SETI- Pseudoscience or Science?

 Group Members: Haley Patel, Qiqi Wang, Lillian Wu, James Overall, Zhendi Wang

    SETI is an organization that aims to determine whether extraterrestrial life exists. Individually and as a group, we classified SETI as science.

    SETI also takes advantage of scientific tools such as telescopes, radio, and satellite technology, and is supported by scientific authority, such as NASA. Projects such as COSMIC aiming to detect foreign technosignatures rely on these technologies. They have a clear hypothesis- that intelligent life capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation exists elsewhere in the universe.

Arecibo Telescope used by SETI- Credit: wordlesstech.com

    Just because temporarily the existence of intelligence elsewhere in the universe seems unfalsifiable, that is only because we don't have the means of technology to verify it, not because it's something like an opinion that cannot be proven true or false.  It's normal for scientific study to be limited by technology when hypotheses exist.

    I also find the argument of falsifiability questionable. For example, the fact that every object has a gravitational field cannot be proven false, but it is not pseudoscience. It can be said that pseudosciences are unfalsifiable but it doesn't make sense that all science is falsifiable.

Credit: seti.org

    In order to support its classification as science, SETI should emphasize the use of scientific methods and honest communication in pursuit of its goals. SETI must keep carrying out their programs and experiments to test their hypothesis that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, despite the challenges that are faced.


Additional information:

1: https://www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/seti-observations

2: https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/document-151

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