Alone in this dark forest?

As I put the finishing touches on the next installments in both of my ongoing comic sagas (Pleasure Moons and Taking Flight), I’ve been thinking about coexistence and cooperation. Also, given the state of the world right now, the thinking in question is largely concerns about the distressing lack of both. I’m happy to say both stories are built on these two ideas and hopefully show, in their own quirky ways, that we are stronger together.

However, it is more subtle than “can’t we all just get along,” and other such sentiments that tend to dominate discussions about the way forward. To put it bluntly, no, I don’t think we can all just get along. Because “get along” usually is code for denying responsibility and consequences, for keeping a superficially pleasant status quo that doesn’t question unjust authorities or power structures. To get to states of true cooperation and coexistence we’re going to have do some work and make some changes and take some serious stock of our life choices. All of us. And that, darlings, is what these stories are ultimately about and themes that I find myself returning to frequently in my work.

So, while my own stuff percolates (don’t worry, darlings, you’ll hear all about them when they’re ready) I’d like to present to you a shot-and-chaser pair of reading recommendations. These books draw and science and science fiction and resonate with each other and with the themes of cooperation and coexistence in ponderous and thought-provoking ways. And if you’re not in the mood for deep thought, they happen to be fun reads anyways.

First, the science: Alien Earths by Lisa Kaltenegger. A wonderfully breezy read about developments in the search for extra-terrestrial life. Her passion and creativity for her work shine on every page. The prose wanders a lot in a rather stream-of-consciousness style that you don’t normally find in science books—even of the popular variety. Little annoying for me, but your mileage is sure to vary. Regardless, she has a gift for explaining some pretty dense astronomical and cosmological concepts (along with some geology and chemistry along the way). She also has a gift for interdisciplinary collaboration that I hope is the future of both science and academia in general. Specialists are great, but silos, not so much.

And of course the big question: how likely are we to find any life out there? Who knows. But it would seem that advances in the optics of the telescopes and in computing power to analyze larger and larger datasets, we get a little bit closer day by day. Unfortunately, even if—or when—we do find the signs of life out there, it’s likely to be indirect: evidence of rocks with carbon and traces of oxygen in the atmosphere. These are the kinds of signs she and her colleagues are looking for and, alas, all that our current technology allows us to see over such vast distances. 

That’s your shot of science, now for the fictional chaser. The Kaltenegger book is about finding signs, but what about communication? Or rather, sending out messages even without proof that anyone is listening? Or listening for the messages that other civilizations might be similarly sending? That’s where we turn to fiction: the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series of books: The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End. Confession time: I haven’t read the third book yet. I’m passionate enough about the first two to go out on a limb.

The premise of the series is the age old first alien contact story. You might think, okay, we’ve been there before. And we have. This series takes a slower and deeper approach than your typical summer blockbuster. Along the way, we’re lead to think more about both the science of cosmos (i.e. it’s big, really, really big) and take a long hard look in the mirror.  The length and density of the books seemed off-putting at the start, but after a while you fall into the story even though there’s so little in the way of “action.” These are books of ideas, mostly. But when there is action it packs a punch.

The themes of competition, cooperation and coexistence play out in dramatic fashion in these books, avoiding easy answers and tidy endings that return to a comfortable status quo. I have to admit darlings, some of my unexamined sci-fi optimism took a beating with these books. I stand by my faith in possibility and human potential, but these tales will give us all something to think about when we’re staring out into the stars wondering if we’re all alone in this dark forest.

Cover image: carina nebula as seen by the James Webb Telescope, courtesy of NASA/Flickr