Friday 9 November 2018

Ineluctable by Robert J Sawyer


First Contact!

Earth receives its first intelligent signals from space.

A series of multiple choice questions are sent to humanity. As the questions get more difficult the answers begin to take on mere meaning.

I’ve always found First Contact stories a bit suspect; why do we always assume we will be able to speak to each other?  And why do we believe that our logic paths will be similar?

Sawyer takes on these very assumptions here.

I liked it very much. It had just a hint of dark humour to it.

Well done.

First Published in the November 2002 issue.

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