Publication details
For the Aliens, We Are the Aliens
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2026 |
| Type | Peer-reviewed scientific article |
| Magazine / Source | ACTA ASTRONAUTICA |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | article - open access |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2026.06.002 |
| Keywords | speculative anthropology; SETI; mockumentary; sociotechnical imaginaries; Voyager Golden Record; utopias; cultural conflicts; interstellar communication |
| Attached files | |
| Description | Reflecting on the legacy of the 1977 Voyager Golden Record, this article analyzes the mockumentary Buzz of the Earth (2023) by Greta Stocklassa as a “diegetic prototype” for interstellar communication. Drawing on the lenses of speculative anthropology and utopian studies, we examine how the film uses satire to expose the “poly-crisis” of the contemporary historical moment. By staging a deliberative deadlock between technocratic, anthropocentric optimism and critical, post-colonial reflexivity, the film demonstrates that the construction of a message for extraterrestrial intelligence is inherently a political act of self-definition. Central to this analysis is the sociological paradox of SETI’s persistence: how a field defined by decades of empirical silence retains scientific authority and material resources. We argue that the value of the search lies not in the reception of a signal, but in the production of “imagined futures.” Ultimately, the article suggests that speculative anthropology resolves this paradox by reframing the cosmic silence as vital cultural data about the sender—an archive of anxieties and hopes that drives technological innovation while offering a critical space to negotiate terrestrial crises such as planetary precarity and the legacies of colonialism. |
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