Perhaps my most bizarre experience in the entire NaNoWriMo process occurred as a conversation with a random seat mate on the flight home from Thanksgiving, the short leg from Detroit to State College. In general I know that I tend to solicit conversation about spiritual topics, including religion as well as the philosophical discussion of scientific ideas. While visiting my family in Minnesota, for instance, such conversations are commonplace and I had already had my fill of this discussion. The lady sitting next to me, a Pakastani woman and a current Hubert Humphrey fellow at the Penn State college of education, started talking as we sat down and reminded me a bit of one of my great aunts. I typically don’t talk with airplane passengers, not because I don’t enjoy it but because I never seem to be next to talkative ones.
After asking me my field of study, she remarked that she was skeptical as to whether or not we had really landed on the moon. I was taken aback a bit that a Hubert Humphrey fellow doubted the space program, but the conversation drifted to psychology–her field of specialty–and spirituality. She was a Muslim, “by the book” in her words, yet she also believed in the universality of religion. I found myself alternating between agreement and disagreement with her statements. After she had expounded the value in adhering to your religious tradition while realizing that they do not really conflict with others, she proudly proclaimed “for after all, we are the dominant species, the masters of this world”. Our conversation only lasted for about the first third of the flight, but I was surprised at how quickly our discussion had cut to the core of these issued I had been working through all month. I know that the word astrobiology always gets interesting reactions, but how likely was it that the conversation would involve spirituality in a manner so relevant to my month-long project? She brought it up after all. Maybe I just radiate an aura to people that invites religious dialogue, or maybe I just signal for it in uncanny ways. Still, it seems almost too convenient that the one break I took from writing while flying was my conversation with this woman. In all honesty, during that conversation I felt like I was living in my book. I almost included a version of that conversation as a chapter in this book, but I decided against it. My character’s story is what it is, a process that unfolded as he met new people and discovered new ideas, but my story is the journey of constructing this book as I live out my life. The process consumes you and becomes part of who you are, shaping your experiences, interactions, and even your dreams.
Jacob Haqq-Misra
Other posts by Jacob Haqq-Misra
Hello, Jacob
… were actually some forms of organic life found out there? Are they carbon based? :)Or is it an extension of theory (Terence McKenna’s, if I’m not mistaken) about extraterresterial origin of life on our planet? Mushroom sporas flown in from outer space by cosmic winds and staff…:)
That’s a nice post… and I can admit I can’t stop but wonder about astrobiology… maybe I’ve missed something living in Thailand
Could be nice if you could write a bit more about it here… I guess I’m not the only one curious about it.
And, by the way… Thanks for the link…The story about Solatia is very interesting, there not many utopias written these days…Is it possible to find somewhere the full text, not excerpt or this is the book you are writing at the moment? I’d love to read it.
Cheers,
Boris
Hi Boris,
We have not found any sure signs of life elsewhere in the galaxy, but we are discovering new planets around other stars at an extraordinary rate! (We have observed organic molecules in many parts of the galaxy, though, so there is reason to think that biological life could form elsewhere.)
Astrobiology is the study of life in the Universe; it includes introspective study of life and the biosphere of Earth as well as remote detection of new worlds that may signify the presence of life. The proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, which will fly within 20 years or so, will be able to identify the gases in the atmosphere of distant terrestrial planets in addition to the planet’s position from its star. Though from a distance we cannot prove the presence of life, if we find a planet the size of Earth that orbits a similar star as the Sun and contains the same biologically-produced gases in its atmosphere as we do, then we will have some observable evidence that we–our planet Earth–is not alone.
The story about Solatia is an excerpt from the book I just finished (which discusses more about this planet-finding and the philosophical implications of such a discovery). I’m going to let it sit for a bit before I start in on the editing process, but I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s finished. I may end up posting more excerpts on my blog as I edit, as well.
Great site here, by the way!
Jacob
Hello, Jacob
Thanks for the explanation and nice words…
Looking forward to see your new posts; I guess you shouldn’t be shy about reprinting the excerpts, go ahead!
I hope you will excuse my ignorance, but in regard of your remark about scientists looking for the planet similar to Earth… I guess it’s not wise to put all the eggs in one basket. Why should the same lifeforms be replicated? And I don’t think it’s possible to reproduce the same conditions…I have read in Michio Kaku’s book what the probability of life is somethat under 0,0000000001 per cent; to put it short its a miracle.
I guess evolution is in diversity.
By the way, great links on your site too… I particulary was interested in lucid dreaming…
All the best,
Boris.
Evolution is diversity, I agree.
The odds of getting exactly the same life as we have here are next to zero. However, it is reasonable to think that similar biological phenomenon could occur elsewhere (that is to say, some form of life that requires liquid water and above-freezing conditions).
This does not preclude the existence of other life, of course, but instead simply provides a starting point for an empirical search. There may in fact be life forms that bear absolutely no resemblance to anything we know, but (at least right now) detecting such life would be almost impossible. But inevitably, our search for other planets will lead us to learn things we did not expect at all.