A(nother) Cosmic Wager: Pascal, METI, and the Barn Door Argument

There is growing debate about whether we should attempt to message extraterrestrials (METI). Much of the debate has focused on the level of risk posed and in particular, the barn door argument (BDA), holds that aliens would already know about us and thus there is little harm that could come from mes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theology and science
Subtitles:Theme Articles: "Should we send messages to extraterrestrials?"
Main Author: Smith, Kelly C. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge [2019]
In: Theology and science
RelBib Classification:NCJ Ethics of science
VA Philosophy
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:There is growing debate about whether we should attempt to message extraterrestrials (METI). Much of the debate has focused on the level of risk posed and in particular, the barn door argument (BDA), holds that aliens would already know about us and thus there is little harm that could come from messaging. In this article, I examine the basic logic of BDA by comparing it with Pascal's Wager. These are both intuitive appeals that try to sidestep the empirical debate, but on critical examination they are seen to fall prey to a number of similar problems.
ISSN:1474-6719
Contains:Enthalten in: Theology and science
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/14746700.2018.1557393