22 May 2012
human thinking in regards to where our species stands comparative to a proposed other species capable of inter-stellar (or intergalactic) travel is pretty primitive.
for one, the effort it would take a species to evolve sociologically to a point where they could collaboratively work on a planetary level to achieve that level of technology is immense. greater than anything our species ever managed.
number two is the thinking that we should build weapons to defend ourselves with, as though we stood a chance in hell at doing so. thats like a slingshot user from 200 miles away trying to defend against a nuclear armed opponent.
third, if there is sentient life within our galaxy that has attained travel between the stars, the likelihood of them giving a rats ass about our wayyyyy out in the boonies, tiny tiny little ball of dirt and water is seemingly very small. that there is sentient (well, we think we are...it is debatable) life here may be a curiosity to them, in the way that animal intelligence is curious to us.
stephen hawking is a man who has lived most of his life immobilized and in a wheelchair. while i have tremendous respect for his contributions to the world, it stands to reason that his psychology in terms of "out there" has become somewhat distorted. It is certainly agreeable that we should consider that not every species we encounter is going to be friendly, however, we have yet to encounter one (openly and widely accepted as true, that is) why should we fear an unseen, unknown enemy, and stand at the ready to try and kill them? In order for our species to be ready to engage in any sort of discourse with another species, with what is going to likely be a much older collective consciousness than our species possesses, we must begin to think of our species in terms of a galactic neighborhood, and not as we do, which is human-centrism.
that demonstrates, in my sincere opinion, a level of primitive, low level consciousness. quite likely that same said mentality is why none of the neighbors have made their presence known.
i certainly wouldnt want to associate with a species that ritualistically killed its own for control over the rest of the species.
-will wright
exo-philosophy • Opuss № I