Poul Anderson tries to present genuinely alien ETs in Starfarers. The Tahirian called Peter shows Nansen a picture of a being answering the description of a Merseian and then says that the Tahirians have met one other starfaring race so presumably this is it.
This race was entirely communal, hypothetically descended from animals living in large numbers in burrows, few bearing young. They were even harder for Tahirians to understand than human beings. Although identifying entirely with their particular kin group, these beings eventually built a global civilization, possibly by means of electronic communication. However, interstellar travel and colonization dispersed them too widely to maintain mental health, thus generating insanity and conflict. Those that retained sanity quelled the insane, recalled the surviving colonists and settled down into planetary peace.
The Tahirians detect other signs of interstellar travel beginning, then ending, and deduce that the cost always becomes too great for the gain. They regard the mere arrival of human beings as a threat, especially in view of our history.
"'Best for you as well as for the cosmos that you retire and study how to live with yourselves.'" (p. 266)
We can study how to live with ourselves without retiring. Again, I feel that a false dichotomy is offered.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The Merseians of the Technic stories were certainly not like these lookalikes!
No, not a false dichotomy. Rather, a MISTAKE being made by the Tahirians and these near doubles of the Merseians.
Ad astra! Sean
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