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Collective Action

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What We Know About Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Part of the book series: Space and Society ((SPSO))

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Abstract

This chapter explores some of the implications of the fact that intelligent species need to organize collective action to get things done in larger groups than dyads or nurturance/socialization groups (AKA ‘families’). The two different classes of groups, role behaviors, and other social phenomena are shown to be species-neutral, and the principles that engender and maintain them among humans, are likely to exist among ETI as well. We also expolore very human activities such as play and politeness, and whether they will exist among ETI. After defining the often used term in xenology ‘transcendence’, we will also be able to establish a rough, social-based classification of ETI societies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I apologize in advance to my anthropological colleagues, notably my daughter, who find this approach simplistic and contrary to the current interest in mental images and interpretations as the supreme locus of human activity.

  2. 2.

    For a humorous, but essentially accurate picture of the nature of the “Among the X” statement, it is worth reading the classic “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” (Miner 1972).

  3. 3.

    A system that in it eponymous form, was used by Northwest Coast Native Americans to ensure long-term survival. The Northwest Coast (Washington, US to Alaska, US) is an area of great diversity and wealth in wildlife and food sources. However, these are not fixed, but vary from year to year. In a flush year, a village might gather huge surpluses, in a poor year, it might starve. To overcome this, a flush village would have a potlatch, a major feast where people from other villages were entertained royally, and given gifts of food and valuables. In a poor year, the same village would feast with its more successful neighbors. In effect, this was a simple insurance system built on reciprocity, pride, and ritual. See Drucker (1966).

  4. 4.

    I am being only mildly sarcastic here. Nonetheless, and however they are termed, they emerge from surpluses. What is significant is that because there is a surplus these robbers can come into being.

  5. 5.

    There ought to be a Class IV—those that use the entire energy output of their universe—but that would bring them into the realm of transcendentals.

  6. 6.

    This line of argument deliberately ignores the possibility of something like a super-AI maintaining all aspects of the ‘civilization’ on its own. Among other reasons, this would mean we are not discussing a civilization, of which more anon, but a single individual of some sort, however transcendent.

  7. 7.

    And such have been discussed in science fiction literature, by among others Mack Reynolds and Larry Niven. But they would most likely not be intelligent in any sense that we would understand.

  8. 8.

    So much so that certain eminent scientists, including Stephen Hawking have raised the alarm about potentially arousing the wrath of powerful aggressive ETI.

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  1. Villalonga, Spain

    Michael Ashkenazi

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  1. Michael Ashkenazi
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Ashkenazi, M. (2017). Collective Action. In: What We Know About Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44456-7_7

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