Humans Before a Hypothetic Encounter with Extraterrestrials

This volume explores the human dimension of a potential encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). Assuming that contact with extraterrestrial life is possible, it examines how such an event could affect culture, education, ethics, politics, and systems of belief, including religion. The book also considers what policies and strategies for communication with extraterrestrial life might look like, while addressing the broader intellectual, social, and existential challenges such an encounter could raise. Bringing together interdisciplinary contributions, it offers both theoretical reflection and empirical research on people’s beliefs about ETIs, as well as their expectations, hopes, and fears. The volume will be of interest to scholars working on religion, culture, and the wider human implications of possible contact with extraterrestrial life.