The Big Idea: Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law and Susan Forest

There’s more to life than humanity, and in the hybrid anthology Life Beyond Us, editors Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law and Susan Forest dig into the differences, why they matter, and why they should matter to us.

JULIE NOVÁKOVÁ, LUCAS K. LAW, SUSAN FOREST:

Imagine that the fate of a whole planetary biosphere rests in your hands. That you’re tasked to talk to aliens that you’re not even sure are sentient and intelligent. That you must solve a ticking-clock scientific mystery to save a space settlement. What do you do? In the future, near and far, we might come to face these decisions. How do we decide then – and who exactly does the decision-making?

Science fiction is the sandbox where we can safely play out different scenarios. Turn left/turn right/steer out of the way completely? We can imagine where the choices might lead. Not predicting, but trying to take in different perspectives. Say a hardy microbe is found in the cleanroom where a mission to search for life on Mars was assembled. It may have hitched a ride on the spacecraft. It might survive on Mars. It might muddle up any scientific life-seeking efforts. Worse, if there is any indigenous life, it might destroy it. But it may not be present on the spacecraft at all. If it is, it might not survive the journey. It might well not survive a moment on Mars. And Mars may very likely be lifeless. And yet…

Life Beyond Us: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powells|Kobo| Waterstones|Laksa Media|short online excerpt|European Astrobiology Institute

Follow the editors, publisher and EAI on Twitter (Julie Nováková, Lucas K. Law, Susan Forest, Laksa Media, European Astrobiology Institute) and their websites (Julie Nováková, Susan Forest, Laksa Media, European Astrobiology Institute).