Publications

Here you will find a list of my publications that focus on space exploration.  This list is updated when I get around to it…

Books

  1. Traphagan, John W.   Culture, Science, and the Search for Life on Other Worlds.  Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
  2. Traphagan, John W.   Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Imagination: SETI at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Culture.  New York: Springer.

Peer Review Journal Articles

  1. Traphagan, John W. In press.  Should We Lie to Extraterrestrials? A Critique of the Voyager Golden Records.  Space Policy.
  2. Schwartz, James S. J., Sheri Wells-Jensen, John W. Traphagan, Deana Weibel, and Kelly Smith.  2021. What Do We Need to Ask Before Settling Space? Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 74(4): 140-149.
  3. Traphagan, John W. 2021. SETI, Evolutionary Eschatology, and the Star Trek Imaginary.  Theology and Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700.2021.1910911
  4. Traphagan, John W.   2020. Religion, Science, and Space Exploration from a Non-Western Perspective.  Religions 11(8): DOI10.3390/rel11080397.
  5. Traphagan, John W. and Ken Wisian. 2020. Protocols for Encounter with Extraterrestrials: Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 73(7).
  6. Smith, Kelly and John W. Traphagan. 2020. First, Do Nothing: A Meek Protocol for First Contact. Space Policy.
  7. Wisian, Ken and John W. Traphagan. 2020. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: A Realpolitik Consideration. Space Policy 52:
  8. Traphagan, John W. 2019. Deconstructing the Rio Scale: Problems of Subjectivity and Generalization. International Journal of Astrobiology 18(5):463-467.
  9. Traphagan, John W. 2019. Cargoism and Scientific Justification in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 54(1): 29 – 45.
  10. Smith, Kelly, Keith Abney, Greg Anderson, Linda Billings, Carl DeVito, Brian Green, Alan Johnson, Lori Marino, Gonzalo Munevar, Michael Oman-Reagan, Adam Potthast, Jim Schwartz, Koji Tachibana, John W. Traphagan, Sheri Wells-Jensen. 2019. The Great Colonization Debate. Futures 110:4-14.
  11. Traphagan, John W. 2019. Which Humanity Would Space Colonization Save? Futures 110:47-49.
  12. Traphagan, John W. 2018. Active SETI and the Problem of Research Ethics. Theology and Science 17(1):69-78.
  13. Traphagan, John W.  2018. Cargo Cults and the Ethics of Active SETI.  Space Policy 46:18-22.
  14. Traphagan, John W. 2017. Do No Harm?  Cultural Imperialism and the Ethics of Active SETI.  Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 70: 219-224.
  15. Traphagan, John W. 2010. Ritual, Meaningfulness, and Interstellar Message Construction. Acta Astronautica 67(7/8): 954-960.

Book Chapters

  1. Traphagan, John W. and Julian W. Traphagan.   SETI in Non-Western Perspective.  In Imagining Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Anthropocentric Assumptions? In Steven Dick (ed.), The Impact of Discovering Life Beyond Earth.  Cambridge University Press, Pp. 299-307.
  2. Traphagan, John W.   Equating Culture, Civilization, and Moral Development.  In Imagining Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Anthropocentric Assumptions? In Steven Dick (ed.), The Impact of Discovering Life Beyond Earth.  Cambridge University Press, Pp. 127-142.
  3. Traphagan, John W. 2014. Anthropology at a Distance: SETI and the Production of Knowledge in the Encounter with an Extraterrestrial Other. In Douglas Vakoch (ed.), Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication. NASA History Series, Pp 131-142.
  4. Traphagan, John W. 2014. Culture and Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In Douglas Vakoch (ed.), Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication. NASA History Series, Pp. 161-174.
  5. Traphagan, John W. 2011. Culture, Meaning, and Interstellar Message Construction. In Douglas A. Vakoch (ed.), Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Albany: State University of New York Press, Pp. 469-486.

Blog Posts

  1. Traphagan, John W.  2020.  What Can SETI Scholars Learn from the Covid-19 Pandemic?  Centauri Dreams.
  2. Traphagan, John W. 2017. SETI and the Meaningless Rio Scale.  Huffington Post.
  3. Traphagan, John W. 2016. Is Signal From HD164595 Evidence Of Aliens Or Just Another False Alarm? Huffington Post.
  4. Traphagan, John W.   SETI, Imagining Extraterrestrial Civilizations, and War.  Huffington Post.  
  5. Traphagan, John W.   Is Active SETI Really Dangerous?  Huffington Post.  
  6. Traphagan, John W.   Cultural Evolution, Extraterrestrials, and Active SETI.  Huffington Post.
  7. Traphagan, John W. 2015. Active SETI and the Perils of Isolationism. 14 December.  Huffington Post.
  8. Traphagan, John W.   So What if KIC 8462852 Did Have Megastructures?  Huffington Post.  10 December.