If an intelligence pervaded and controlled our environment, then how might it communicate with us? On a cosmic scale, in Carl Sagan's Contact, when computers calculate the value of pi, the numbers start to form a pattern that contains a message.
In Poul Anderson's heroic fantasy, the gods speak through the elements. In his Genesis, a new voice speaks:
"...not from any throat or instrument. Maybe the walls of the house reverberated with it, soft though it was." (Genesis, p. 82)
And, later, inside an emulation:
"'That will not be necessary,'" said the wind." (p. 232)
"The blowing of the wind, the rustling in the leaves made words." (p. 233)
(When I quote, I realize that we do not all use commas in the same way.)
In Anderson's Harvest Of Stars, the ecology of a colonized extrasolar planet has a presiding intelligence that can address individual colonists through an audio system. Pagan and sf ideas meet.
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
Not just pagan! In the Old Testament we see God speaking to Elijah in a "still, small voice." Or to Job in a storm. Or to Moses from a burning bush which was not consumed. And Isaiah saw a vision of God sitting enthroned in the Temple. And so on, in both the OT and NT.
Sean
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