The long view: sustaining multigenerational science
- Paper number
IAC-12,A4,2,9,x14561
- Author
Prof. Kathryn Denning, York University, Canada
- Year
2012
- Abstract
The modern scientific search for extraterrestrial life is in a time of transition: the first generation of professional SETI astronomers and exobiologists are now planning for a potentially multi-generational search. This paper will examine some historical examples of cultural and scientific ‘long projects’ – including some which have been concluded, and others which have not – to demonstrate a few principles and questions about multi-generational endeavours. There are, of course, practical questions of institutional stability, as well as trends in science, but another significant question concerns the sustainability of anticipation itself: how long can a community stay in an active mode of prognostication, always waiting for something big to happen?
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)