The Great Silence Quotes

“It is no coincidence that "aspiration" means both hope and the act of breathing.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Some humans theorize that intelligent species go extinct before they can expand into outer space. If they're correct, then the hush of the night sky is the silence of the graveyard.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Human activity has brought my kind to the brink of extinction, but I don’t blame them for it. They didn’t do it maliciously. They just weren’t paying attention. And humans create such beautiful myths; what imaginations they have. Perhaps that’s why their aspirations are so immense. Look at Arecibo. Any species who can build such a thing must have greatness within them. My species probably won’t be here for much longer; it’s likely that we’ll die before our time and join the Great Silence. But before we go, we are sending a message to humanity. We just hope the telescope at Arecibo will enable them to hear it. The message is this: You be good. I love you.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“According to Hindu mythology, the universe was created with a sound: “om.” It is a syllable that contains within it everything that ever was and everything that will be. When the Arecibo telescope is pointed at the space between stars, it hears a faint hum. Astronomers call that the cosmic microwave background. It’s the residual radiation of the Big Bang, the explosion that created the universe fourteen billion years ago. But you can also think of it as a barely audible reverberation of that original “om.” That syllable was so resonant that the night sky will keep vibrating for as long as the universe exists. When Arecibo is not listening to anything else, it hears the voice of creation.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing. When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force. I speak, therefore I am.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“The hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“When Arecibo is not listening to anything else, it hears the voice of creation.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“The Fermi Paradox is sometimes known as the Great Silence. The universe ought to be a cacophony of voices, but instead it is disconcertingly quiet. Some humans theorize that intelligent species go extinct before they can expand into outer space. If they’re correct, then the hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing.

When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Humans have lived alongside parrots for thousands of years, and only recently have they considered the possibility that we might be intelligent. I suppose I can’t blame them. We parrots used to think humans weren’t very bright. It’s hard to make sense of behavior that’s so different from your own. But parrots are more similar to humans than any extraterrestrial species will be, and humans can observe us up close; they can look us in the eye. How do they expect to recognize an alien intelligence if all they can do is eavesdrop from a hundred light-years away?”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Some humans theorize that intelligent species go extinct before they can expand into outer space. If they’re correct, then the hush of the night sky is the silence of a graveyard.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“The universe is so vast that intelligent life must surely have arisen many times. The universe is also so old that even one technological species would have had time to expand and fill the galaxy. Yet there is no sign of life anywhere except on Earth. Humans call this the Fermi Paradox. One proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox is that intelligent species actively try to conceal their presence, to avoid being targeted by hostile invaders.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Human activity has brought my kind to the brink of extinction, but I don’t blame them for it. They didn’t do it maliciously. They just weren’t paying attention.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Brahman Hindus believe that by reciting mantras, they are strengthening the building blocks of reality.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“My species probably won’t be here for much longer; it’s likely that we’ll die before our time and join the Great Silence. But before we go, we are sending a message to humanity. We just hope the telescope at Arecibo will enable them to hear it. The message is this: You be good. I love you.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“No es ninguna coincidencia que <> signifique al mismo tiempo tener esperanza y el acto de respirar.
Cuando hablamos, usamos el aliento de nuestros pulmones para darle a nuestros pensamientos una forma física. Los sonidos que emitimos son simultáneamente nuestras intenciones y nuestra fuerza vital.
Hablo, Luego soy.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Según la mitología hindú, el universo fue creado con un sonido <>. Es una sílaba que contiene en su interior todo lo que siempre fue y ha sido.
Cuando el telescopio Arecibo se orienta hacia el espacio entre las estrellas, oye un leve canturreo.
A esto, los astrónomos lo llaman el fondo de microondas cósmico. Es la radiación residual del Big Bang, la explosión que creó el universo hace 14 mil millones de años.
Pero también podemos considerarla como una reverberación apenas audible de aquel <> original. Esa sílaba era un retumbante que el cielo nocturno seguirá vibrando mientras dure el universo.
Cuando Arecibo no está escuchando otra cosa, escucha la voz de la creación”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Según la mitología hindú, el universo fue creado con un sonido . Es una sílaba que contiene en su interior todo lo que siempre fue y ha sido.
Cuando el telescopio Arecibo se orienta hacia el espacio entre las estrellas, oye un leve canturreo.
A esto, los astrónomos lo llaman el fondo de microondas cósmico. Es la radiación residual del Big Bang, la explosión que creó el universo hace 14 mil millones de años.
Pero también podemos considerarla como una reverberación apenas audible de aquel original. Esa sílaba era un retumbante que el cielo nocturno seguirá vibrando mientras dure el universo.
Cuando Arecibo no está escuchando otra cosa, escucha la voz de la creación”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“Según la mitología hindú, el universo fue creado con un sonido: ohm. Es una sílaba que contiene en su interior todo lo que siempre fue y ha sido.
Cuando el telescopio Arecibo se orienta hacia el espacio entre las estrellas, oye un leve canturreo.
A esto, los astrónomos lo llaman el fondo de microondas cósmico. Es la radiación residual del Big Bang, la explosión que creó el universo hace 14 mil millones de años.
Pero también podemos considerarla como una reverberación apenas audible de aquel ohm original. Esa sílaba era un retumbante que el cielo nocturno seguirá vibrando mientras dure el universo.
Cuando Arecibo no está escuchando otra cosa, escucha la voz de la creación”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“No es ninguna coincidencia que aspiración signifique al mismo tiempo tener esperanza y el acto de respirar.
Cuando hablamos, usamos el aliento de nuestros pulmones para darle a nuestros pensamientos una forma física. Los sonidos que emitimos son simultáneamente nuestras intenciones y nuestra fuerza vital.
Hablo, luego soy”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“According to Hindu mythology, the universe was created with a sound: "om." It is a syllable that contains within it everything that ever was and everything that will be. When the Arecibo telescope is pointed at the space between stars, it hears a faint hum. Astronomers call that the cosmic microwave background. It's the residual radiation of the Big Bang, the explosion that created the universe fourteen billion years ago. But you can also think of it as a barely audible reverberation of that original "om." That syllable was so resonant that the night sky will keep vibrating for as long as the universe exists. When Arecibo is not listening to anything else, it hears the voice of creation.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence

“It's no coincidence that "aspiration" means both hope and the act of breathing. When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force. I speak, therefore I am. Vocal learners, like parrots and humans, are perhaps the only ones who fully comprehend the truth of this.”
― Ted Chiang, The Great Silence