«I’d be willing to bet a crate of beer that we’ll find strong evidence – if not definitive proof – of extraterrestrial life in my lifetime.» Andreas Anton, Exosociologist

Andreas Anton works at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Hygiene in Freiburg and specialises in exosociology, among other areas of expertise. He is therefore very familiar with the unfamiliar, at least from a scientific perspective: what happens when alien intelligences visit us? He is familiar with all kinds of contact scenarios and will be one of the most famous people in our country if the worst comes to the worst. Before Andreas Anton runs out of time, we have already invited him to our Golden Record Studios. We talk to him about the (human) crises that contact with extraterrestrial intelligence would trigger. & how international politics should prepare for it.

This conversation was held in German.

Further links to topics of the dialogue
Carl Sagan (wiki)
Liu Cixin – Trisolaris-Trilogie (book)
Contact (movie)

Links to streaming platforms

Welcome to THE GOLDEN RECORD STUDIOS – It’s high time for a new world selfie! 45 years ago, NASA sent its «Golden Records» into the depths of space in the hope that distant intelligences would be able to get an idea of humanity this way. Back then, a small group of Americans curated an embellished selfie for the entire Earth: Photos as if with a retro filter, music between European classical music and Azerbaijani bagpipes, as well as nature sounds in poor sound quality – our as yet unknown alien friends will get a pretty weird impression of us. Fortunately, since the 1970s, not only the view of the world, but also the view out of the world has changed significantly.

In our podcast series THE GOLDEN RECORD STUDIOS, exosociologists, anthropologists and other alien artists put their heads together with us for this experiment to produce new recordings: How do we want to be remembered? How do we welcome alien intelligences? Which colonial structures do we have to say goodbye to in order to secure the existence of the human species? And is freezing after death really the smartest way to travel into the future? THE GOLDEN RECORD STUDIOS are an open invitation to listen in and think along, infused with sounds and music. On the first level, we deal with various questions arising from the Golden Records project. But you soon realise that we are dealing with very contemporary and local issues via the figure of the alien or the message to space.

Hosts: Alexandra Lauck und Lukas Matthaei
Creative Producer: Fabian Kuehlein
Music: Chris Umney

Produced by matthaei&konsorten 2023