Part IV: Wild Cards
This section explores, not the most probable outcomes, but "the limits of the possible": how likely some scenarios O'Neill considered less probable are, and what they might mean. These included nuclear annihilation, attaining immortality, and contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. For this last case, he presents a thought experiment about how a hypothetical alien civilization, the "Primans", could explore the galaxy with self-replicating robots, monitoring every planetary system in the Galaxy without betraying their own position, and destroying intelligent life (by building giant mirrors to incinerate the planet) if they felt threatened. This experiment seems to prove that conflict or even surprise contact with an intelligent alien life form—that staple of science fiction—is highly unlikely.
Read more about this topic: 2081: A Hopeful View Of The Human Future
Famous quotes containing the words part, wild and/or cards:
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—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“I once heard a woman laugh at that most tragic moment in all drama, the off-stage shot in “The Wild Duck,” and I afterward had her killed, so there will be no more of that out of her.”
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“Oft have I played at cards and dice,
Because they were so enticing;
But this is a sad and sorrowful day
To see my apron rising.”
—Unknown. The Rantin Laddie (l. 1–4)