THE GALACTIC CLUB: Intelligent Life in Outer Space

by Ronald N. Bracewell ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1975

At Stanford the students say: ""Bracewell is truly a weird professor."" While not exactly a send-up, this sometimes tongue-in-cheek recap of the latest scientific wisdom on extraterrestrial thought-exchange will be published on April Fool's Day. Bracewell, a respected scientist, says he believes in intelligent life beyond our solar system because he chooses to: his choice ""leads to interesting trains of thought."" And the problems attendant on communication with the folks out there on his hypothetical planet Superon are indeed gripping. In fact they're fantastic. For example, imagine spending perhaps five or six billion annually for an overwhelmingly speculative and long-term (500 years) radio-TV probe, while civilizations come and go. Yet the financial allocation will have to be approved annually by a House Appropriations Committee also concerned with farm subsidies, zero population growth, housing short. ages and the milifary. Setting this quibble aside, Bracewell reviews the available technology and plots modes for carrying on. What should we send them? Lewis Thomas suggests ""music. . .I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space. . .to put the best possible face on at the beginning of such an acquaintance."" The Galactic Club of the title proposes a big radio club in the sky, a network of intelligences from several planets sending messages that would take many, many years to receive replies. Which raises the question: Is Superon ready for Picasso? Joyce? Shakespeare? City Lights?

Pub Date: April 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Freeman/Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION