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Are there any science fiction books about this?

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Pazma
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Are there any science fiction books about this?

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I'm looking for a book, or books, that contain a story about two alien worlds in the same system where the aliens can see there's another world with intelligent life there but they haven't the technology to travel to each others worlds yet.

I think there's a great potential to explore the implications on the societies of primitive, or modern by our standards even, peoples who know they're not alone in the Universe. Like how would it affect the development of their religious beliefs, for example?

If anyone knows some I'd be very grateful.
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Re: Are there any science fiction books about this?

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Nice concept. A few questions:
How do they each know that there is intelligent life on the other's world?
Are they related? Or did life arise separately on each world and by coincidence evolve at the same time to a point where one dominant species formed an industrial civilization?
Have they developed radio communication but not space flight?
Pazma
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Re: Are there any science fiction books about this?

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Yeah, I was thinking radio communication would be the most likely scenario. I was thinking they'd be different species that developed separately up to a point. Of course once communication was possible they could have shared knowledge from then on. But then again, one race could consider itself superior and not shared information. Basically, what I was thinking was what if Mars kept its atmosphere and intelligent life developed there too? We'd have pretty similar atmospheres and landscapes. I know it would be highly unlikely that two intelligent species would develop in the same system within a similar timeframe, but given the vastness of the Universe it might actually have happened somewhere. The possibilities for social commentary are virtually endless.
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Re: Are there any science fiction books about this?

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:hmm: You raise an interesting question, Pazma. I have been reading and writing science-fiction for over 50 years, so a I have a pretty good memory bank of stories (hard to remember them all though). :wink: I do recall a story about neighboring planets who were also kind of rivals. They did have space travel, but not FTL or interstellar. Sorry, I can't rememberr the title. :no: I would try going back to some collections form what is called the "Golden Age" of science fiction. Let us know if you find something.
Last edited by Cattleman on Fri Sep 09, 2016 11:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Are there any science fiction books about this?

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After a little more thinking, and some on-line research, I may have found a story that is close to what you are looking for. It is called "Get Out of My Sky," written by James Blish, and published in 1957. You can find a plot summary on Wikipedia. "Get Out of My Sky" is also available from Amazon, in a paired edition with "There
Shall Be No Darkness," also by Blish. Hope this will help you.
Love what you do, and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. -Ray Bradbury

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it. -Robert A. Heinlein
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Re: Are there any science fiction books about this?

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The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin immediately comes to mind... Humanity come into contact with an alien race accidentally through radio communication. The alien race immediately decides to erradicate humanity and colonize the earth, because their own world is inhospitable in comparison to ours. However, even though they have the technology necessary to make the trip and are currently the more technologically advanced society, they're afraid that any fleet they'd send would be obsolete by the time it got to its destination (factoring humanity's rate of technological advancement and the time required to make the trip).

The sequel, The Dark Forest, is all about how different societies would view each other in a galaxy populated by multiple intelligent races.

It's not exactly hard sci fi, but it's a very suggestive bit of scifi speculation. I thought it was very enjoyable and fantastically imaginative.
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