In 50,000 AD:
"They went through immense vaulted caverns hewed out of the rock, dank tunnels of silence where their footfalls echoed weirdly and shadows flitted beyond the dull glow of fluorospheres. Now and then they passed a looming monstrous bulk, the corroded hulk of some old machine."
-"Flight to Forever," p. 209.
And see also Something Basic on the James Blish Appreciation blog.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
But how "nearby" should other stars with planets having intelligent races be for us to "soon" expect getting evidence of high tech civilizations? Ten light years? Twenty light years? Forty light years? Or 60 light years?
Also, yet again, I recalled Anderson's suggestion in IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER W0RLDS? that mankind, on Earth, might actually be one of the earlier (possibly very early) intelligent races in our galaxy to achieve a high level of technology. If so, that might explain why we have not yet discovered hard evidence of intelligent life on other worlds. Some races might yet be only at an Old Stone Age level of tech. Others might have reached an approximately AD 1300 level, and so on.
I think it's far too soon, considering how little we know, to be too emphatic about answering these questions.
Ad astra! Sean
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