Film, television and literary genres about extraterrestrial civilizations have been commonplace, and human beings have made bold conjectures about the form of extraterrestrial creatures, and launched a series of hypotheses around aliens. From the evolution of life on earth, it can be found that the birth of life is a very complex process, and the life forms born in different environments will be extremely different. While exploring aliens, it is also human beings who are deepening their understanding of themselves.
"Strange Aliens" is one of the third season series of "Hard Science Fiction Reading", which includes a total of ten science fiction short stories by science fiction writers such as Liu Cixin, Wang Jinkang, and Suo Hefu, focusing on extraterrestrial creatures and alien civilizations, bringing readers a gluttonous feast in the science fiction world.
"Mountain" is a work by Liu Cixin, which tells the story of Feng Fan, a geological engineer on a research ship, who encounters an alien civilization in the ocean near the equator. The huge spaceship of the alien civilization is as huge as the moon, and it sucks up the "water mountain" higher than Mount Everest in the ocean, and it happens that Feng Fan is a mountaineering enthusiast who once stayed away from his beloved mountain because his teammates were killed when he reached the summit of Mount Everest. When the earth is facing destruction, Feng Fan decides to challenge himself again and climb to the top of this water mountain.
However, the ascent to the top of the water mountain was unexpectedly smooth, and at the top of the water mountain, Feng Fan met the alien civilizations, communicated and exchanged with them, and learned about the difficult development process of these mechanical creatures from distant planets. Compared to the conditions under which life on Earth was born and developed, these alien creatures faced a much harsher environment, and it took them countless years to successfully explore their location. They live in the inner space of the planet, and they have gone through many hardships and dangers before breaking through the spherical space composed of thick rock walls and coming to the universe. However, they have not stopped exploring, once bound to their own planet, and now they are on a journey to find the boundaries of the universe, even if the process takes more than 50,000 years.
"Mountains are everywhere". In the same way, challenges are everywhere, and the history of human development has been spent in constant challenges and overcoming difficulties. Now that humanity has achieved an understanding of the Earth, we must not stop at this time and continue to look at the distant universe.
"Mayflower" is a work by Wang Jinkang, which tells the story of the process of human beings going to Jupiter to collect liquid hydrogen in the future world, but accidentally discovered Jupiter's life. In the future world, energy will definitely become a major problem restricting human development, and with the thirst for energy, extraterrestrial exploration and resource plunder will become the norm. However, humanity needs to remain in constant awe, both for the universe and for those who have not yet been discovered.
Jupiter's life form is an iron nodule, which is thought to be the presence of impurities in liquid hydrogen, but it is unique to Jupiter. They catalyze hydrogen fusion, creating energy and providing the elements to reproduce. The protagonist calls this group of life Jupiter ants, which is really a fitting name, and their lifestyle and social composition are similar to those of the ant world, and they know how to use collective wisdom to deal with difficulties. Most importantly, the Jupiter ant's life characteristics and the wisdom they show in the face of crises are extremely embarrassing for humans.
"Sunset and Poverty" is a work by Sohov, which tells the story of human beings who resolutely rejected the proposal of an alien civilization and chose a path of freedom when faced with the choice of survival and freedom. The most prominent trait of human beings is undoubtedly the spirit of adventure and exploration, which is a free will that cannot be changed by anything. In a future world where a group of humans who have lost their way in the universe are facing destruction, a special kind of extraterrestrial life proposes to exchange human dreams and freedom for a suitable planetary life. It seems to be a fair deal, but in fact there is a hidden crisis, if human beings choose to agree, they will become the captive life of the alien civilization, lose their freedom, and it also means that they are no longer human. Fortunately, the longing for freedom in the bones of human beings made them reject the proposal of an extraterrestrial civilization, even if they were about to die.
In fact, aliens are more like a mirror, reflecting the deep fears and weaknesses of human beings, but at the same time, they are also showing the most important spiritual core of human beings. Exploring the universe and looking for extraterrestrial civilizations is also verifying human conjectures, breaking the fear in our hearts, and confronting the essence of human beings.