"James E. Gunn - The Listeners" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gunn James E)

right.
James Gunn
August 2000
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*The Listeners*
Our civilization is within reach of one of the greatest steps in its
evolution: knowledge of the existence, nature, and activities of independent
civilizations in space. At this instant, through this very document, are
perhaps passing radio waves bearing the conversations of distant creatures --
conversations that we could record if we but pointed a telescope in the right
direction and tuned to the proper frequency....
Indeed there exist the know-how and instruments to search for
extraterrestrial civilizations.... each passing year has seen our estimates of
the probability of life in space increase, along with our capabilities for
detecting it. More and more scientists feel that contact with other
civilizations is no longer something beyond our dreams but a natural event in
the history of mankind that will perhaps occur in the lifetime of many of us.
The promise is now too great, either to turn away from it or to wait much
longer before devoting major resources to a search for other intelligent
beings. For the time being, the discovery may come by chance, for many of the
observations we now make of natural objects are done using methods that are
suitable for detecting intelligent life -- the studies of pulsars and of
infrared sources are examples. In the relatively near future we foresee the
construction of major facilities, such as a giant radio receiving array, and
the operation of a project that will have as its goal the detection of
intelligent life elsewhere.
In the long run this may be one of science's most important and most
profound contributions to mankind and to our civilization.
Report of the Astronomy Survey Committee to the National Academy of
Sciences
 July 1, 1972
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*Robert MacDonald -- 2025*
_"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveler,_
Knocking on the moonlit door....
The voices babbled.
MacDonald heard them and knew that there was meaning in them, that they
were trying to communicate and that he could understand them and respond to
them if he could only concentrate on what they were saying, but he couldn't
bring himself to make the effort.
"Back behind everything, lurking like a silent shadow behind the closed
door, is the question we can never answer except positively: Is there anybody
there?"
That was Bob Adams, eternally the devil's advocate, looking querulously
at the others around the conference table. His round face was sweating,
although the mahogany-paneled room was cool.
Saunders puffed hard on his pipe. "But that's true of all science. The
image of the scientist eliminating all negative possibilities is ridiculous.
Can't be done. So he goes ahead on faith and statistical probability."
MacDonald watched the smoke rise above Saunders' head in clouds and