Hey Eclectic Spacewalkers!
Last week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Claire Webb.
Claire is a historian and anthropologist of science and currently a fellow of USC and the Berggruen Institute. Her research considers future-facing technoscientific objects since the postwar era in the United States.
Her dissertation, from MIT’s HASTS program, Technologies of Perception: Searches for Life and Intelligence Beyond Earth is a history of, and current work on, scientific searches for extraterrestrial life.
She has a long personal history of being around telescopes, even working with Breakthrough Listen - UC-Berkeley’s SETI research arm, and collaborating with none other than Jill Tarter. Jodie Foster’s rough characterization in the film Contact should jog your memory of who that is.
Our conversation was far-reaching, thought-provoking, and exactly the type of conversation for us to get back into the podcasting swing of things again. We talked about Claire’s early inspirations, The Overview Effect and Earthrise photo, The Drake Equation/Fermi Paradox, for E.T., and what type of techno futures we can imagine on worlds beyond Earth, amongst a number of other interesting topics. I thank Claire for her time, research, and eclectic mind.
I hope you enjoy the conversation!
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