I reviewed Arthur C. Clarke's tantalizing book here. A lot of Clarke's science fiction (Expedition to Earth, 2001, 2010, 2061, 3001, etc.) revolves around the religious question of the unfathomable why. Most soft sci-fi skips over this question and assumes humanity can easily figure out the why. Elliott comes to understand ET. The humanoid aliens of Trek understand each other's gestures, tone, value systems, and other cues. The aliens of Star Wars speak their own languages, but everyone somehow understands each other. Clarke's books, taken as a whole, are one big Not so fast, an appeal to the nature and might of mystery.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
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