Lonely minds in the universe

Lonely minds in the universe /

"With a new sense of the possibilities, humans are taking up again the intriguing question of whether the inhabitants of Earth are the lone conscious, intelligent beings in the universe. This renewed interest in extraterrestrial intelligence is partly the result of our ability to look deeper in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Genta, G. (Giancarlo)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: New York, NY : Copernicus Books : [publisher not identified] : in association with Praxis Pub., ©2007.
Subjects:
Life on other planets.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • 1. The historical and philosophical perspectives
  • The magical vision of the nonhuman
  • Ancient philosophy
  • Medieval philosophy
  • The Renaissance
  • The birth of modern science
  • First attempts at contact
  • Cosmism
  • From enthusiasm to disenchantment
  • 2. The religious perspective
  • Is extraterrestrial life a threat to religion?
  • A finite universe and an infinite God
  • Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Oriental religions
  • Judaism
  • Islam
  • Christianity
  • The problem of Original Sin
  • The problem of redemption
  • Biocosmic theology
  • 3. The astrobiological perspective
  • A new science : astrobiology
  • Times of the universe
  • The anthropic principle
  • Chemical evolution
  • The formation of the Solar System
  • The formation of extrasolar planets
  • The birth of life on Earth
  • Panspermia
  • Evolution and creationism
  • Toward a great complexity
  • Catastrophes and mass extinctions
  • Conditions needed for the development of life
  • Life on Mars
  • Life in the Solar System
  • The search for life outside the Solar System
  • 4. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence
  • Intelligence and consciousness
  • Consciousness
  • The development of intelligence on Earth
  • From intelligence to technology
  • Evolution beyond humans
  • The expansion of intelligent life
  • The search for intelligent signals
  • The Rio scale
  • The problem of the answer
  • The San Marino scale
  • Which message?
  • Extraterrestrials, how?
  • Legal rules for relationships between intelligent species
  • Interstellar predators
  • Encyclopedia Galactica and Galactic Internet
  • The zoo hypothesis Interlude. The search for extraterrestrial stupidity
  • 5. The possibility of contact
  • The Fermi paradox
  • Unidentified flying objects
  • Historical traces of past encounters
  • Alien probes in the Solar System
  • Planetary archaeology
  • Interstellar probes
  • The space imperative and human expansion in space-- Hostile contact
  • Faster than light interstellar journeys
  • Epilogue
  • Appendix A. Extrasolar planets (December 23, 2005)
  • Appendix B. Survey of research projects active as of December 2005 or recently ended
  • Appendix C. Declaration of principles concerning activities following detection of extraterrestrial intelligence
  • Index.

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