Exosemiotics: An inter-disciplinary approach

Over the past several hundred years, many ideas have been expressed as to h ow human beings might communicate with extraterrestrials. These ideas have been put forth by experts from a diverse range of fields including physical scientists, mathematicians, behavioral scientists, philosophers and creati ve writers who have widely differing views on how to express ourselves cohe rently with civilizations from other worlds. This paper will look at some of these differing viewpoints and stress the n eed for an inter-disciplinary approach to the challenges of sending and, pe rhaps most important, receiving messages. Could we decipher a message if we got one? Who is doing the listening and what advantages could an interdisc iplinary approach bring to these efforts? What are some inter-disciplinary approaches to sending messages to extraterrestrials? (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.