Affordances in outer space: Forms of life, material engagement, and meaning within space exploration and SETI

Abstract

Exploration of outer space is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking endeavor. The fascination about what may be out there is only matched by asking who might be out there. Exopsychology is concerned about how humans think about extraterrestrials, but also how extraterrestrials may think, feel, and behave. It strives to find generalizable psychological theories to enrich and extend the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Producing technosignatures requires that a species skillfully realizes the relevant possibilities for action, which the environment offers in all its socio-material richness. These possibilities are called affordances. They are not fixed but relational to individual and collective available abilities and customs. We apply an affordance perspective to specify the relation between information processing, body, environment, and material engagement in the context of space exploration and SETI. In this way, we can uncover aspects of the psychological configurations that SETI requires from its extraterrestrial targets, but which are also critical to the human practice of space exploration. Moreover, we elaborate on arguments against employing the concept of “intelligence” in SETI. A successful first contact requires a mutual attunement to species-typical diachronic backdrops, which constitute meaning. One possibility for a meaningful message form and content is the reference to the material environment and its respective engagement. Meaningfulness of affordances is conserved in a form of life and transmitted via social interaction. Considering affordances within SETI fosters an understanding of how the thinking, feeling, and behavior of life forms in the Universe emerge in relation to their socio-material environment.