Martian Linguistics by Timothy Jenkins

"Jenkins weaves astrobiology, philosophy and theology into a rich tapestry that will be our vade-mecum for extra-terrestrial contact. The stakes are high, poised between being welcomed into the interstellar community and abandoning hope as we peer into abysses of solipsistic nihilism. The labyrinth remains unplumbed, but Jenkins will be our sure guide."

(Simon Conway Morris, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology, University of Cambridge)

"Jenkins' anthropological gaze reminds us how sanitized intellectual history has become. While the natural sciences claim life in the universe as their sole preserve, understanding the urge to communicate with extra-terrestrials demands we attend to Mesmerism and Spiritualism, the military, and science fiction. Communication between terrestrial traditions turns out as remarkable as extra-terrestrial forms."

(Andrew Davison, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford)

Ideas of "communication" and "information" are key to the project of seeking life on other planets. US Air Force encounters with flying saucers after 1945 and the search for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI), pursued since 1960, both point to the necessity of composing and understanding interplanetary languages to allow meaningful exchange if contact were ever established. These themes are also explored in science fiction stories across the period to the present, responding to the changing understanding of the possibility of communication. This book traces the major questions that structure the search, together with the episodes raising (and dashing) hope of contact, the languages proposed as means of exchange, and some of the novels that explore this history. Taken together, these elements pose the question: can we ever cross the boundary between our and other minds?

Timothy Jenkins retired from Cambridge University in 2019. He trained at the Oxford Institute of Social Anthropology, with fieldwork in France and Britain. His research interests include moral uses of scientific discoveries and the multiple dimensions of time. He has also published Of Flying Saucers and Social Scientists (2013).