Cognitive Astrobiology for Children

Abstract

Should we teach cognitive astrobiology to our children? And if so, how can we approach it? We would like to share our experience with developing an innovative cognitive astrobiology curriculum for 10-to 12-year-old children and teaching it to students all around the globe. It covers such broad range of topics as anthropocentrism and the varieties of animal intelligence, the evolution of the brain and the boundaries of the mind, system thinking and METI languages. It introduces children to the notion of distributed intelligence, conflict resolution skills to make peace with an ET, and even some esoteric philosophical topics such as the correspondence between the mind and reality. The course also explores the exciting new possibilities of enhancing human brains. With the recent advances in biotechnology and AI, futuristic opportunities to greatly expand our cognitive abilities are rapidly becoming a reality, and the growing generation needs to understand how to fully take advantage of them while avoiding costly mistakes. The benefit of the course extends far beyond the memorization of scientific facts. Our observations suggest that such a challenging yet intriguing curriculum, built around engaging questions that pique children's curiosity and invite creative solutions, is enthusiastically and invariably embraced by the students. In addition to remaining highly engaged throughout each class, they continue discussing their discoveries with friends and families long after it is over. Cognitive astrobiology enables students to look at themselves from a very different, unfamiliar, literally otherworldly perspective, revealing the assumptions about themselves and their minds they were mostly taking for granted. To craft the messages for the minds very different from ours and design the means of conveying them, children need to consider what the myriad of forms those minds might take. The benefits of our discussions are not limited to the future encounters with the ET but are first and foremost intended to impact the children here on Earth. While gaining insights into animal minds, children get a chance to reflect on the importance of taking better care of their planetary environment and its inhabitants to help them survive and thrive. And while learning to befriend an ET, they also understand how to mitigate their biases, become more open-minded, and accept each other regardless of their differences-so insignificant on the great cosmic scale.

Full text

Cognitive Astrobiology for Children
Julia Brodsky
Art of Inquiry LLC, Rockville, MD, USA
Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, USA
Should we teach cognitive astrobiology to our children? And if so, how can we approach it?
We would like to share our experience with developing an innovative cognitive astrobiology
curriculum for 10- to 12-year-old children and teaching it to students all around the globe. It
covers such broad range of topics as anthropocentrism and the varieties of animal intelligence,
the evolution of the brain and the boundaries of the mind, system thinking and METI
languages. It introduces children to the notion of distributed intelligence, conflict resolution
skills to make peace with an ET, and even some esoteric philosophical topics such as the
correspondence between the mind and reality.
The course also explores the exciting new possibilities of enhancing human brains. With the
recent advances in biotechnology and AI, futuristic opportunities to greatly expand our
cognitive abilities are rapidly becoming a reality, and the growing generation needs to
understand how to fully take advantage of them while avoiding costly mistakes.
The benefit of the course extends far beyond the memorization of scientific facts. Our
observations suggest that such a challenging yet intriguing curriculum, built around engaging
questions that pique children’s curiosity and invite creative solutions, is enthusiastically and
invariably embraced by the students. In addition to remaining highly engaged throughout
each class, they continue discussing their discoveries with friends and families long after it is
over.
Cognitive astrobiology enables students to look at themselves from a very different,
unfamiliar, literally otherworldly perspective, revealing the assumptions about themselves and
their minds they were mostly taking for granted. To craft the messages for the minds very
different from ours and design the means of conveying them, children need to consider what
the myriad of forms those minds might take.
The benefits of our discussions are not limited to the future encounters with the ET but are
first and foremost intended to impact the children here on Earth. While gaining insights into
animal minds, children get a chance to reflect on the importance of taking better care of their
planetary environment and its inhabitants to help them survive and thrive. And while learning
to befriend an ET, they also understand how to mitigate their biases, become more open-
minded, and accept each other regardless of their differences – so insignificant on the great
cosmic scale.
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