Saturday, June 18, 2005

I worked on the new book tonight. There's no lack of subject matter; it's a matter of finding unexpected parallels and knowing what to exclude. And of course knowing how to tell it without sounding lofty or abstract.





The gist of it: Biology -- as we're used to it -- is very likely a transitional stage in the evolution of intelligence. Since the dawn of consciousness, humans have sought to utilize their environment to enhance themselves. We're now on the brink of dissolving the line between "tool" and "user" as we merge more and more intimately with our creations . . . and as our creations acquire creative faculties of their own. Extrapolating from this trend, it's possible to envision our not-so-distant descendents defying today's quaint distinction between "organic" and "inorganic."

But no extrapolation of the human future is complete without addressing alternative routes, and in this respect the prospect of extraterrestrial intelligence is extraordinarily useful -- and not simply as a thought experiment. Evidence suggests that, far from a novel event to expect in some unimaginable future, alien visitation is taking place now, albeit in a cybernetic context that's proven elusive to the dominant SETI paradigm.

"The Postbiological Cosmos" argues that the UFO enigma reveals an unexpectedly consistent "signature" once we dispense with the prevailing wisdom that reduces extrasolar visitors to flesh-and-blood "astronauts" visiting us in the form of metallic spacecraft analogous to those used by our own manned space program. Instead, we find something that's at once infinitely stranger and far more portentous.

10 comments:

Mac said...

Thanks; I appreciate the feedback. Yes, this is synthesis of things that, to my knowledge, have never been uttered in the same sentence before.

Unknown said...

you might also try thinking of it from the perspective of, not necessarily extraterrestrial intelligence, but higher intelligence. Beyond what we've currently attained but not out of reach in the future, and by no means perfect or all-encompassing. Just higher and greater.

razorsmile said...

Excerpts!! Your fans demand it.

Well, me anyway. :p

Mac said...

I'm not sure how many literal excerpts I'll post, but the ideas are sure to at least color my thinking. The most likely scenario is that I'll write something here and cut-and-paste it into MS Word. And you get to be a lab rat!

I appreciate the encouragement.

Mac said...

"I second the demand for excerpts!"

Maybe. But you still have to actually *buy* a copy... ;-D

razorsmile said...

Goes without saying. You can trust this face, can't you?

Mac said...

Talk about alien-human chimeras!

TheUltimateCyn said...

omg, let's hope Razorsmile found that pic on the internet and not in his wallet... heehee

razorsmile said...

Heh. Take a close look at http://www.operative.net/gravitation/personality/talkmess/ht-talk-200.jpg>this face. Now subtract ten years from it.

That about describes me.

TheUltimateCyn said...

ok, I looked, so you are a 20 year old AA, with a pimpin hat??


:oP~