Anthony Aveni is the author of the new book Aliens Like Us?: An Anthropologist's Field Guide to Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life. His many other books include Conversing with the Planets. He is the Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of Astronomy, Anthropology, and Native American Studies, Emeritus, at Colgate University.
Q: What inspired you to write Aliens Like Us?
A: As an astronomer (turned anthropologist) I've long been aware of the neglect of the anthropological literature on the part of astrobiologists who research life in the universe.
Q: What do you see as some of the most common perceptions and misconceptions about the concept of extraterrestrial life?
A: The belief that they are like us---questing out of curiosity to explore new frontiers. Those engaged in such studies could learn lessons from stories told of contact among TERRESTRIAL cultures, which is what I provide in Aliens?.
Q: The historian Steven J. Dick said of the book, “Aveni brings his unique expertise in the cultures of Earth to illuminate possible cultures in the heavens. The result is an important, readable, and unusual contribution to the literature of astrobiology, illuminating not only possible extraterrestrials but also the humans who search for and believe in them.” What do you think of that description?
A: My perspective IS unique. I know of no other scholar of both anthro and astro (see my website anthonyfaveni.com) who has thought about ET intelligence. At least there is nothing published.
Q: What do you see going forward when it comes to the study of possible extraterrestrial life?
A: Hopefully my book, if well marketed, will introduce the aforementioned neglected orientation to the problem into the literature.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm doing a book tentatively titled Monsters on the Periphery, which narrates stories through cultural history about who or what inhabits the limits of the known world, from the dark forest at the edge of your domicile, through Atlantis beyond the Greek Pillars of Hercules and other lost continents to the contemporary frontier of space.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Talk to me.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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