OT: _Remembrance of Earth's Past_

[Don Y]

This was one of the slowest reads I've ever encountered!
Early start tracked the TV series -- more or less.
But, then turned into a lengthy exploration of cosmology
and cosmogony.

So, what started out as a ~7/10 ended up as a ~3/10.

But, some interesting concepts (that would probably have
been better presented without the pretext of a "story")

[bitrex]

Post by Don Y
This was one of the slowest reads I've ever encountered!
Early start tracked the TV series -- more or less.
But, then turned into a lengthy exploration of cosmology
and cosmogony.
So, what started out as a ~7/10 ended up as a ~3/10.
But, some interesting concepts (that would probably have
been better presented without the pretext of a "story")

It seems really difficult to reason abut the potential motivations of
super-advanced alien civilizations, godlike artificial intelligences,
and combinations thereof.

[Don Y]

Post by bitrex

Post by Don Y
This was one of the slowest reads I've ever encountered!
Early start tracked the TV series -- more or less.
But, then turned into a lengthy exploration of cosmology
and cosmogony.
So, what started out as a ~7/10 ended up as a ~3/10.
But, some interesting concepts (that would probably have
been better presented without the pretext of a "story")

It seems really difficult to reason abut the potential motivations of
super-advanced alien civilizations, godlike artificial intelligences, and
combinations thereof.

I don't think you have to be *sure* of their motivations/reasoning.
That doesn't preclude your opining about what they *might* be. Or,
the "remedies" available to them in the case of *our* presence
in that universe!

_Alien_ (et al.) posited one type of alien culture; _ET_ an entirely
different one (with _The Fifth Element_ addressing both!)