Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Nelson S Bond's "The Message from the Void" (as by Hubert Mavity) (short story, first contact, free): Is the most basic assumption of SETI wrong?

An illustration accompanying the original publication, in February 1939 issue of Dynamic Science Stories, of short story The Message from the Void by Nelson S Bond, writing under the pseudonym Hubert MavityBoth humans & Martians have been running their equivalent of SETI, looking for life on other worlds of Sol.

OK - comparison with SETI is only approximate; characters in this story are actively seeking contact with intelligence on other worlds - by sending trivial, most natural, puzzles & listening for their solution - like in Hal Clement's "Longline".

Only both sides are conditioned by their own prejudices!

Fact sheet.

First published: Dynamic Science Stories, February 1939.
Download full text as part of the scans of the original magazine where it first appeared.
Rating: A.
Related: Martian fiction; Tuesday Classics.

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