Graded grains

by William C. Burger
review of
CIVILIZED LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE. Scientists on intelligent extraterrestrials. By George Basalla. 233pp. Oxford University Press. Pounds 17.99 (US $29.95). - 0
19 517181 0.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has played an active role in scientific discourse over the past half-century. With the advent of radio astronomy, it became possible to listen to celestial airwaves for signals from other civilizations. Imagining such civilizations, however, has a long history in human thought, as the philosopher George Basalla makes clear in his authoritative and accessible new book, Civilized Life in the Universe.
Since Plutarch, and doubtless before, our culture has toyed with the idea that man-like creatures might be living on the Moon. Giordano Bruno, a heretic burned at the stake in 1600, strongly advocated a plurality of worlds. Johannes Kepler, the first to calculate that the planets moved in elliptical, not circular, orbits, penned what some refer to as the first instance of science fiction in Western culture: Somnium ("Dream"), published after his death in
1634, claimed that three different kinds of intelligent beings lived on the Moon. But as telescopic techniques developed, revealing no signs of cultural activity on the moon, interest shifted to Mars.
Giovanni Schiaparelli, carefully mapping the faint telescopic image of Mars, thought he saw lines on the planet's surface, which he dubbed canale. In an
1893 essay, he went so far as to suggest that a "collective socialism" had allowed Martians to construct massive canals in their harsh desert environment.
Basalla follows the trajectory of "life on Mars" with a detailed analysis of the work and influence of Percival Lowell. Building his own observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, Lowell proceeded to publish and promote the Martian-canal theory; it is perhaps no coincidence that he promulgated these ideas at the very same time that America's arid South-West had become the subject of major irrigation and development projects. Though Lowell died in 1916, and his interpretation of canals on Mars remained controversial, he left a strong legacy. Basalla notes that, in a 1928 poll, a majority of astronomers "agreed that plants and perhaps simple animal forms existed on Mars".
Those who had hoped for complex life on Mars were dealt a severe setback by images returned from the Mariner 4 spacecraft in 1965. The surface, pockmarked by craters, was dry, and appeared lifeless. One enthusiast, Carl Sagan, nevertheless continued the imaginative efforts of previous decades, claiming that plants and even animals might survive in hidden moist recesses. His statements were utterly unrealistic, but politically effective, and over $1 billion was spent on the Viking project, which explored the planet in 1976.
Though here, too, the evidence for life in any form proved negative, hope was again rekindled in 1996. A Martian meteorite, found in Antarctica, was claimed to have minute bacteria-like spherules within its matrix. The National Science Foundation promptly awarded over $2 million for the further study of this two-kilogram lump of Mars. Unfortunately, the spherules seemed too small to be bacterial, and the matrix of the rock itself indicated that it had been formed under temperatures that would have destroyed complex organic molecules. Again, the evidence proved negative; but even today there are those who maintain that Mars once supported life, bolstered by evidence that the planet may once have had considerable water on its surface. Thus astrobiology ("the science without a subject") continues to prosper.
Life elsewhere in the universe, as claimed by Bruno, is another important aspect of Basalla's survey, which gives the "Copernican Principle" or "Principle of Mediocrity" considerable attention. The notion that our corner of the universe differs in no fundamental way from other parts of the firmament is the philosophical foundation for our attempts at understanding the universe at large.
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Observation of the light from distant stars supports the Copernican principle.
And, following the claims of Copernicus, if we are not the centre of the solar system nor the centre of the universe, then we are nothing special; we are, in effect, mediocre. Many scientists have incorporated these ideas into their speculations regarding intelligent civilization throughout the universe. If intelligent beings and technological society could develop here on Earth, surely they could do so elsewhere in the firmament.
Such arguments, Basalla suggests, are an unwarranted extension of the Mediocrity Principle. For example, recent exploration of our solar system has revealed a virtual zoo of heavenly bodies. No one had expected that the larger moons of Jupiter would be so different from each other. These discoveries were a huge surprise to astronomers, who had expected much greater uniformity within the Sun's family. Clearly, historical contingency had played a powerful role in the evolution of each of these heavenly bodies, just as it has in the history of life on Earth.
In addition to the problems created by historical accidents, the author discusses sociological factors, together with our strong religious impulses, and shows how they have fostered the projection of imagined civilized life throughout the firmament. Basalla also questions the universality of progressive technology, one of the fundamental beliefs of modern society, and points out that this cultural conviction has provided an essential justification for the SETI program. Basalla discusses many aspects of the career of Carl Sagan, whom he sees as Percival Lowell's successor in advancing the concept of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Communicating effectively with a wide public through a number of books, a novel and a television series, Sagan was instrumental in marshalling funds for further planetary exploration. Likewise, the work of the radio astronomer Frank Drake is reviewed and critically assessed. Drake's famous equation, regarding the probable number of radio-transmitting civilizations in our galaxy, is considered from a variety of viewpoints. By including astronomical, biological and social factors in a simple equation, Drake gave legitimacy to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Basalla also tackles the notion of "panspermia", where bits of life are hypothesized to travel across the hostile emptiness of space to fertilize appropriate planetary surfaces, and he surveys relevant aspects of the United States space programme, the debates over funding for radio telescope surveillance, and, finally, continuing support for SETI research through private funding.
A number of recent books have addressed the "SETI question" by focusing on the unusual qualities of our star and our planet, together with the many fortuitous events that have propelled the human odyssey forward over the past 4,000 million years. For example, our large Moon helps reduce the Earth's axial wobble, something crucial to the stability of terrestrial vegetation. Likewise, if Earth had a slower spin, days would become torrid and nights frigid, while a faster spin would produce high wind velocities; either case severely restricting the development of terrestrial plants. A rich, stable vegetation has been seen as a fundamental prerequisite for building both civilizations and radio telescopes -no matter where in the universe, or by whom. And without the flowering plants, we simply wouldn't be here -whether as primates, bipedal omnivores or grand civilizations. Grass, for example, supported a rich fauna of large animals on African savannas, providing nutrition for a lineage of bipedal apes that would triple their brain volume in only 3 million years. In addition, the grains of grasses became our most important cultigens. This perspective suggests that the human achievement is likely to be extremely rare in the universe, perhaps even unique within our own galaxy. These arguments by natural scientists focus on what has been called our "evolutionary epic": a detailed narrative created by the natural sciences over the past few hundred years in an attempt to reconstruct our long history.
In contrast, Civilized Life in the Universe considers the question of human uniqueness from a humanistic and cultural-historical perspective. Emphasizing sociological circumstances, popular cultural values and psychological imperatives, Basalla presents our search for other civilizations as a projection of human hope, not very different from many religious beliefs. He is especially critical of what he sees as anthropomorphism in the projection of our own cultural attitudes onto distant life forms. He gives considerable weight to the arguments of the philosopher Nicholas Rescher, who sees our science as extremely parochial and "refuses to equate human science with the science created by beings who are biologically distinct, and who inhabit radically different physical, social, and cultural milieus". However, I suspect that the constraints of biochemical energetics, genetic information transfer and natural selection sculpting populations over time would produce convergent creatures circling other stars. Why shouldn't those beings develop concordant sciences?
The strongly negative attitude regarding SETI formulated in this book is refreshing. Though Basalla is sometimes repetitive, his argument is clear throughout. A variety of historical illustrations and helpful diagrams enhance the reader's understanding. Some of his sociological and philosophical arguments may be overstated, but they are a significant contribution to the field. George Basalla has produced a devastating deconstruction of our continuing efforts to imagine grand technological civilizations among the stars.