From Keith Macpherson, Clevedon, Somerset, UK
The question of whether aliens have a grasp of physics is also brought up in Andy Weir’s novel Project Hail Mary [Ed – see page 26 for a review of the film]. Though Rocky’s species, the aliens in the story, reach the same conclusion as humans regarding the existential problem they face, they make a fundamental error in their calculations by not knowing about relativity (14 March, p 42).
I think relativity and quantum mechanics are so esoteric that they could be easily overlooked by alien scientists. After all, much of what we know and do could readily be learned or accomplished without that deeper understanding. As Daniel Whiteson writes in his article, most of our historical achievements were made possible by engineering rather than hard science. Trial and error can achieve so much.
