Some Thoughts from an Anthropologist on Culture, Interstellar Communication, and the Construction of Interstellar Messages John W. Traphagan, Ph.D. University.

Some Thoughts from an Anthropologist on Culture, Interstellar Communication, and the Construction of Interstellar Messages

John W. Traphagan, Ph.D.University of Texas at Austin

Presentation AimsThink about “culture” as it

relates to interstellar message construction and cross-cultural communication

Can we assume a mutually intelligible symbolic system for representing ideas and actions?◦ Can we truly assume that the

symbolic representation of mathematics by an alien being would be mutually intelligible with our own?

Structure of TalkRelationship between

intelligence and culture◦ How would culture be

different if our sensory apparatus were different?

How do variations in human cultures influence communication?

What is culture?Anthropology and the

study/invention of culture

Implications for SETI research

INTELLIGENCE AND CULTURE

What is culture?Tendency to assume

“culture” as a concept not in need of precise definition

Culture as homogenizing category

Essentialistic representations of our own and other societies

Standard DefinitionCulture is a shared set of beliefs,

customs, and ideas that are learned and that unify people into coherent and identifiable groups

Culture represents a form of collective or social memory that links past, present, and future

This formulation represents culture as fairly deterministic in shaping human behavior within a particular—and bounded—society

Better DefinitionPeople not only are held together, but may

be divided by their customs and beliefs, even when they ostensibly belong to the same culture

Rather than a deterministic “thing” culture is better understood as a process by which people continually contest and reinvent the customs, beliefs, and ideas that they use, collectively, individually, and often strategically, to characterize their surroundings

In short, culture is in a constant state of flux

My DefinitionCulture is a complex arrangement of

symbolic structures that are negotiated and developed in reaction to personal experience mediated by particular sensory apparatuses and through which individuals organize and interpret sensory data that are, in turn, used for further organization, interpretation, and creation of symbolic structures

These arrangements are interconnected regions of memory that are used to translate concrete experience into domains of abstract, and subjective, reasoning and feeling

Culture and Biology Culture does not simply

provide a set of ideas, rules, or concepts that shape behavior; it provides an environment of behaviors that people observe and that influences the physiological development of the brain

Studies of sensory deprivation show that the idea of separation between the individual and environment (cultural or natural) is highly problematic

Intelligence in individuals and, more broadly, across a species necessarily develops as a product of social context

What is Intelligence?Minsky (1985) argues that basic

capacities and characteristics will be typical of any intelligent being:◦Problem solving◦Analytical skills◦Ability to describe the world◦Explanatory skills◦Accumulation and exchange of information◦Allocation of scarce resources◦Planning ahead◦Self-awareness

Intelligence and CultureWhat differentiates humans from

other beings?Minsky’s work is suggestive, but

does not deal sufficiently with issue of culture

Michael Tomasello: Capacity to deeply identify with others—to empathize◦ Small difference leads to cascading

effects on the capacity to do cultural things

◦ Generates ability to internalize and elaborate on collaborative production

◦ Allows us to create and accumulate cultural artifacts, practices, and beliefs

Intelligence and Culture Empathic ability generates capacity to understand others as

intentional, mental beings (like ourselves)◦ Evolution of this capacity enabled new forms of cultural learning and the

accumulation of cultural artifacts and behaviors, with modification, over time

Human children grow up surrounded by these socially and historically constructed artifacts and practices

Being immersed in this cultural milieu allows children to:◦ Benefit from accumulated knowledge and skills◦ Acquire and use perspective-based cognitive representations – symbols, as

well as analogies and metaphors constructed from symbols◦ Internalize specific types of discourse interactions that are developed into

skills allowing us to: Regulate cognitive processes through self-awareness of those processes

(metacognition) Symbolically represent and describe the world around us Think and create dialogically

Our understanding of the world is entirely mediated through these processes, which are themselves mediated through specific sensory apparatuses

(Tomasello, Michael. 1999. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Harvard University Press.)

What is it like to be a bat?Thomas NagelConsciousness of experience

occurs at a variety of levels among animal life

We can imagine what it is like to be a bat; we cannot know what it is like

Understanding what it is to experience being another form of animal life is impossible

In other words, we lack the capacity to empathize with bats

How do bats process the world?Echolocation

◦ Discriminate among objects

Echolocation mediates how bats enact capacities such as planning ahead to avoid ramming things or identifying mosquitoes to eat

Model of world based primarily upon interpretation of sound reflections, as opposed to light reflections

Empathy and HumansHumans don’t vary

a whole lot biologically

Can we understand what it is like to be blind or deaf?

The things we choose to focus on when constructing our world vary from one culture to another

Counting in Japanese一枚、二枚、三枚

◦Flat thin thing—CD, sheet of paper一冊、二冊、三冊

◦Copy—such as a book一匹、二匹、三匹

◦Small animal—cat, mouse一台、二台、三台

◦Machine—car, washing machine一本、二本、三本

◦Cylindrical object—pen, pipe

Japanese and English CountingEnglish distinguishes

between one and many◦ Plural and singular

Japanese distinguishes among shapes and sizes◦ Plural forms are not

important in Japanese

一二三四五六

Information LossWe can translate counting in Japanese into

English◦ 鉛筆一本 = one cylindrical object that is a lead

writing brush = one pencil◦ 車二台 = two cars that are large machines = two cars

Basic interpretive and classificatory information associated with how Japanese people perceive what is important in counting things is lost

Some of what is important for English speakers—adding reference to plurality—is added

Differences in what is deemed important to explicate and imply◦ Personal pronouns

How Would a Bat Count?How would we translate counting between

humans and a race of intelligent beings who process sensory data through echolocation?

Would counting—and more generally mathematics—necessarily be symbolically represented in the same way humans do this?

Perhaps such beings would be quite interested in shape and size or reflective qualities when counting, given their manner of processing the world◦ Would a bat-like intelligent species count “one large,

sound-absorbent thing, two large, sound-absorbent thing,” or “one small, sound-reflective thing, two small, sound-reflective thing?”

Constructing Reality Through Culture Underlying principles of symbolic systems like

mathematics or music should be understood by both humans and an alien intelligence

Manner in which a particular being obtains and processes sensory data will influence the way in which it constructs any system to describe what is being processed

Elements of the world that are deemed important in a particular culture will influence cognition and the manner in which individuals classify and construct their world around elements that matter more or less

The nature of empathy will be significantly influenced by the manner in which a being processes information and collectively represents and transfers that information

Some Implications1. Culture is not distinct from biology—the sensory apparatus

individuals use significantly shapes their experience of the world and the manner in which they experience and construct cultural ideas and patterns of behavior

2. Culture represents a context for linking memory, experience, and predictability (past, present, and future) into an interpretive framework that people use to deal with their surroundings

3. Culture is not bounded, nor is it constant, instead it is in a continual state of change or motion

4. Culture is not consistent, it is an amalgam of individual experiences, interpretations, and memories that are treated as though they are consistent but, in fact, involve considerable variation at the individual level

5. Culture mediates all human interactions with the world and, thus, influences all aspects of perception and thought

6. Culture shapes the way we construct symbolic systems for representing the world—mathematics is one such system

ANTHROPOLOGY AND ALIENS: RESEARCH GONE AWRY

AnthropologyWhat are the practical

implications of thinking about culture and intelligence in this way?

Anthropology provides possibility of analogy to SETI research

Historically, anthropologists have been focused on dealing with “alien” others about which little was known

Anthropology at a Distance Early anthropologists, often

known as armchair anthropologists◦ Research at a distance◦ Long time delays◦ Unreliable modes of

communication Contact, direct or indirect,

normally involved interactions with people with whom the anthropologist shared no language

Much of the early data collected was mediated◦ Missionaries◦ Colonial officials◦ Military personnel

(mercenaries)E. B. Tylor (1832 – 1917)

Alien Cultures When data were

eventually received interpretation was largely based upon theoretical frameworks and assumptions that had a decidedly Western tinge

Social Darwinism and cultural evolution with its underpinnings associated with progress and the superiority of Europeans

20th Century AnthropologyArmchair anthro-

pology came largely to an end in the early 20th Century as transportation improved

Circumstances related to World War II led to another, very important, instance of anthropology at a distance

An Alien EnemyRuth Benedict (1887 –

1948)◦ Anthropologist trained

by the father of American cultural anthropology, Franz Boas

◦ Worked primarily among Hopi until WWII

Commissioned by US government to conduct a study of Japanese culture in mid 1940s◦ Japanese behavior made

little sense to Americans

A Difficult TaskHow do you

conduct an ethnographic study of your enemy in the middle of a war?

The answer to this was to conduct research by looking at translated literature, films

Also interviewed Americans of Japanese descent living in relocation camps in the desert Southwest

Research on PrisonersRespondents were

passive, a result of being in a stressful context

Spoke with a representative of the very government that had forcibly removed them from their homes and imprisoned them

Chrysanthemum and SwordAfter the war, Benedict

published her report to the government as a book, entitled The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

This book sold widely in both the US and Japan

No single book has had more influence on our understanding of Japan than Benedict’s

Reactions to C and S“…Dr. Benedict, with

the soft words of a fox spirit, leads the reader into the forest of Japan and before he knows it she has him bewitched into believing that he understands and is familiar with every root and branch of Japanese culture” (Embree 1947a:11)

“The most important contemporary book yet written on Japan. Here, for the first time, is a serious attempt to explain why the Japanese behave the way they do” (Morris 1947:208).

Paradigm for Study of JapanBenedict’s work set out

the parameters for what would be considered the basic elements and core values associated with Japanese culture and the Japanese psyche for years to follow

Much research produced supported the conclusions, either directly or indirectly, that Benedict had drawn from her study

Invention of Japan Benedict’s at-a-distance take

on Japan became Japan itself for many, and perhaps the majority, of Americans throughout most of the second half of the 20th Century

Benedict’s work was central in the US government’s approach to re-organizing and engineering Japanese society following the War

Widely read by an American public interested in understanding the enemy they had just conquered and whose country they were now occupying

Consequences of Benedict’s WorkLack of valid

empirical data led to an emphasis of theory over description and analysis

Benedict essentially fit “Japanese culture” into a theoretical framework she had developed in her earlier work on the Hopi

Led to a tendency to create stereotypes of Japanese culture and to think in simplistic terms about how Japanese behave

Groupism, hyper-loyalty, the “samurai ethic”

What became understood as “Japanese culture” was not an accurate representation

Invention of JapanComplex interplay of assumptions, theory,

data, and misinterpretations ◦ Became the basis on which understanding of an

alien civilization was developed Japan, as a culture and a civilization, was

not simply discovered, it was in many respects created out of this interplay

In short, our understanding of Japanese culture and behavior was filtered, significantly, through our own cultural notions:◦ Assumption that objective data collection and

analysis of alien cultures is possible◦ Assumption of racial homogeneity◦ Assumption of uniformity of behavior based upon

cultural determinism

IMPLICATIONS OF THINKING ABOUT CULTURE AND CONTACT

What will ET be like?AltruisticBent on imperial

dominationWhen we ask this

question, there are several assumptions lurking that influence the types of answers we arrive at

Assumptions Aliens will think in uniform ways and have a uniform

culture◦ They will act in consistent and predictable ways and will

display cultural consensus◦ Reflection on our own case and the above discussion makes

it clear that if they are anything like us, this will not be true Indeed, a tacit assumption of much of the literature

dealing with contact with extraterrestrial intelligence is the idea that an alien civilization will be culturally unified, unlike our own world

We will discover the alien civilization we encounter, rather than invent it in ways consistent with our own culturally shaped frameworks for understanding others

At some root level, we will be able to empathize with an alien intelligence

Evolutionary ModelProgress leads to greater levels of unified

organizational structure which implies higher level of “civilization” that is relatively homogeneous◦ Animism vs. monotheism discredits this assumption

Assumption of human, and particularly Western, perspectives that have a teleological notion of cultural evolution in which there is a universal outcome to processes of cultural change

Advanced, in this formulation, becomes inexorably associated with culturally and politically unified Fact of increased technological sophistication ≠ increase political

or social sophistication Intelligence is uniform a product of evolutionary change and

is biological, not cultural, thus it should be displayed in highly similar ways among different intelligent species

Problems with AnthropocentrismAnthropocentric views assume an underlying

likeness to humanity in any intelligent being and in the ways in which “culture” is expressed and shapes civilization formation among all intelligent beings

Culture will exist among aliens—intelligence does not arise without culture

Nature of culture will be attuned to a particular a particular natural and social environment and a particular set of sensory apparatuses for processing information about that environment◦ Could be similar to human culture, but I’d bet it

won’t be

Implications for SETI Research If we encounter evidence of extraterrestrial

intelligence, we should not only be concerned with deciphering the meaning of the signal in terms of intended content, but also in terms of what it tells us about the thing that sent it

A signal conveys both explicit and implicit information about the sender.◦ The fact, for example, that humans have been sending

television images out into the galaxy for several decades could tell extraterrestrials a great deal about how we process information, if they are able to recognize that those signals contain information that can be represented in a visual medium

An alien intelligence that recognizes this fact would then have a basis upon which to create a message that we might be able to understand

Implications for SETI Research The few intentional messages that have been sent out to

date, such as Drake’s approach of broadcasting pictures and binary information that requires no prior understanding of our technology, are an attempt to anticipate the capacities of another civilization of intelligent beings

Drake’s message provides some basic information about us and our knowledge, including numbers from one to ten, the human form, DNA structure, hydrogen and carbon atoms, and information about our solar system

The problem is that it requires prior understanding of our culture, because the symbolic structures used to represent the information are embedded in our culture and are a product of our sensory experience of the world◦ Drake himself has noted that when he presented the message to

different scientists, they had trouble interpreting the entire message

Implications for SETI Research Instead of primarily being concerned with the content of a

message, we might want to consider being concerned with what the message tells us about who sent it

In Drake’s message, there are several subtexts that convey information about us that are not necessarily part of the intended meaning◦ We think in terms of binary relationships—we encode information in

terms of 1’s and 0’s—and understand two-dimensional images◦ We are highly visual◦ We are highly logical—an assumption that would be misleading at

best◦ All humans think in ways similar to scientists living in the industrial

world If the message was interpreted as being sent by “an alien

civilization” for the purpose of making contact, then it would suggest quite inaccurately that we are a unified society or culture interested in communication with civilizations in other parts of the universe

Future Directions Research on interstellar message construction should

involve not only thinking about the explicit message intended, but direct consideration of the implicit information that is being conveyed along with the explicit message

Rather than asking the questions, “What does ET mean in a message?” or “What information do we want to convey in a message from us to ET?” we should also be asking◦ “What are the implicit indicators and forms of information

about ET and ourselves that are contained in any message sent or received?”

◦ “How are our signals products of culturally specific symbolic systems?”

How is information about our culture(s) and our biology encoded in the messages we generate?

Interpretive ContextsWhat cultural assumptions go into the

creation and interpretation of any message we create or might receive?

Because we are inherently cultural beings, culture has and will continue to shape the process of looking for and, if contact is made, interpreting an encounter

We need to be overtly aware of this and attempt to bracket our own culturally circumscribed tendencies and assumptions as much as possible