Details

Lonely Minds in the Universe


Lonely Minds in the Universe



von: Giancarlo Genta

28,88 €

Verlag: Copernicus
Format: PDF
Veröffentl.: 18.11.2007
ISBN/EAN: 9780387690391
Sprache: englisch
Anzahl Seiten: 294

Dieses eBook enthält ein Wasserzeichen.

Beschreibungen

<P>This interdisciplinary book probes the subject of extraterrestrial intelligent life, offering scientific and technological implications, discussing the philosophical and religious connotations and rebuffing pseudo-scientific assertions such as ‘rare earth’. The author discusses such philosophical questions as: What is intelligence? What is consciousness? Should we expect ETIs to be conscious beings? Also discussed is the viability of future astronautics which would enable closer human contact with ETI. </P>
XI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii INTRODUCTION XV CHAPTER 1: THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES 1 The Magical Vision of the Nonhuman 1 Ancient Philosophy 2 Medieval Philosophy 6 The Renaissance 8 The Birth of Modern Science 10 First Attempts at Contact 16 Cosmism 17 From Enthusiasm to Disenchantment 18 CHAPTER 2: THE RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE 23 Is Extraterrestrial Life a Threat to Religion? 23 A Finite Universe and an Infinite God 25 Hinduism, Buddhism, and Other Oriental Religions 26 Judaism 27 Islam 28 Christianity 29 The Problem of Original Sin 30 The Problem of Redemption 34 Biocosmic Theology 36 Vll Contents CHAPTER 3: THE ASTROBIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 41 A New Science: Astrobiology 41 Times of the Universe 43 The Anthropic Principle 47 Chemical Evolution 50 The Formation of the Solar System 51 The Formation of Extrasolar Planets 57 The Birth of Life on Earth 64 Panspermia 73 Evolution and Creationism 76 Toward a Great Complexity 81 Catastrophes and Mass Extinctions 86 Conditions Needed for the Development of Life 96 Life on Mars 107 Life in the Solar System 117 The Search for Life Outside the Solar System 123 CHAPTER 4: THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE 129 Intelligence and Consciousness 129 Consciousness 133 The Development of Intelligence on Earth 137 From Intelligence to Technology 147 Evolution Beyond Humans 154 The Expansion of Intelligent Life 156 The Search for Intelligent Signals 164 The Pdo Scale 176 The Problem of the Answer 177 The San Marino Scale 180 Which Message? 182 Extraterrestrials, How? 187
The Historical and Philosophical Perspectives.- The Religious Perspective.- The Astrobiological Perspective.- The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.- Interlude: The Search for Extraterrestrial Stupidity.- The Possibility of Contact.
<p>Discusses the possibility that other intelligent beings exist in the Universe whom we can contact through either radio communications or space travel</p><p>Looks at mankind’s perspective of its place in the Universe</p><p>In addition to the scientific and technical implications, looks at the philosophical and religious implications of extraterrestrial intelligence</p><p>Looks at the possibility of extraterrestrial life from our understanding of the universe, summarising cosmic, chemical and biological evolution</p><p>Discusses the possibility that astronautics using faster-than-light space travel might accelerate future contact of humankind with ETI</p><p>Makes a firm stance against pseudo-scientific statements, stressing that an exceptional discovery requires exceptional evidence</p><p>Discusses and compares recent theories like ‘rare earth’, suggesting caution</p>
<P>The possibility that humans are not alone in the Universe is one of the most intriguing unanswered questions for mankind. Distant Encounters provides a discussion of the scientific and technical implications, including possible faster-than-light space travel and radio communication, as well as the philosophical and religious ones of extraterrestrial intelligent life. It gives a summary of the chemical and biological evolution of the Universe to demonstrate, as a counterbalance to the ‘rare earth’ theory, why intelligent life might exist somewhere else in the Universe, apart from on Earth.</P>

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