Foundation Seminar 091-22 Problem Set #1

Due September 12, 2:30 pm.

In order to do this assignment you need to read:

The short story "Green Patches,"
Chapters 12 and 13 in "Coming of Age in the Milky Way" by Timothy Ferris
The Voyage by Stanislev Lem

Every claim made in your work should be referenced if it is not original (e.g. "'Green Patches', page 45, 2nd paragraph from the top," or: "web site http://www.nasa.org/origins under 'search for extraterrestrial life'," or: "Pat Johndoe, a friend in our foundation seminar 091-22 ). Everything that's not referenced is considered to be original. I DO expect 40-80% of the HW to be original.

Problem #1: Was the captain in the story "Green Patches" right to open the hatch at the end of the story? Why? Why not?

Problem #2: Could you think of an evolutionary (Darwinian) scenario in which Saybrook's planet communal organism may have evolved naturally? Use Ferris' book as a reference.

Problem #3: Give an example in Stanislav Lem's story of an alien that could have possibly evolved from pre-cambrien creatures.