Rebecca Charbonneau
December 9, 2021
Zoom Recording
Abstract:
In 1989, the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics established its first post-detection protocol, the “Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence”. The protocol was designed to serve as a guideline for the international scientific community on steps to take after the successful detection of extraterrestrial intelligence.
This talk will examine the protocol as a product of international relations and draw from the early history of SETI to show how Cold War tensions and the first “false alarm” detection in the Soviet Union influenced the development of the protocol.