Internet Encyclopedia of Science
PHILOSOPHY
SETI
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

                   • HOME
• ABOUT
• CATEGORIES
• USE OF TEXT AND IMAGES
• NEWSLETTER

  



Beck, Lewis White (1913–1997)


Lewis White Beck
American philosopher who is among the few of his profession to consider the possible impact on humanity of extraterrestrial contact (see extraterrestrial intelligence, implications following first contact). He has argued that popular science and science fiction have so prepared people for the discovery of intelligent alien signals that, if it comes, it will have no great lasting effect on individuals' lives. It might, however, have longer term consequences since:
[T]here is no limit to what in coming centuries we might learn about other creatures and, more portentiously, about ourselves. Compared to such advances in knowledge, the Copernican and Darwinian Revolutions and the discovery of the New World would have been but minor preludes.

Related categories

   • PHILOSOPHY
   • SETI


Also on this site:

Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy & Sustainable Living
Encyclopedia of History




BACK TO TOP