The song of the distant earth
The song of distant earth is the German title of the 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke , which is based on a story of the same name by the author, which was published in If magazine in 1958 .
content
The plot is built around a meeting of two different groups of people in the distant future, which takes place after a major crisis on earth on a marine planet called Thalassa .
Unlike Clarke's other works, this novel focuses more on portrayal of characters and their emotional development than on technological changes. In a sense, it was written in response to reviews that attacked his narratives as cold and impersonal.
In the novel, the human race had an inevitable threat to the dispatching robotic colony ships responded to the survival of life on earth after the destruction of their home world by the supernova become sun sure. Thalassa was colonized by such a ship in 3109, but soon afterwards contact with Earth was lost because a volcanic eruption destroyed the antenna for interstellar communication. In the meantime, shortly before the impending supernova, a technology based on vacuum energy is being invented on Earth , which allows the construction of a spaceship that can approach the speed of light . The Magellan sets out to found the last human colony. While from previous ships colonization using embryos or various forms of DNA - synthesis was carried out, is from the Magellan a crew transported out of a million living persons in a cryonics be kept cold sleep.
On the way to its destination (the planet Sagan 2 ), the Magellan makes a pre-planned stop in the orbit of the planet Thalassa. There, the ship's worn ice sheet, which was broken down by interstellar matter on the journey, is to be renewed . A small part of the crew is awakened from the cold sleep in order to carry out the repairs to the protective shield. Since the residents of Thalassa did not rebuild the interstellar antenna, they will not know of the imminent arrival of the Magellan until the ship actually arrives in orbit of the planet. The novel explores the effects of the unforeseen reunification that followed, documents the repair efforts of the crew of the Magellan and deals in detail with the possibility of love across the barriers of time and space.
Scientific aspects
The novel deals with a possible outcome of the solar neutrino problem that was still unsolved when Clarke wrote the book.
Although not completely reversible with current technologies, cryonic storage methods are already a reality today. They are an applicable medical practice for human patients in that the patient can be kept unchanged until the second half of the process (resuscitation) has also become a reality.
Tests in 2005 showed that it was possible to put mice into brief hibernation .
Vacuum energy is a controversial aspect of modern physics, and the concept has been repurposed for pseudoscientific theories. In the book's acknowledgments, Clarke considers vacuum energy to be a scientifically feasible but very futuristic source of energy.
The logistics of interstellar travel at almost the speed of light are also dealt with in detail in the novel, but with a few mistakes that were accepted in favor of creating dramatic tension. The use of a space elevator is also noteworthy . In the introduction, Clarke writes that it was his wish to depict the most realistic possible interstellar travel possible without using fantastic technologies such as a warp drive .
Influences on other media
The multi-instrumentalist and composer Mike Oldfield was so moved by him after reading the novel that he wrote a complete album based on it. Around the same time, Oldfield was also looking into the possibilities that computer games offer. Therefore, the UK version of The Songs of Distant Earth CD album also includes a CD-ROM that allows you to explore some of the book's more remarkable locations - including the Magellan's "Hibernaculum" - in an interactive game . The game also contains the video clip for the single Let There Be Light , which was released from the album . The design of the album is based on still images from the CD-ROM.
Up to 2005 the following forms of the work were created or inspired by it:
- The original short story published in The Other Side of the Sky in 1958 .
- A little-known concept for a movie released in 1979. (Omni Magazine, vol III no 12)
- The 1986 novel.
- The music album The Songs of Distant Earth by Mike Oldfield .
- A CD-ROM computer game (part of the UK edition of the album).
- The music video for Let There Be Light .
- The song Haruka naru Furusato no Uta ( 遙 か な る
地球 の 歌 ) by Minami Kuribayashi , which was used as the credits of the final chapter Unlimited of the video game Muv-Luv .
literature
- Arthur C. Clarke: Songs of Distant Earth . Del Rey Books, New York 1986, ISBN 0-345-33219-9 . (English original edition)
- Arthur C. Clarke: The Song of Distant Earth . Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-02424-9 .
Web links
- The Songs of Distant Earth in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Alcor Life Extension Foundation
- ↑ iol.co.za: Researchers induce mice to hibernate ( Memento of the original dated May 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
