ABSTRACT
This chapter examines proposals for communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). Some of the ancient cosmologies, such as the Aristotelian model of the universe, are described by way of an introduction to the postCopernican vision of a universe populated with many worlds similar to our own. Nevertheless, it will be argued that pre-Copernican beliefs regarding the centrality of the Earth in the cosmos and analogies with terrestrial conditions have survived in modern astronomy. Early in the twentieth century, beliefs in the existence of Martians drew heavily on scientific and political analogies with life on Earth. Modern radio searches, which offer the first empirical solution to the search for ETI, are nevertheless dependent upon analogies with technological developments during the past century on Earth. This chapter ends with some brief speculations regarding the effects of contact with ETI and the possibility of a galactic network of communicating beings.
