num_pages: 320
description: Age-old questions made new again...With a new sense of the possibilities humans are taking up again the intriguing question of whether the inhabitants of Earth are the lone conscious intelligent beings in the universe. This renewed interest in extraterrestrial intelligence is partly the result of our ability to look deeper into space but also of our increasing knowledge of life forms thriving in volcanic vents in our deep oceans or viably suspended for centuries in Arctic ice. Life it seems is more tenacious and widespread than we'd previously believed and numerous questions follow.If life can survive these extreme conditions on Earth then why not in other locales in space? And if simple forms of life can persist given the immensity and astonishing variety of the known universe why would more advanced forms not evolve?Considering these possibilities in this lively and thought-provoking book Giancarlo Genta asks us to imagine not just the science and history of the great search but the politics morals and even strategies human societies would have to employ if the day of contact ever came to be. As Genta suggests the unknowns overwhelm the knowns-not just in the possible physical intellectual and technological states of extraterrestrials but in their intentions. And similarly he points out we have the intentions of our fellow humans who wonder and worry about.
language: English
title: Lonely Minds in the Universe
publisher: Copernicus