{"id":2365,"date":"2020-01-31T11:24:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T18:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interplanetaryfest.org\/?post_type=tribe_events&#038;p=2365"},"modified":"2020-06-22T13:40:17","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T19:40:17","slug":"ald-special-art-performance","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/interplanetaryfest.org\/event\/ald-special-art-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"*CANCELED* Contact with a Triparental Alien Species"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Started in 2016, 72 Hours of Science is an SFI tradition that challenges postdoctoral researchers to produce an interdisciplinary publication in three days. In November of 2019, 14 SFI postdocs withdrew to an isolated research location to accomplish, in just 72 hours, a monumental task \u2014 decoding the first complex communication from an alien civilization.* For this event, we sit down with some of the SFI postdocs to discuss their experience over that 72 hours, and what happens when speculation fuels research&#8230;a novel inversion of science fiction, which typically takes a scientific principle or innovation, and follows it to its logical conclusion. What happens when fiction comes first?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1cDp8yTgorM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For the benefit of humanity, the aliens managed to divert their spacecraft for enough time to transmit a scientific treatise on a fundamental difference between their complex biology and ours. They were responding to images on the Golden Record, which launched aboard the Voyager spacecraft in 1977, engraved with a cosmic introduction to Earth and its inhabitants. Among the record\u2019s 115 encoded images were multiple depictions of the two-parent system of reproductive biology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe aliens were totally shocked by these images, because in their world children are conceived and raised by three parents instead of two,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafe.edu\/people\/profile\/albert-kao\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Albert Kao<\/a>, an Omidyar Fellow and Baird Scholar. \u201cFor scientists who study complex, living systems, it brings up all kinds of interesting questions about why three-parent systems would arise and what that might imply for the evolution of everything from molecular mechanisms to social institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With combined expertise in biology, evolution, information theory, mathematics, physics, philosophy, archaeology, cognitive science, and economics, the postdocs were uniquely qualified to receive and interpret the wide-ranging alien treatise. In three days and with little sleep, they documented biological consequences of tri-parental reproduction at multiple levels \u2014 the braid-like combining of the aliens\u2019 chromosomes, the size differentiation between their gametes, the coordination of \u201cmating events\u201d among three sexes, and the cultural implications of their family structures.<\/p>\n<p>According to the postdocs, the aliens\u2019 three-parent system confers a distinct evolutionary advantage over a two-parent one. Just as sexual reproduction protects organisms from the harmful mutations that proliferate in asexual species, like dandelions, the three-parent reproductive system adds another layer of protection and genetic diversity, especially on planets bombarded with high radiation, which can cause a high mutation rate.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly why the aliens\u2019 three-parent system came to dominate, as opposed to a 4-, 5-, or n-parent system, might be explained by the coordination costs and social ramifications of searching for multiple mates at once. In their treatise, the authors describe the exponential difficulty of finding a \u201csoul triplet\u201d\u2014 a perfect romantic combination in a sea of possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Other social consequences of the three-parent system include a heightened risk of disease transmission and a societal trend towards a uniform culture. According to Omidyar Fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafe.edu\/people\/profile\/david-kinney\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Kinney<\/a>, such a uniform culture is needed to avoid the cognitive overload caused by trying to juggle the cultures and languages of three parents, nine grandparents, and potentially dozens of partial siblings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are so many social angles to explore in this system,\u201d says sociologist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafe.edu\/people\/profile\/tamara-van-der-does\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tamara van der Does<\/a>, a Program Postdoctoral Fellow. \u201cThe number of biological sexes would have ramifications across all aspects of an alien culture, from gender inequality to institutions like marriage and religion. After 72 hours, we were just starting to scratch the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Omidyar Fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafe.edu\/people\/profile\/tyler-marghetis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Marghetis<\/a> says imagining a three-parent system &#8220;is actually a really great way to gain insight into the origins and implications of our more familiar\u00a0<em>two<\/em>-parent system&#8230; in the same way that experiencing other cultures can help travelers better understand themselves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of interesting questions that can be pursued in this model,\u201d says archaeologist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.santafe.edu\/people\/profile\/stefani-crabtree\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stefani Crabtree<\/a>, an ASU-SFI Center Postdoctoral Fellow. \u201cOne of the great things about being a postdoc at SFI is that you have expertise in one area, but you also get exposure to other fields that connect to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After 72 hours of intense transcription, the postdocs steeled themselves to record the final transmission in the treatise \u2014 the core innovations of alien culture, including \u201chyperdrive technology, the unified theory of physics, and the meaning of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, this final portion of the transmission did not arrive intact.<\/p>\n<p>*<em>The alien transmission is a fictional premise. Any resemblance to actual species, civilizations, or planets is purely coincidental. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Started in 2016, 72 Hours of Science is an SFI tradition that challenges postdoctoral researchers to produce an interdisciplinary publication in three days. 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