: Giancarlo Genta
: Lonely Minds in the Universe
: Copernicus
: 9780387690391
: 1
: CHF 25.60
:
: Astronomie: Allgemeines, Nachschlagewerke
: English
: 294
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF

This interdisciplinary book probes the subject of extraterrestrial intelligent life, offering scientific and technological implications, discussing the philosophical and religious connotations and rebuffing pseudo-scientific assertions such as 'rare earth'. The author discusses such philosophical questions as: What is intelligence? What is consciousness? Should we expect ETIs to be conscious beings? Also discussed is the viability of future astronautics which would enable closer human contact with ETI.
Contents6
Preface9
Introduction12
1 The Historical and Philosophical Perspectives23
2 The Religious Perspective45
3 The Astrobiological Perspective63
4 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence151
Interlude: The Search for Extraterrestrial Stupidity238
5 The Possibility of Contact244
Epilogue282
Appendix A: EXTRASOLAR PLANETS (DECEMBER 23, 2005)287
Appendix B: SURVEY OF RESEARCH PROJECTS ACTIVE AS OF DECEMBER 2005 OR RECENTLY ENDED293
Appendix C: DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES CONCERNING ACTIVITIES FOLLOWING DETECTION OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE298
Index302