It’s been a while since I’ve seen a really great sci-fi film. Event Horizon wasn’t too bad. Independence Day was absolutely horrible and predictable. The Terminator was pretty good, and two of my favorite sci-fi flicks were both made by the incomparable Ridley Scott: Alien and Blade Runner.
Years ago, I read this Frederick Pohl novel called Starburst. It’s about a dying earth where they are desperate for new technology to keep the planet and the human species going. So, they recruit eight people—all brilliant in the areas of science and mathematics—and send them on a 20-year round-trip mission to our closest galactic neighbor, the star Alpha Centauri. This star is about 4.3 light years away from us and, in the book, it has a planet (called Alpha-Aleph) orbiting it. Their mission: to see if this planet is hospitable for human life and to spend the voyage there trying to make new discoveries in math and science that will benefit earth.
But as they get closer, they realize something horrible: there is no planet. The photos showing Alpha-Aleph were doctored. They were sent out in a bizarre, desperate experiment to study and transmit their findings back to earth.
But the more they study, the more they learn. Soon, they are countless generations ahead of earth in terms of intellect and knowledge. And as they revert to Plan B, they plot their revenge…
Years ago, I read this Frederick Pohl novel called Starburst. It’s about a dying earth where they are desperate for new technology to keep the planet and the human species going. So, they recruit eight people—all brilliant in the areas of science and mathematics—and send them on a 20-year round-trip mission to our closest galactic neighbor, the star Alpha Centauri. This star is about 4.3 light years away from us and, in the book, it has a planet (called Alpha-Aleph) orbiting it. Their mission: to see if this planet is hospitable for human life and to spend the voyage there trying to make new discoveries in math and science that will benefit earth.
But as they get closer, they realize something horrible: there is no planet. The photos showing Alpha-Aleph were doctored. They were sent out in a bizarre, desperate experiment to study and transmit their findings back to earth.
But the more they study, the more they learn. Soon, they are countless generations ahead of earth in terms of intellect and knowledge. And as they revert to Plan B, they plot their revenge…
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