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A_L_I_E_N L_I_F_E

  • 23-10-2012 3:47pm
    #1
    satnob
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15 ✭


    Alien life is just that ... alien to us.
    Not the bug-eyed monsters we see on Star Trek or Farscape.
    How would we recognize an intelligence not human?

    Try "2001, a Space Odessy" or "Solaris" (Russian version)

    Something to stretch our understanding, I'd say.

    And the opposite: Foundation (series) by Asimov. No aliens at all!


Comments

  • #2
    gufnork
    Closed Accounts Posts: 546 ✭✭✭gufnork


    Uh-huh! Jolly good then :D

    Saw the film of 2001: a space odyssey, never read the book though. Have you read it? Is it any good? Better than the film?


  • #3
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    gufnork wrote: »
    Saw the film of 2001: a space odyssey, never read the book though. Have you read it? Is it any good? Better than the film?
    In my view a book can't be better than anything other than another book. :)

    However both are outstanding examples of what the are: a Science Fiction novel, and a Science Fiction film. The sequels of each, less so (for me).


  • #4
    satnob
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15 ✭satnob


    Saw the film of 2001: a space odyssey, never read the book though. Have you read it? Is it any good? Better than the film?

    Can't remember reading the book. But I have noticed that, to some extent, a movie is a compromise because so many people are involved in its creation. A book, being by one author, isn't usually a compromise (unless the publisher gets insistent!).
    Have read Solaris because a translation was published recently. It tries to describe the surface of the planet in terms of things hard to relate to. Don't think it is a translation problem, just the task of describing the indescribable.
    Must look for "2001 ..." book though.


  • #5
    ixoy
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 18,002 Mod ✭✭✭✭ixoy


    Plenty of novels dealing with alien life, in a way that a TV show or film would never touch.
    One good example that I read in the last couple of years was China Miéville's "Embassytown" which deals with the issue of how you would even communicate with aliens whose very manner of thinking is different to ours.


  • #6
    nyarlothothep
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,182 ✭✭✭nyarlothothep


    I thought the Thing was a very alien type of creature. The Aliens in the Alien franchise aren't that alien in a way, with a queen/hive plus the whole birth cycle which are shared by certain insects on earth. However the Thing was very alien in the respect that its intelligence was emulated rather than inherent. It would assimilate the host and acquire its memories/intellect but it had none of its own to begin with. Also the whole process of assimilation etc very gross and alien. Would it be reasonable to assume that alien life doesn't have to be completely alien, it would appear there is some standardisation in the universe?


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