Extraterrestrial Civilizations - Isaac Asimov [141]
The advanced civilization at the other end, on receiving our answer and knowing that someone is listening, may perhaps at once begin to transmit in earnest. Though we wait a century for it, we would find ourselves thereafter getting a cram-course in all aspects of the alien civilization.
There is no way we can predict how useful such information will prove to be, but surely it cannot be useless.
In fact, if we move to the romantic extreme of supposing that the speed-of-light limit can be beaten and that there is a peaceful and benign Federation of Galactic Civilizations, our successful interpretation of the message and our courageous answer may amount to our ticket of entrance.
Who knows?
Even disregarding the vast curiosity that has always driven humanity, and the intense interest we all must have in so overwhelming a question as to whether or not there are other civilizations in the Universe in addition to our own, it does seem to me that no matter what we do in attempting to answer that question, we will succeed in profiting and in helping ourselves.
Therefore, for the sake of all of us, let’s abandon our useless, endless, suicidal bickering and unite behind the real task that awaits us—to survive—to learn—to expand—to enter into a new level of knowledge.
Let us strive to inherit the Universe that is waiting for us; doing so alone, if we must, or in company with others—if they are there.
* If there are other classes that are unknown, then we would not, in any case, detect any messages sent by way of them.
* I feel by no means as certain in making this statement as I would have been a few years ago. Over the last few years there have been attempts to detect the neutrinos produced by the Sun and far fewer have been detected than should have been detected. Astronomers have not yet made up their minds as to the significance of this.
*Or wavelengths. The longer the wavelength, the lower the energy; the shorter the wavelength, the higher the energy.
*Each radio telescope would seem like a round eye, metaphorically speaking, gazing at the sky. The word cyclops is Greek for round eye.
*On the other hand, if we detect nothing, that is not definitive proof that there is nothing there. We may be looking in the wrong place, or in the wrong fashion, or with the wrong technique, or all three.
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
1. The Earth
Spirits
Animals
Primates
Brains
Fire
Civilization
2. The Moon
Phases
Another World
Waterlessness
Moon Hoax
Airlessness
3. The Inner Solar System
Nearby Worlds
Venus
Martian Canals
Mars Probes
4. The Outer Solar System
Planetary Chemistry
Titan
Jupiter
5. The Stars
Substars
The Milky Way
The Galaxy
The Other Galaxies
6. Planetary Systems
Nebular Hypothesis
Stellar Collisions
Nebular Hypothesis Again
The Rotating Stars
The Wobbling Stars
7. Sunlike Stars
Giant Stars
Midget Stars
Just Right
8. Earthlike Planets
Binary Stars
Star Populations
The Ecosphere
Habitability
9. Life
Spontaneous Generation
Origin of Life?
The Primordial Earth
Meteorites
Dust Clouds
When Life Started
Multicellular Life
Land Life
Intelligence
10. Civilizations Elsewhere
Our Giant Satellite
Our Captured Satellite?
Intelligence
Extinction
Cooperation
Exploration
Visits
11. Space Exploration
The Next Targets
Space Settlements
Space Mariners
Stepping Stone
12. Interstellar Flight
The Speed of Light
Beyond the Speed of Light
Time Dilatation
Coasting
Worlds Adrift
13. Messages
Sending
Receiving
Photons
Microwaves
Where?
Why?