The Great Silence
Ratings6
Average rating3.8
"Ted Chiang’s very short story, 'The Great Silence' adds another set of questions to the Fermi Paradox speculations. Why, he asks, are we so interested in finding intelligence in the stars and so deaf to the many species who manifest it here on earth? And also: why have we demanded that, as proof of intelligence, non-human animals communicate to us in human language, and then dismissed those creatures that actually do so?" - Karen Joy Fowler
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2.5/5
A story about the Arecibo message and non-human intelligence from the perspective of parrots. These intelligent beings quite rightfully highlight that they not only have their own communication methods but are capable of more abstract thinking, and cannot fathom why humans are so obsessed with the great “graveyard” of extraterrestrial life when such extraordinary wonders exist naturally on Earth. For me the main takeaway was to appreciate and further study the flora and fauna that is soon to go extinct here and now, rather than observing another time or place.
