"Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Roadside Picnic (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"You think so? Maybe, you're right, who knows?"
"Be honest, Richard," Valentine said, obviously enjoying himself.
"What has the Visitation changed in your life? You're a business- man.
Now you know there is at least one other rational creature in the Universe
besides man. So what?"
"What can I say?" Noonan was mumbling. He was sorry that he had ever
started the conversation. There was nothing to talk about.
"What has changed for me? Well, for several years now I've been feeling
uneasy, insecure. All right. So they came and left right away. And what if
they come again and decide to stay? As a businessman, I have to take these
questions seriously: who are they, how do they live, what do they need? On
the most basic level I have to think how to change my product. I have to be
ready. And what if I turn out to be completely superfluous in their system?"
He livened up. "What if we are superfluous? Listen, Valentine, since we're
talking about it, are there any answers to these questions? Who are they,
what did they want, will they return?"
"There are answers," Valentine said, smiling. "Lots of them, take your
pick."
"And what do you think yourself?"
"To tell the truth, I never permitted myself the luxury of thinking
about it seriously. For me the Visitation is primarily a unique event that
allows us to skip several steps in the process of cognition. Like a trip
into the future of technology. Like a quantum generator ending up in Isaac
Newton's laboratory."
"Newton wouldn't have understood a thing."
"You're wrong. Newton was a very perspicacious man."
"Really? Well, who cares about him anyway. What do you think about the
Visitation? You can answer unseriously."
"All right, I'll tell you. But I must warn you that your question,
Richard, comes under the heading of xenology. Xenology: an unnatural mixture
of science fiction and formal logic. It's based on the false premise that
human psychology is applicable to extraterrestrial intelligent beings."
"Why is that false?" Noonan asked.
"Because biologists have already been burned trying to use human
psychology on animals. Earth animals, at that."
"Forgive me, but that's an entirely different matter. We're talking
about the psychology of rational beings."
"Yes. And everything would be fine if we only knew what reason was.
"Don't we know?" Noonan was surprised.
"Believe it or not, we don't. Usually a trivial definition is used:
reason is that part of man's activity that distinguishes him from the
animals. You know, an attempt to distinguish the owner from the dog who
understands everything but just can't speak. Actually, this trivial
definition gives rise to rather more ingenious ones. Based on bitter
observation of the above-mentioned human activities. For example: reason is
the ability of a living creature to perform unreasonable or unnatural acts."
"Yes, that's about us, about me, and those like me," Noonan agreed
bitterly.
"Unfortunately. Or how about this hypothetical definition. Reason is a
complex type of instinct that has not yet formed completely. This implies