Front and Back Covers, Volume 22, Number 2. April 2006

Abstract

Anthropology TodayVolume 22, Issue 2 p. i-ii Front and Back Covers, Volume 22, Number 2. April 2006 First published: 11 April 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0268-540X.2006.022c2.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract Front and back cover caption, volume 22 issue 2 Front & back cover ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE. The debate around the likelihood of humans encountering extraterrestrial life is based in the broad context of cosmic evolution, which encompasses astronomical, biological and socio-cultural evolution. In this depiction of cosmic evolution from the US National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), the upper left portion shows the formation of stars, the production of heavy elements and the formation of planetary systems, including our own. On the lower left-hand side prebiotic molecules, RNA and DNA are formed within the first billion years on the primitive Earth. The centre shows the origin and evolution of life leading to increasing complexity, culminating with intelligence, culture, and the astronomers who contemplate the universe on the upper right. The image was created by David DesMarais, Thomas Scattergood and Linda Jahnke at NASA's Ames Research Center in 1986, and reissued in 1997. In this issue Steven J. Dick, Chief Historian at NASA, recounts the history of anthropological involvement in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and discusses SETI's broader relevance to anthropology. Anthropologists are uniquely qualified by knowledge and training to contribute to SETI, since central concerns when and if contact is made will include socio-cultural difference and cross-cultural communication. In turn the extraterrestrial perspective has much to offer anthropology, both in expanding its boundaries, its insights and its tools, and in casting a fresh light on cultures on Earth. Valerie Olson, in her review of the session dedicated to SETI at the 2005 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, argues that the SETI vision of a terrestrial/extraterrestrial dichotomy between human and alien ‘others’ brings older and more recent anthropological ideas into a new juxtaposition, and that SETI has potential for stimulating the anthropological imagination. Volume22, Issue2April 2006Pages i-ii RelatedInformation