|
Books > Health, Home & Family > Mind, body & spirit > Unexplained phenomena / the paranormal > Extraterrestrial beings
|
Buy Now
The Contact Paradox - Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R487
Discovery Miles 4 870
|
|
|
The Contact Paradox - Challenging our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Hardcover)
 (1 rating, sign in to rate)
Loot Price R487
Discovery Miles 4 870
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
In 1974 a message was beamed towards the stars by the giant Arecibo
telescope in Puerto Rico, a brief blast of radio waves designed to
alert extraterrestrial civilisations to our existence. Of course,
we don't know if such civilisations really exist. For the past six
decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest to find
out, as part of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
So far, SETI has found no evidence of extraterrestrial life, but
with more than a hundred billion stars in our Galaxy alone to
search, the odds of quick success are stacked against us. The
silence from the stars is prompting some researchers, inspired by
the Arecibo transmission, to transmit more messages into space, in
an effort to provoke a response from any civilisations out there
that might otherwise be staying quiet. However, the act of
transmitting raises troubling questions about the process of
contact. We look for qualities such as altruism and intelligence in
extraterrestrial life, but what do these mean to humankind? Can
civilisations survive in the Universe long enough for us to detect
them, and what can their existence, or lack thereof, reveal to us
about our future prospects? Can we learn something about our own
history when we explore what happens when two civilisations come
into contact? Finally, do the answers tell us that it is safe to
transmit, even though we know nothing about extraterrestrial life,
or as Stephen Hawking argued, are we placing humanity in jeopardy
by doing so? In The Contact Paradox, author Keith Cooper looks at
how far SETI has come since its modest beginnings, and where it is
going, by speaking to the leading names in the field and beyond.
SETI forces us to confront our nature in a way that we seldom have
before - where did we come from, where are we going, and who are we
in the cosmic context of things? This book considers the
assumptions that we make in our search for extraterrestrial life,
and explores how those assumptions can teach us about ourselves.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
