INTRO I put miscellaneous additions here. They cover a wide range of subjects. More detailed or specific to the book’s primary material are in the chapters with others in the end tabs as labeled.
250108. Excerpt from Carl Sagan’s book Contact
It’s a first-contact story. I won’t go into the details, except to say that Ellie is now in an alien place with four other earthlings, set up to be like a nice earth beach. She’s talking to an alien simulacrum posing as her much-loved deceased father. She was emotionally touched while knowing it was drawn from her memories while sleeping. They’re on a tight time limit and having a conversation, part of which goes like this:
Ellie: I want to know what you think of us. She said shortly, what you really think. He did not hesitate for a moment. All right. I think it’s amazing that you’ve done as well as you have. You’ve got hardly any theory of social organization, astonishingly backward economic systems, no grasp of the machinery of historical prediction, and very little knowledge about yourselves. Considering how fast your world is changing, it’s amazing you haven’t blown yourselves to bits by now. That’s why we don’t want to write you off just yet. You humans have a certain talent for adaptability, at least in the short term.
Two other fun lines from the book: Two of the crew were having a conversation, and Ellie asked: “Do Buddhists believe in God?” Vaygay replied dryly, ” that their God is so great he doesn’t even have to exist.”
Ellie had been fierce in debunking the creation myths of others and oblivious to the lie at the core of her own. She had studied the universe all her life but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only though love.