Aliens
The human race is soooo lonely. One living planet in a sea of dead planets. Hollywood likes to scare us into thinking that all alien races are dedicated to rape and plunder. Good thing i'm around to run that idea through the "Meat Grinder of Rational thought". I would guess that a culture whose insight into the universe is vast enough to conquer the speed of light has probably forgotten about violence. Their interstellar escapes are presumably the result of curiosity or loneliness. This potential alien race probably wants to share it's secrets and compare it's evolution to ours. If we are the needle in the metaphorical haystack, why would they want to destroy the needle. I hope they don't arrive soon, because it is a very embarassing time to be a human.
posted by Louis at 5:34 PM
6 Comments:
I like to believe the same as what is in your post. However, assuming that a civilization that has conquered the speed of light has evolved in a similar way to us and is simply further ahead on the spectrum, I'd be quite worried.
Throughout history, humanity's major technological accomplishments have all been the result of military research. We can thank the army for a number of things we take for granted these days ranging from space travel to satellite tv to hummers to the internet. Based on the prevalent account of Earth history, the amount of effort and resources given to military expansion back in the day can be roughly assumed to be similar.
Ideally, this still wouldn't be an issue. However, I can't think of an evolutionary method in that isn't based on "survival of the fittest" - can you? It occurs me that if peace is what you're after, any method of development that is centered around self-preservation is bound for a poor long term result.
In a best case scenario, the same beings that managed to survive and thrive for the millenia would have the collevtive free will and initiative to set aside their instincts and preserve peace in place of their own race. Human social psychology teaches that as long as a group exists in an identifiable way, no matter how arbitrarily the group was formed, in-group bias will develop.
For aliens to be different than this, I suggest that a) their survival would have to be promoted most efficiently by less selfish means than ours, b) they would have had to survive and evolve independently for a long enough period of time (and in isolation) to learn as a species that preservation of all beings and peace throughout life is ideal... or c) they would have to have evolved in a context in which the limits of resource have not been met.
Thoughts?
Survival of the fittest is basically avoiding death as long as possible. My suggestion is that at some point, physical evolution is overrun by mental/spiritual enlightenment. We take for granted that life implies death. We call it a universal law. Another universal law is the speed of light being absolute. This theoretical alien collective found a way around the speed of light, so is it such a stretch to suggest that they have interrupted the cycle of death? Maybe they have access to higher planes of existence or consciousness, and are capable of switching back and forth between space-time and this hypothetical plane of existence at will. Giving the alien race human characteristics could be fallacious.
i think you should read enders game.
"My suggestion is that at some point, physical evolution is overrun by mental/spiritual enlightenment."
I'll drink to that :)
Drinking might be the only solution to this.
MiHy, i have read enders game. The first part anyways. Those were some bad-ass aliens. Since that story is fiction, it's probably as probable as my prediction.
Everyone gets carried away, it might be one of the admirable human characteristics.
Andrea, i used to think that all humans should die, then i realized that included me and all the people I love, so the sentence is pretty harsh. There must be some sort of middle ground where all the idiots die, and the rest of us get to eat delicious foods, watch beautiful sunsets, sing songs and grow flowers without losing touch or upsetting the balance with mother nature.
Nikki: Ok so there are a few "somewhat friendly aliens" that have been proposed by hollywood. I disagree with your rejection of my idea that the human race is lonely. Where do you think religion and all that brouhaha comes from? Perhaps we hate the idea that we accomplish all this marvelous stuff without having anyone to appreciate it except other humans. Your correlation of obesity to increased mental use is questionable in my mind as well. A wise man once said that comfort is a form of paralysis and that is where the fat people come from. There are no predators and the supply of food is pretty much unlimited in the countries where obesity is prevalent. I also haven't noticed that obese people are especially intelligent. I would also like to say that i think there is a 3rd realm, which is the spiritual. This is the realm of the irrational, where the laws can be bent and twisted. Until then, i suggest we DANCE
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