7. Conclusion

With the exception of the authors cited in the chapters of this book, examples of transparent alien minds are relatively limited, and this suggests that there is huge scope for the expansion of endeavours to create empathy and the experience of contact with other consciousnesses. We have seen that a good inspiration base is our growing (but still limited) knowledge of the life worlds of other species inhabiting our own planet as well as new theories of human consciousness. And if we want to look to more optimistic visions of future-enhanced humanity we could look to new subgenres such as solar punk, where our self-centered focus is expanded to a wider universe.