ABSTRACT
Direct interaction ‘face to face’ with extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) is highly unlikely due to the asynchronous nature of interstellar communication and the improbability of immediate contact. However, this chapter carves out the circumstances of ‘intercorporeal’ communication with ETI from the viewpoint of human multimodal interaction. First, the main research questions and the methods and basics of multimodal interaction analysis are outlined. Second, some preconditions of multimodal interaction are defined: mainly, there has to be some perceivable, mutually intelligible or negotiable change in the calibration of an interactional resource. Third, a string of key terms for multimodal interaction are discussed: intersubjectivity as a key element of interaction, accommodation and behavioral mimicry as strategies of negotiating meaning, shared meaning-making, temporal and spatial aspects of interaction such as projection of the next expectable move, and coordination of multimodal resources. The main challenges turn out to be the recognition of relevant multimodal displays, the decoding of the temporality of ETI displays, and the implications of embodied interaction and embodied cognition that deem finding a common ground for shared meaning-making highly problematic. Yet, recognizing these pitfalls may be valuable in determining how to move forward with interstellar messaging.
