Chapter 10: More Suns Than One, pp. 123-135.
Chapter 11: Voyage to the Stars, pp. 136-153.
Poul Anderson, "Our Many Roads to the Stars" IN Anderson, New America (New York, December 1982), pp. 261-287 (essay published, 1975; postscript, 1982).
These works will show us the state of knowledge from the late 1960's to the early 1980's when Anderson was writing sf about interstellar travel. Although this information is now scientifically dated (to say the least), it retains a certain fictive or literary relevance just as the Martian canals, which turned out not to exist, had meanwhile found their way into fiction and literature - as indeed had the Martians, inhabiting not Mars but our imaginations.
I will try to assimilate the technical information some time tomoz.
16 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Attho meant for school children, THE INFINITE VOYAGE is well worth rereading by me. And IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS?
My belief is you are being too dismissive of the science seen in "Our Many Roads to the Stars." A lot of the science I read about in that essay seems eminently doable not only in 1975 but also in such late works of Anderson as STARFARERS (1999), much of which reads like an updating of that article.
Someday there might be real canals on Mars as colonists from Earth terraform the planet! Which reminds me not only of ERB's Barsoom stories but also of Stirling's IN THE COURTS OF THE CRIMSON KINGS.
Sh'u Maz! Sean
Also, nearly every star has planets. That ups the probability of extraterrestrial life by orders of magnitude.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! That's a big reason why I am so skeptical about Susskindianism.
Ad astra! Sean
There is still the problem of the improbability of complex cells and of multicellular organisms. That is the first of several "filters."
Kaor, Paul!
There is still the fact that since so MANY stars have planets that alone "...ups the probability of extraterrestrial life by orders of magnitude." Susskindianism is unsatisfactory and unconvincing because it insists too much on minimizing the probability of extraterrestrial life on the basis of too little evidence.
Heck, the mere fact life exists on Earth ups that probability (albeit I would prefer to use "possibility").
Ad astra! Sean
Also the presence of organic complex molecules in space.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That I had not known. Another factor possibly making Susskind's views less likely to be correct.
Ad astra! Sean
None of this addresses the improbability of complex cells and multicellular organisms.
Kaor, Paul!
Except the undeniable fact that "...the [alleged, my addition] improbability of complex cells and multicellular organisms" coming to exist on Earth alone still ups the possibility of life existing on other worlds.
Ad astra! Sean
Eventually random events will produce multicellular organisms -- it did here, after all.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! Which is why I remain so skeptical about Susskindianism. Also, since I believe in God, I have no doubt He acts both directly and indirectly in the universe.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
If an event is very improbable, then it is not impossible but can be expected to occur very rarely.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Except I don't believe we have enough evidence to definitely say how probable or improbable it is for life to exist on other planets. That is why Stirling and I disagree with Susskind's opinions.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Usually, when two single simple cells meet, either one eats the other and remains a single cell or they destroy each other. On Earth, it took a very long time before two cells met and merged to become a single complex cell. Only complex cells can join together to generate multi-cellular organisms. This means that this event will take a very long time to happen or might not happen on another planet. And this is only the first of the several "filters" before there is at last an enduring civilization with advanced technology. These may be so far apart in space and time that they never detect each other.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And we still don't know enough to be so definite either way.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But we can calculate probabilities.
Paul.
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