{"id":6286,"date":"2012-07-31T14:04:46","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T18:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/museum\/?post_type=bates_events&p=6286"},"modified":"2012-08-14T14:16:15","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T18:16:15","slug":"aesthetics-for-aliens-art-music-and-extraterres-lecture-by-doug-vakoch","status":"publish","type":"bates_events","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/museum\/events\/aesthetics-for-aliens-art-music-and-extraterres-lecture-by-doug-vakoch\/","title":{"rendered":"Lecture by Doug Vakoch: “Aesthetics for Aliens: Art, Music, and Extraterrestrials”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Doug Vakoch<\/p><\/div>\n

Do aliens have a sense of beauty? Could they understand ours? From Johannes Kepler\u2019s<\/em> <\/em>Music <\/em>of the Spheres to Hollywood\u2019s alien symphony in<\/em> <\/em>Close Encounters of the Third Kind, we have pondered the link between the cosmos and creativity. Today scientists leading the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) point their telescopes toward the stars, seeking evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. If they find a signal from aliens, what should we say in reply? How could we let them know what it\u2019s like to be human? Building on the language of mathematics and science, SETI researcher Dr. Douglas Vakoch shows how we might start telling extraterrestrials about aesthetics on Earth at a lecture at 6 p.m. on Saturday, November 3.\u00a0 The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Anthropology and the Museum of Art, in association with the groundbreaking exhibition, Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography<\/a>, on view through December 15, in Olin Arts Center room 104.\u00a0 Light refreshments will be served in the Museum following the lecture.<\/em><\/p>\n

Douglas Vakoch<\/strong> is the Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute, as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He leads the SETI Institute’s project to compose interstellar messages of the kind that may someday be sent in reply to a signal from extraterrestrials. Dr. Vakoch is Chair of the International Academy of Astronautics\u2019 Study Groups on Interstellar Message Construction and Active SETI. As a member of the International Institute of Space Law, he examines policy issues related to interstellar communication. Dr. Vakoch has published widely in scholarly books and journals in psychology, astronautics, and the relationship between the arts and sciences. His work has been featured in newspapers and magazines such as the New York Times, Nature, Science, and Der Spiegel. As a spokesman on the cultural aspects of SETI, he has been interviewed on radio and television shows on the BBC, NPR, ABC, The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel, and many others. Hi recent books include Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CETI)<\/em>; Civilizations Beyond Earth: Extraterrestrial Life and Society<\/em>; Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective<\/em>; Ecofeminism and Rhetoric: Critical Perspectives on Sex, Technology, and Discourse<\/em>; and Feminist Ecocriticism: Environment, Women, and Literature<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAstronomers have been searching for intelligent life around other stars for over a half century,\u201d says Vakoch. \u00a0\u201cBut today\u2019s searches are trillions of times more powerful than the first ones. With recent advances in technology, if intelligent life is out there, we could find it tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0 And, if we find ET, we have serious decisions to make, ones Vakoch describes as \u201csome of the most critical questions humankind has ever pondered. \u201c\u00a0 He continues, \u201cShould we reply? If so, what should we say? How do tell an extraterrestrial what it\u2019s like to be human? The differences between humans and extraterrestrials would be tremendous. With all the challenges we face in making ourselves understood at interstellar distances, is it even possible to communicate, for example, our sense of beauty?\u201d<\/p>\n

Vakoch\u2019s talk is one in the Cosmic Questions series of lectures associatedwith Starstruck.\u00a0 \u201cWhen one encounters the images in Starstruck and begins thinking about the scales of space and time involved,\u201d says Anthony Shostak, Curator of Education for the Museum of Art and organizer of Starstruck, \u201cone inevitably starts thinking about some of the greatest questions. Our Cosmic Questions series brings some interesting people to our community to help us engage with these.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starstruck is an ideal exhibition for teachers in all levels of education to engage with art related to a variety of subjects including astronomy and physical science, history, geography, literature, religion, and math.\u00a0 Group tours are welcome by appointment: (207) 786-8302.<\/p>\n

The Bates College Museum of Art is open free to the public Mondays through Saturdays 10-5, and Wednesday evenings September through May until 9 p.m.\u00a0 For directions and more information about events, please visit bates.edu\/museum\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do aliens have a sense of beauty? Could they understand ours? From…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":6287,"template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_bates_event_start":"2012-11-03 18:00:00","_bates_event_end":"2012-11-03 19:30:00","_bates_event_allDay":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"event-tag":[],"class_list":["post-6286","bates_events","type-bates_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"start":"2012-11-03T18:00:00","end":"2012-11-03T19:30:00","location":{"rendered":"

Bates College Olin Arts Center<\/span>, Olin 104<\/span>
75 Russell Street<\/span>
Lewiston<\/span>, ME<\/span> 04240<\/span><\/div>","simple":"Olin 104 Bates College Olin Arts Center, Lewiston, ME, 04240"},"featured_image":{"url":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/museum\/files\/2012\/07\/Doug-Vakoch-600x398.jpg","id":6287},"structureddata":"