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april_does_feral_sometimes 's review for:
Contact
by Carl Sagan
Why did we come to exist? How did we come to exist? Who/what is our true ‘father’ of existence in every sense of the word? Carl Sagan gets to all of the discussion bullet points in ‘Contact’, tongue firmly, but yet seriously, in cheek at the end. ‘Contact’ is about this philosophical (so far) question of our creation in regards to Humanity, the Universe, and Everything.
Sagan explores The Question at length, insofar as people have discussed this question for millennia in myths, history, religions and cultural/scientific philosophies of Humankind. He puts it all into this fictional novel. It is very high brow as a result. I know many science fiction readers will find this book too dry and philosophical, too much about history, religion and culture rather than science or science fiction.
Was it God who created us? Was it only a question of physics, an arrangement of forms out of a plasma of particles? Was it a technologically advanced space species who found the Earth and maybe seeded the planet in a control experiment? Or is it some unknown long gone (?) entity (??) who left artifacts, like the Universe, behind?
Or is the question simply a matter rising out of our human DNA, something we ask because as humans we are always asking Why/Who/What/Where/How? Humanity has asked the question in every creative way of which human minds have been capable. But every history of every human culture also shows a predilection to destroy those other humans not of our tribe or family. And many nuclear families have been self-destructive, horribly so. We, the human race, in the way our actual histories have played out, have not proven ourselves to be children of any Good Father/god. Perhaps, like being born seeking to suck milk from a breast, our seeking of a ‘Father’ of our creation is simply down to inborn human nature going LARGE. Are our strong feelings about needing to know the answer to these questions based on basic human nature, or perhaps, it simply begins with a question of a lot of children wondering if ‘father’ is the guy your mother married or was it the guy she met at work or next door she never told anyone about?
We often feel we KNOW with certainty who our Creator was, but it does not mean it is the Truth….
I think the plot was more of an in-depth college course about all of Humankind’s ideas of what the ‘Fatherhood’ of Humanity is, I think, including all of the pros and cons for every idea. I think Sagan especially uses the facts of history and science to refute the religious faith, strictures and mores of all organized religions. However, he does leave the question open about the existence of some powerful creative entity who exists beyond our pathetically small-minded and often self-interested and self-referential human thinking!
Exactly like us feeling the certainty most of us feel of knowing who our father is (mom is telling the truth, right?). Idk, maybe we all should do that spit test before our parents pass….if it matters to you. Just saying.
I have copied the book blurb because it is accurate:
”Pulitzer Prize-winning author and astronomer Carl Sagan imagines the greatest adventure of all—the discovery of an advanced civilization in the depths of space.
In December of 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who—or what—is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future—and our own.”
Many reviewers have mentioned the several lengthy sections discussing the pros and cons of religious faith, thinking particularly of how Christian cultures have argued about Christianity, but actually I think the discussion fits all discussions of whether God exists, no matter the religion which involves a god.
Every culture has wasted a lot of ink, so to speak, on this question of Creation of the Universe and life, in many ‘faces’ of human culture and human thought (which is all we have, so far). Sagan has very cleverly included every philosophical answer to this question in this science fiction novel. Being a scientist, he has weighted the book in examining this question scientifically. If, gentle reader, you find hard science fiction, philosophy and history a bore, this book is not for you. The movie that was made of this novel might be a better fit.
Damn, but I miss Sagan.
Sagan explores The Question at length, insofar as people have discussed this question for millennia in myths, history, religions and cultural/scientific philosophies of Humankind. He puts it all into this fictional novel. It is very high brow as a result. I know many science fiction readers will find this book too dry and philosophical, too much about history, religion and culture rather than science or science fiction.
Was it God who created us? Was it only a question of physics, an arrangement of forms out of a plasma of particles? Was it a technologically advanced space species who found the Earth and maybe seeded the planet in a control experiment? Or is it some unknown long gone (?) entity (??) who left artifacts, like the Universe, behind?
Or is the question simply a matter rising out of our human DNA, something we ask because as humans we are always asking Why/Who/What/Where/How? Humanity has asked the question in every creative way of which human minds have been capable. But every history of every human culture also shows a predilection to destroy those other humans not of our tribe or family. And many nuclear families have been self-destructive, horribly so. We, the human race, in the way our actual histories have played out, have not proven ourselves to be children of any Good Father/god. Perhaps, like being born seeking to suck milk from a breast, our seeking of a ‘Father’ of our creation is simply down to inborn human nature going LARGE. Are our strong feelings about needing to know the answer to these questions based on basic human nature, or perhaps, it simply begins with a question of a lot of children wondering if ‘father’ is the guy your mother married or was it the guy she met at work or next door she never told anyone about?
We often feel we KNOW with certainty who our Creator was, but it does not mean it is the Truth….
I think the plot was more of an in-depth college course about all of Humankind’s ideas of what the ‘Fatherhood’ of Humanity is, I think, including all of the pros and cons for every idea. I think Sagan especially uses the facts of history and science to refute the religious faith, strictures and mores of all organized religions. However, he does leave the question open about the existence of some powerful creative entity who exists beyond our pathetically small-minded and often self-interested and self-referential human thinking!
Exactly like us feeling the certainty most of us feel of knowing who our father is (mom is telling the truth, right?). Idk, maybe we all should do that spit test before our parents pass….if it matters to you. Just saying.
I have copied the book blurb because it is accurate:
”Pulitzer Prize-winning author and astronomer Carl Sagan imagines the greatest adventure of all—the discovery of an advanced civilization in the depths of space.
In December of 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who—or what—is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future—and our own.”
Many reviewers have mentioned the several lengthy sections discussing the pros and cons of religious faith, thinking particularly of how Christian cultures have argued about Christianity, but actually I think the discussion fits all discussions of whether God exists, no matter the religion which involves a god.
Every culture has wasted a lot of ink, so to speak, on this question of Creation of the Universe and life, in many ‘faces’ of human culture and human thought (which is all we have, so far). Sagan has very cleverly included every philosophical answer to this question in this science fiction novel. Being a scientist, he has weighted the book in examining this question scientifically. If, gentle reader, you find hard science fiction, philosophy and history a bore, this book is not for you. The movie that was made of this novel might be a better fit.
Damn, but I miss Sagan.