Evolutionary Perspectives on Interstellar Communication: Images of Altruism

Abstract

At least some part of an interstellar message of altruism will be in the form of images. Designing such iconic messages will require a comprehensive dialogue among representatives of science, arts and humanities, and include non-Western traditions. As a basis for discussing the likely success (or failure) of communicating cultural concepts to extraterrestrials, we can first look at some examples how this has been done across cultures here on Earth. I use the example of religious icons on altruism, because it is an area where the repertoire of iconic messages has been studied in some detail. We can then address particular questions about using this approach in interstellar messages. How much terrestrial experience can help depends on how human-like the recipients of our message are thought to be. Some conclusions are: (a) Images have to be combined with other forms of communication. (b) Terrestrial experience can be valuable for alien recipients that are human-like, but even in this case the difference in evolutionary history is a significant barrier to understanding. (c) In the case of aliens that are not human-like it is unclear what the equivalent of altruism would be for them. (d) Sending multiple diverse messages increases our chances to be understood, but also to be misunderstood. (e) A serious effort at designing interstellar messages of altruism will have positive consequences for humanity even if no alien civilization acknowledges our transmission.