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March 14, 2003
| Contacts:
Douglas Vakoch
Workshop Chair
SETI Institute
Phone: +1 650-960-4514 (USA)
altruism@seti.org
Diane Richards
Marketing and Communications Officer
SETI Institute
Phone: +1 650-960-4515 (USA)
drichards@seti.org |
COMPOSING MESSAGES TO THE COSMOS:
PARIS WORKSHOP GATHERS ARTISTS AND SCIENTISTS
A group of twenty artists, scientists, and scholars from the humanities
will gather in Paris, March 23 and 24 (Sunday and Monday), to understand
how we might communicate the idea of altruism to any intelligent civilizations
that could be circling other stars.
The workshop—“Encoding Altruism: The Art and Science of
Interstellar Message Composition”—will focus on messages
that could be transmitted by radio waves or laser pulses. These communication
techniques reflect the methods used in the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI), including the world's most comprehensive search,
Project Phoenix, being conducted by the SETI Institute.
“As SETI programs become increasingly powerful, we need to think
seriously about what to do if we succeed. Should we reply? If so, what
should we say?” asked chair of the workshop, Dr. Douglas Vakoch. “How
could we convey concepts as seemingly abstract as altruism or our sense
of beauty?”
Participants from a dozen countries will ponder these questions and
other topics, including
- Creating interactive interstellar messages.
- Preparing for interstellar contact by studying animal communication.
- Explaining the logic of altruism.
- Conveying religious views of altruism through artificial languages.
- Composing interstellar "music" inspired by the structure
of DNA.
More information including complete biographies and abstracts is available
online at http://publish.seti.org/art_science/2003/.
The workshop is being sponsored by the SETI Institute; Leonardo/OLATS
(Leonardo Observatory for the Arts and TechnoSciences); the John Templeton
Foundation; the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology
(ISAST); and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Permanent
SETI Study Group.
END
NOTE TO EDITORS: Participation is by invitation only.
Interested journalists should contact workshop chair Douglas Vakoch (altruism@seti.org), phone +1 650-960-4514 (USA).
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