"'Is not our whole world a mere dust-fleck adrift in limitless, meaningless hollowness? Are we ourselves anything save wind made flesh, chance-formed, impotent, and foredoomed? This is the teaching the strangers have sent seeping into us, a teaching of despair so deep that few of us even recognize it as despair.'"
-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 1-188 AT VIII, p. 118.
Chanced-formed and foredoomed, yes. Impotent, no. Is limitless space meaningless or awesome? Is an electric bulb valueless because its light is caused by electrons, not by an indwelling spirit? Is a Ramnuan or human brain valueless because its consciousness is caused by neurons, not by an indwelling soul? If the human teaching is based on knowledge, is it preferable to cling to a pre-scientific world-view?
Will this kind of conflict occur in future human-alien relations? Both Poul Anderson and James Blish present Christian characters who question their beliefs after encounters with extra-solar intelligences.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with your third paragraph except I do believe our consciousness is caused not only by neurons but also by an indwelling soul.
And, yes, I think such philosophical conflicts will very likely occur should humans meet non human rational beings. And Anderson also shows us non humans who accepted Terran faiths and philosophies, such as Christianity and Buddhism. Which must have happened after THEY questioned their original beliefs. It can go both ways!
Sean
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