John Gertz

Reinventing SETI clears out the cobwebs of outdated or wrongheaded SETI paradigms such as Fermi’s Paradox, the Drake Equation and METI (i.e., proactively sending signals from Earth to putative aliens). The book makes the case that, whereas most past and current SETI searches assume that aliens are transmitting from their own star systems, Reinventing SETI argues that this would be a highly ineffective strategy for ET. Consequently, the current SETI paradigm--observing stars one by one--is doomed to continue to fail. ET’s much better strategy would be to send physical robotic probes to our own Solar System in order to surveil and possibly to communicate with humankind. Interstellar flight by biological beings is virtually impossible, and therefore these probes cannot be "manned" by little green men and must be robotic. Because ET’s robotic probes are not far away but right here somewhere within our own Solar System, it is imperative that humankind prepare now for a possibly imminent encounter with one rather than in befuddlement of the moment after contact. Such contingency planning should involve international cooperation as well as broad cross-disciplinary expertise. Since the stakes will be paramount for all of humankind, an international treaty governing SETI, METI, post-detection protocols, and relations with ET should be adopted. A draft treaty is proffered by the author.

• Preface   
• Introduction   
• Chapter One Fermi’s Faux Paradox  
• Chapter Two Reconsidering a Sacred Cow: The Drake Equation  
• Chapter Three Standard Observational SETI: It’s Time to Move On 
• Chapter Four What’s There to Talk About Anyway?  
• Chapter Five METI: Beyond Folly to the Stupid, Arrogant, Delusional, 
• and Downright Dangerous  
• Chapter Six ET Hits the Road—Or Not  
• Chapter Seven There’s No Place Like Home 
• Chapter Eight ET Does Have a Solution: Robotic Probes  
• Chapter Nine Humankind is Utterly Unprepared: How Foolish is That!  
• Chapter Ten Getting Earth’s Act Together by Act of Treaty  
• Epilogue  
• Index