Contact with Alien Civilizations [recurso electrónico] : Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials / by Michael A. G. Michaud.

A Belief in Other Minds -- A New Era -- Searching for Intelligence -- Sending Our Own Signals -- Probabilities -- Probabilities: The Astronomical Factors -- Probabilities: Life -- Probabilities: Intelligence -- Probabilities: Civilization, Technology, and Science -- Probabilities: Longevity -- The Drake Equation, Take Two -- Should We Continue the Search? -- Direct Contact -- The UFO Controversy -- The Drake Equation, Take Three -- Why Don't We See Them? -- Reformulating the Problem -- Thinking Outside the Box -- SETI and Religion -- The Consequences of Contact -- Hopes -- Fears -- Dangers -- Mixed Emotions -- Some Assumptions Examined -- Before Contact -- Assumptions: After Contact -- The Drake Equation, Take Four -- What Is Missing -- Some Conclusions Drawn -- Paradigm Shifts -- The Human Role -- Annex: Preparing.

This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. As necessary background, the book also includes brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create.