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My Works, Ye Mighty: 29

My Works, Ye Mighty
29
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Notes

table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Foreword
  4. My Works, Ye Mighty
  5. A Zoom Lens for The Future of The Text
  6. The Microcosm of Conceptualism
  7. 01
  8. 02
  9. 03
  10. 04
  11. 05
  12. 06
  13. 07
  14. 08
  15. To Zoom from an Atom to a Star
  16. 09
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. The Minimal Element of Writing
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. 20
  29. 21
  30. 22
  31. 23
  32. 24
  33. 25
  34. 26
  35. 27
  36. The Macrocosm of Conceptualism
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. Notes
  46. References
  47. List of Illustrations
  48. Acknowledgements
  49. About the Author
  50. Copyright Page

29.

Type I Kardashev civilizations, like ours, might build megastructures large enough to cover a planet with writing for orbital readers, as suggested in 1826 by Carl Gauss (who proposes to plant wheatfields on tundras so as to convey axioms of geometry to lunar aliens).42 Just as Percival Lowell might have misperceived canali criss-crossing the plains of Mars, mistaking illusory channels for evidence of artificial irrigation during his telescopic monitoring of the planet,43 so also has Richard C. Hoagland argued that (despite evidence to the contrary from NASA), the Cydonia Planitia on Mars displays evidence of intelligent inscription, including monuments and pyramoids, all arranged in significant geometrical patterns.44 When zooming into these features with orbital cameras, however, the pareidolia of their artificiality disappears into natural geology.

A diagram consisting of three rows of images, each showing the silhouette of a large, black shape in transit across the surface of a star: a black circle; a black triangle; and a black louvre.

Transiting Objects

Image by Luc Arnold

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