Presented by David Grinspoon, Ph.D.
Senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute
David Grinspoon will be talking about his new book Earth In Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet’s Future. Among the topics to be discussed is the merits and demerits of “activating” the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) by transitioning from passive listening to deliberate sending of messages to targeted star systems. This has become something of a hot topic again with the publication of the end-note in a recent Communications of the ACM by Seth Shostak, wherein SETI’s senior astronomer takes an uncharacteristically pessimistic view of the possible consequences of reaching out to our interstellar neighbors. Can science fiction serve as a Gedankenexperiment for possible outcomes in advance of the actuality?
Copies of Dr. Grinspoon’s book will be available.
David Grinspoon is an astrobiologist, award-winning science communicator, and prize-winning author. He is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and adjunct professor of astrophysical and planetary science at the University of Colorado. His research focuses on climate evolution on Earth-like planets and potential conditions for life elsewhere in the universe. In 2013 he was appointed as the inaugural chair of astrobiology at the U.S. Library of Congress where he studied the human impact on Earth systems and organized a public symposium on the Longevity of Human Civilization. Dr. Grinspoon has been recipient of the Carl Sagan Medal for Public Communication of Planetary Science by the American Astronomical Society and has been honored with the title “Alpha Geek” by “Wired Magazine.”
Saturday, March 11, 2017
1:30 pm
National Science Foundation, Room 110
4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA
(Ballston-MU Metro stop)
Enter NSF from the corner of 9th St. N
& N Stuart Streets. www.nsf.gov/about/visit
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members
Refreshments and socializing after the talk.
