"...he made the stars also."
In Genesis by Poul Anderson, PART ONE ends:
"Consciousness spread ever more widely among the stars. Self-evolved, it gained even greater heights.
"The stars were also evolving."
-Poul Anderson, Genesis (New York, 2001), PART ONE, IX, p. 97.
I think that Anderson's phrase about the stars "also evolving" echoes, just as it also contrasts with, the Biblical phrase about the stars being made also.
Each member of the galactic brain is a complex of organisms operating mostly on the quantum level and their machines. These "nodes" drift through the spiral arms, the halo and the Magellanic Clouds and some have reached the Andromeda galaxy. Clearly, nodes are immune to the cosmic rays which are lethal to protoplasmic organisms and which therefore are a barrier to interstellar travel by such organisms. Has Anderson imagined a possible future for intelligence?
To respond to obstacles to interstellar travel, we have appealed to Anderson's Tales Of The Flying Mountains and to his Genesis.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Frankly, I don't believe at all in the scenario seen in GENESIS, about un-human artificial intelligences being created and eventually displacing/replacing mankind. But that's fine with me--good SF writers should examine all possible hypotheses, no matter how unlikely.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
A favorite text for me from the Scriptures mentioning the stars is Psalm 8.4, "When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast established, what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man, that thou art concerned about him?"
Ad astra! Sean
And Anderson quotes that in BOAM.
He also quotes "The heavens declare the glory..." in THE PEREGRINE.
Kaor, Paul!
That's a good one too! As Psalm 18.2 (LXX numbering) says: "The heavens tell the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands."
I like verse 3 as well: "Day to day pours forth this word, night to night sends out this knowledge."
Ad astra! Sean
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