Rating: 
Summary: Intellectually provocative, with religious implications
Review: This short book, based on a series of lectures, offers philosophical and logical insights into the question of extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Davies begins with admirably concise chapters on the history of SETI, "Extraterrestrial Microbes," and the implications of detecting alien intelligences. He then addresses biological and evolutionary arguments opposing the search, coming down firmly on the side of life and intelligence being emergent properties of the universe. His long excursion into the nature of consciousness, illustrated by some rather crude diagrams, wanders away from this main line of argument until its end, when Davies returns to the idea that consciousness is an emergent property. Davies, who goes far deeper into the religious aspects of the search than most authors, has strongly held views that challenge the clear separation between the scientific and religious aspects of this topic. He connects the search with spirituality. The theme of alien beings acting as a conduit to the Ultimate, he writes, touches a deep chord in the human psyche. If you are looking for a general introduction to the search and its implications, you will find more comprehensive treatments elsewhere. This book does not pretend to be detached; it presents a well argued point of view. Even if you don't agree with Davies, he deserves a reading.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectually provocative, with religious implications
Review: This short book, based on a series of lectures, offers philosophical and logical insights into the question of extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Davies begins with admirably concise chapters on the history of SETI, "Extraterrestrial Microbes," and the implications of detecting alien intelligences. He then addresses biological and evolutionary arguments opposing the search, coming down firmly on the side of life and intelligence being emergent properties of the universe. His long excursion into the nature of consciousness, illustrated by some rather crude diagrams, wanders away from this main line of argument until its end, when Davies returns to the idea that consciousness is an emergent property. Davies, who goes far deeper into the religious aspects of the search than most authors, has strongly held views that challenge the clear separation between the scientific and religious aspects of this topic. He connects the search with spirituality. The theme of alien beings acting as a conduit to the Ultimate, he writes, touches a deep chord in the human psyche. If you are looking for a general introduction to the search and its implications, you will find more comprehensive treatments elsewhere. This book does not pretend to be detached; it presents a well argued point of view. Even if you don't agree with Davies, he deserves a reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Is Life Contingent?
Review: This short work gives a very clear introduction and summary to the issues of cosmic life, and in the process provokes a very intriguing series of questions about evolutionary theory. For the consideration that life has a cosmic basis immediately calls into question the contingency of life's emergence claimed by Neo-Darwinists. Davies tackles this and other questions very directly, and is especially open on the question of evolution, where other writers tend to speak in signs. "If human intelligence is just an evolutionary accident...then there is no reason to expect that life on other planets willever develop intelligence as far as we have..." There is also an interesting discussion of the type of doubt Alfred Wallace had about the descent of man, and the many talents in a potential state that seem hard to account for by natural selection. Very interesting book from two perspectives, SETI and evolutionary theory.
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