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mveldeivendran1 's review for:
Contact
by Carl Sagan
Many people get the feeling for a good book when finished that it should be recognized, read widely enough for the spread of intellectual harmony and happiness. Like many of those, I realised the love of my life very recently. At the time of finishing the book, I felt like a civilian of a far future civilization living in a nearby star system from Earth, feeling proud of the antecedents who had humble inceptions, how interesting the people evolved in time. I felt like it's the Best Novel I've ever read in my life.
It was a book named Contact written by Carl Sagan, a late astronomer who had worked on NASA planetary projects and was a professor at Cornell University. He used to contribute a lot through the facade of science to common muggles thus had a prominent role in having created awareness towards the importance of science since early 80's till his demise. Unlike his other books, it was a Novel. It is often propagandized that Novels are most widely written than Nonfiction books. Maybe he wanted this book to be widely read; widely contemplated.
The Story starts with a group of radio astronomers of US detecting unambiguous intelligent signal from a nearby star which is rich in tens of complex information. Having several political disputations between the nations, scientific community all over the world began to work the problem and figured that the information was actually for building a machine that could take humans to the star. after much unprecedented sabotages, 5 persons from USA, Russia, India, China, Nigeria were selected representing the Earth. what they encounter during their expedition could change/improve one's perception widely, drastically. There are several things I could say the best regarding the book
POLITICAL STEREOTYPES
Not many people think and realise the national borders are just arbitraries as a result of irrational wars and disputes just because of frequent misunderstandings for the past few centuries. In the story, the signals were sent to Earth by E.T.s only after they received the signal from us (Speech of Adolf Hitler during 1936 Berlin Olympic games). The following things are very likely to occur even in the current global scenario. Silent conspiracies were being run by politicians considering others as competitive in building the machine so that the particular nation could take pride among others (Space race and Cold war times). Various governmental security heads like NSA were too much chauvinistic releasing the scientific information between countries for the purpose of decryption and this nationalistic feel is only a boon up to some level. This can never bring out a solution to the problems faced by the people. We're one interesting species with an interesting mix.
"To Every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell"
CLASH OF THE SCIENCE & RELIGION
The signal from a nearby forgotten pole star helped many conspiracy theorists, chiliasts, religious propagandists to project their own ideas into the happening. It was interpreted by reverend clergymen that the signal either could be an invitation from the angels or the satan; Some Doomsday machine; some as Trojan Machine. Reminded me of one of the fallibilities of us, we always intend to represent our own nature into nature.
LOVE OF MATHEMATICS
Mathematics is the universal language among intelligent civilisations. Maybe God is just a Mathematician, I remember a book written by Mario Livio. The signal actually sent by ETs was a kind of palimpsest i.e., various messages encoded over the same signal (here in this case phase modulated) one of the messages was about prime numbers that were heading towards the infinity. Even during the visit to those beings, protagonist retrieves data reg their effort in deciphering the pi value assuming it as a message in 11 dimensions. Maybe someone wanted to tell about the elegance of the universe bound of the essence of math. Maybe God is a Mathematician!
MATHEMATICS OF LOVE
For the beings like us the vastness is bearable only by love. By the time, the five trained persons reached the alien land through a series of Einstein-Rosen Bridges or Wormholes, they spent the night in a world similar to Earth more likely to be simulated by those beings who did extract all the information from the human brains. They insisted that the humans were very few among the herds who reached them. Many civilisations mess with themselves because of various traits. Our unique abilities like dreams, love are very important. The only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other. And love not just pertaining to the human relationships but as a species; as a caretaker being kind to the other species whom we share our tiny home.
"Chastity is a wealth that comes from abundance of love."
LESSON IN HUMILITY
It was pretty sure that the humans were very backward technologically relative to the bulk beings who works on the galactic centre of the milky way teleporting matter particles over a nearby radio galaxy Cygnus A for the past 600 million years. Even they didn't want to judge the human species upon them. We humans are very adaptable. By the end of the next century or by the time when people start to live on interplanetary colonies, things might get changed.
LEAP OF FAITH
Religion and Faith weren't the two sides of the same coin at the beginning. However we humans have worked on the faith unconsciously for eons through our antecedents. it's hard to battle the billion-year-old instincts with the million-year-old evolutionary mind. Faith and beliefs made us humans. It made up our evolution process; our pages of the history says so; It will take us to the stars.
"In the revealing jargon of theortitical physics, the universe was their apple and someone had tunneled through, riddling the interior with passageways that crisscrossed the core. For a bacillus who lived on the surface, it was a miracle. But a being outside the apple might be less impressed"
They Bulk beings are in the search of a survey of intelligent beings and their capabilities in the local hood. that's one of the reasons they wanted the humans to reach them. They don't want to harm us or use us for their entertainment unlike we do many things with the fellow beings like insects, animals and birds, et cetera here on our home. Reminds me that Earth is a very small stage in the vast cosmic arena. Sagan wanted us to read it to remind us to be more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the only home we've ever known.
It was a book named Contact written by Carl Sagan, a late astronomer who had worked on NASA planetary projects and was a professor at Cornell University. He used to contribute a lot through the facade of science to common muggles thus had a prominent role in having created awareness towards the importance of science since early 80's till his demise. Unlike his other books, it was a Novel. It is often propagandized that Novels are most widely written than Nonfiction books. Maybe he wanted this book to be widely read; widely contemplated.
The Story starts with a group of radio astronomers of US detecting unambiguous intelligent signal from a nearby star which is rich in tens of complex information. Having several political disputations between the nations, scientific community all over the world began to work the problem and figured that the information was actually for building a machine that could take humans to the star. after much unprecedented sabotages, 5 persons from USA, Russia, India, China, Nigeria were selected representing the Earth. what they encounter during their expedition could change/improve one's perception widely, drastically. There are several things I could say the best regarding the book
POLITICAL STEREOTYPES
Not many people think and realise the national borders are just arbitraries as a result of irrational wars and disputes just because of frequent misunderstandings for the past few centuries. In the story, the signals were sent to Earth by E.T.s only after they received the signal from us (Speech of Adolf Hitler during 1936 Berlin Olympic games). The following things are very likely to occur even in the current global scenario. Silent conspiracies were being run by politicians considering others as competitive in building the machine so that the particular nation could take pride among others (Space race and Cold war times). Various governmental security heads like NSA were too much chauvinistic releasing the scientific information between countries for the purpose of decryption and this nationalistic feel is only a boon up to some level. This can never bring out a solution to the problems faced by the people. We're one interesting species with an interesting mix.
"To Every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell"
CLASH OF THE SCIENCE & RELIGION
The signal from a nearby forgotten pole star helped many conspiracy theorists, chiliasts, religious propagandists to project their own ideas into the happening. It was interpreted by reverend clergymen that the signal either could be an invitation from the angels or the satan; Some Doomsday machine; some as Trojan Machine. Reminded me of one of the fallibilities of us, we always intend to represent our own nature into nature.
LOVE OF MATHEMATICS
Mathematics is the universal language among intelligent civilisations. Maybe God is just a Mathematician, I remember a book written by Mario Livio. The signal actually sent by ETs was a kind of palimpsest i.e., various messages encoded over the same signal (here in this case phase modulated) one of the messages was about prime numbers that were heading towards the infinity. Even during the visit to those beings, protagonist retrieves data reg their effort in deciphering the pi value assuming it as a message in 11 dimensions. Maybe someone wanted to tell about the elegance of the universe bound of the essence of math. Maybe God is a Mathematician!
MATHEMATICS OF LOVE
For the beings like us the vastness is bearable only by love. By the time, the five trained persons reached the alien land through a series of Einstein-Rosen Bridges or Wormholes, they spent the night in a world similar to Earth more likely to be simulated by those beings who did extract all the information from the human brains. They insisted that the humans were very few among the herds who reached them. Many civilisations mess with themselves because of various traits. Our unique abilities like dreams, love are very important. The only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other. And love not just pertaining to the human relationships but as a species; as a caretaker being kind to the other species whom we share our tiny home.
"Chastity is a wealth that comes from abundance of love."
LESSON IN HUMILITY
It was pretty sure that the humans were very backward technologically relative to the bulk beings who works on the galactic centre of the milky way teleporting matter particles over a nearby radio galaxy Cygnus A for the past 600 million years. Even they didn't want to judge the human species upon them. We humans are very adaptable. By the end of the next century or by the time when people start to live on interplanetary colonies, things might get changed.
LEAP OF FAITH
Religion and Faith weren't the two sides of the same coin at the beginning. However we humans have worked on the faith unconsciously for eons through our antecedents. it's hard to battle the billion-year-old instincts with the million-year-old evolutionary mind. Faith and beliefs made us humans. It made up our evolution process; our pages of the history says so; It will take us to the stars.
"In the revealing jargon of theortitical physics, the universe was their apple and someone had tunneled through, riddling the interior with passageways that crisscrossed the core. For a bacillus who lived on the surface, it was a miracle. But a being outside the apple might be less impressed"
They Bulk beings are in the search of a survey of intelligent beings and their capabilities in the local hood. that's one of the reasons they wanted the humans to reach them. They don't want to harm us or use us for their entertainment unlike we do many things with the fellow beings like insects, animals and birds, et cetera here on our home. Reminds me that Earth is a very small stage in the vast cosmic arena. Sagan wanted us to read it to remind us to be more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the only home we've ever known.