Aliens Meet Aliens
Design Research, 2020
A message that reveals the hidden connotations behind aliens




Although no aliens have been found in the universe, the scientific research that presumes alien existence has gradually transformed the notion of aliens from human imagination into emerging issues such as space colonization and planetary governance. Although aliens are imagined figures, they evolve along with human civilization. Since aliens resemble a mirror of humanity, could we approach the issues through their perspectives? Researching aliens through science could be a direct path to the answer; however, aliens are stigmatized as an insult to the honesty of scientific inquiry. Nonetheless, the transformation of aliens is not just influenced by science but also by culture and media, so this inquiry will investigate the notion through the latter two perspectives. By revealing the hidden connotations behind aliens, these aliens hope to challenge people's stereotypes toward aliens and negotiate our perceived differences and borders with others, societies, and worlds.
With the radio telescope, scientists seek to detect strange signals in deep space, namely the straight line in the picture as a proxy for extraterrestrial intelligence(SETI) and indicate that SETI is the archaeology of the future - which is the study of what we have a chance to become. However, the only criteria for the strange signals on which scientists’ assumptions base are human technologies. This paradox implies two insights about aliens: First, we are one of the alien futures for which we ourselves are excavating. Secondly, our imagination of aliens is the chance for us to become.
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The video of the first speech from the alien ambassador is part of the research. Through a perfmative speeach, this video tends to demonstrate how aliens evolve through the help of media technology as well as how they are stigmatized by humans' own fears, vulnerability, and conceit on them. At the end of the video, the ambassador reveal the fact that humans are already aliens by achieving all the criteria that humans made for aliens in fiction.