, Professor Emeritus at Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), Leiden University, Netherlands
• Serpil Oppermann, Past President, EASCLE (European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture, and the Environment), Turkey
• Irene Pepperberg, Research Associate, Harvard University, USA
• Ted Peters, Research Professor Emeritus in Systematic Theology and Ethics, Graduate Theological Union (GTU), USA
• Stephen G. Post, Director, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics, Stony Brook University, USA
• Ian Roberts, Professor of Linguistics, University of Cambridge, UK
• Holmes Rolston III, University Distinguished Professor and Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Colorado State University, USA
• Vandana Singh, Professor and Chair of Physics and Earth Sciences, Framingham State University, USA
• Susan Stryker, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, University of Arizona, USA
• John Traphagan, Professor of Religious Studies and Anthropology and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Fellow, University of Texas at Austin, USA
• Douglas Vakoch, President of METI, USA
• Ariel Waldman, Global Director, Science Hack Day, USA

See also

• Active SETI — METI (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)
• SETIcon – Public conventions on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence

References

1. Osborne, Hannah (2016-02-16). "Meti president Douglas Vakoch: Sending messages to aliens is not dangerous and we could make contact by 2035". International Business Times.
2. Krieger, Lisa (2016-12-27). "Tired of listening, scientists plan to send greetings out to other worlds". The Sydney Morning Herald.
3. Meyer, Guido (2017-02-20). "E.T. - hörst Du mich?". SWR2.
4. Schulze-Makuch, Dirk (2016-06-03). "Conversing with E.T." Air & Space Magazine.
5. Robert, Sanders (2016-12-29). "METI to Send Interstellar Messages in 2018". Futurism.
6. Sabin, Dyani (2017-06-29). "Researchers at METI are Trying New Technology to Contact Aliens". Inverse.
7. Leary, Kyree (2017-09-17). "Despite Opposition, METI Will Still Reach Out to Alien Life in 2018". Futurism.
8. Johnson, Steven (2017-06-23). "Greetings, E.T. (Please Don't Murder Us.)". The New York Times Magazine.
9. Castelvecchi, Davide (2018-06-01). "The researchers who study alien linguistics". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05310-x. ISSN 0028-0836.
10. "How to send a message to another planet". The Economist. 2017-11-16.
11. Schughart, Anna (2017-11-16). "Hallo, GJ 273b! Außerirdische zu Hause?". WIRED.DE.
12. "Qué contiene el último mensaje enviado al espacio en busca de vida alienígena". BBC. 2017-11-20.
13. Patton, Paul (2018-06-05). "Language in the Cosmos II: Hello There GJ273b". Universe Today.
14. Patton, Paul (2018-06-04). "Language in the Cosmos I: Is Universal Grammar Really Universal?". Universe Today.
15. Klesman, Alison (2018-05-29). "What would an alien language sound like?". Astronomy Magazine.
16. Rozieres, Gregory (2017-03-26). "Des chercheurs se sont sérieusement posé la question de l'intelligence des extraterrestres". Huffington Post (French edition).
17. Griffiths, James (2016-08-30). "Hear me now? 'Strong signal' from sun-like star sparks alien speculation". CNN.
18. Wall, Mike (2017-07-18). "Astronomers Detect Strange Signals from Red Dwarf Star". Scientific American.
19. David Brin, G. (2018). "The Great Silence: The Science and Philosophy of Fermi's Paradox". American Journal of Physics. 86 (11): 878–879. Bibcode:2018AmJPh..86..878D. doi:10.1119/1.5053112.

External links

• METI Website
• METI GuideStar Profile
• METI JustGiving Profile
• METI VolunteerMatch Profile
• METI Crunchbase Profile