Stupid Assumptions and other redundancies…
1.) That interstellar travel must be fast
Why, exactly? What is the basis of the assumption that life
on other worlds would be limited to factors of longevity similar to humans?
What evidence do we have to suggest that aliens live longer than 15 minutes, or
shorter than ten millenniums? By what system of reasoning have “experts” arrived
at magic numbers like, “within a few lifetimes” or “feasible travel within a
generation”? Whose generation? A human generation? Or a Nalotreexian
Generation, which is of course, 50,000 of our years…
2.) That “advanced” civilizations are remotely similar to us
Why must we conclude that “at some point, every civilization…”
when we haven’t got the slightest idea how things really work on other worlds?
We have no evidence that radio is an inevitable medium for communication, and
we have even less evidence that visual signals are essential. What if the alien
species that we are surrounded by only rarely have what we would recognize as
eyes or ears? Why couldn’t communication come in the form of smells or tactile
experiences? Why must speech be a factor? How do we know that an advanced
civilization would be made up of creatures with five primary senses? How can we
even assume that all life is Carbon-based? Earth is a tiny sample and we cannot
assume we are representative of anything other than earth.
3.) That aliens give a shit about us
What possible value would we be to a race of beings whose
ecology is based around neon? Are we of significance to societies that can
build stars or move whole systems? Are we of significance to a species that can
harness the power of a black hole? We are assuming in these propositions that
any civilizations exist, but in a cosmos where one planet has life forms, it is
rational to guess that somewhere in all that vastness, another life form or two
exists. It seems rational to suggest the existence of other evolved life that
can do some or all of the things we can do, and then some. It seems foolhardy
to conclude that the denizens of totally alien environments, capable of
interstellar congress and transit, would concern themselves with us at all. The
odds are, even in Fermi’s Paradox, that we are primitives with whom intercourse
of any sort might well prove a total waste of time.
4.) That advanced aliens would allow us to see them
We already have developed stealth technology for avoiding
our own early warning and tracking systems and it’s entirely possible that
projects exist or are underway to create vessels that are fundamentally
invisible. If aliens can cross interstellar space, they can hide. This is
almost a foregone conclusion. Moreover, if we are a meaningless backwater, we
are likely a site for alien grade school field trips or worse. We might be a
dumping ground or a dung heap for any number of species too advanced for us to
detect at all. The notion that we could “see”, let alone shoot down an alien interstellar craft is asinine.
5.) That we aren’t food for a more advanced species or group
of species
“On any given day, there are as many as 100,000 active
missing persons cases in the United States.”[1]
Consider that there are some 300 million Americans, and the running percentage
is perhaps about 0.33%. Consider that
this is an excessive number and that some societies could be inherently
superior in moral quality and general safety. Let’s say the global percentage
is something like a much more conservative 0.1%. That would give us a number
close to 6 million missing persons worldwide at any given moment. This is of
course not a perfect statistical assessment, but it gives us a general idea of
how things might be. The point is well-carried: Lots of people go missing all
the time. Enough people go inexplicably missing to support the argument that a
fair number are being eaten by
aliens. Or they could be the victims of a secret vampire elite that has preyed
upon humanity in perfect silence and anonymity for millennium. The reality of
the situation is that without assumptions fueled by the unspoken terror that
motivates virtually all skeptics, we have no explanations. And Occam’s razor
cannot save us from paranormal or off-world explanations in a vast universe
that only a small percentage of our species merely insists they understand. There are no external measures for the
general validity of human science. The certitude with which skeptics and some
dogmatic scientists proceed is no different than that of Inquisitors. Our era
is a passing thing, and in a thousand year’s time, much of what we believe may
turn out to have been mythology and desperate imaginings designed for the
acquisition of power through the allaying of common fears. Many a skeptic will
insist that aliens do not exist even as they are devoured by the aliens they
have so recently committed to the realms of fantasy.
6.) That we are the dominant and most advanced life form on
the planet
Who says so? Is it because we build cities? Is it because we
have things that we identify as advanced? Is it that we conclude we are
dominant and therefore, we are the masters of the planet? Even now, another
species could live below ground or under the oceans, and we would have no
notion of their presence. Given a thousand-year technological advantage, just
by our own scales and frames of reference, such a species could send
individuals into our homes on a regular basis with no one the wiser. You have
no genuine way of knowing that you are not surrounded by non-human entities and
intelligences at all times. The concept of “cryptoterrestrials” ought not be
discarded or laughed at, since these very beings may be there to watch you
masturbate, defecate, pick your nose and furtively conceal your failures.
7.) That we aren’t regularly contacted all the time, but are
too primitive to understand what’s happening
If the “Dark Ages” of a species or given civilization can at
our level be defined as excessively credulous and dominated by mythologies,
fantasies and folklore, then it might readily be argued that a second phase of
culture-wide fallacy lies in concluding that the “supernatural” is a concoction
of silly impossibilities. Our very skepticism, confined in reality to a few
cadres and cliques where decisions get made about what is “acceptable” to
believe, may be a natural reactionary belief system that counterbalances the
credulousness of our ancestors. In essence, aliens may often call scientists on
the telephone but their claims of off-world origins are dismissed out of hand.
Credulous or skeptical dogma is still dogma at the end of the day. Moreover,
our limited evolutionary state could mean that a species of highly evolved
primates with the equivalent of a million years more development might seek to
help us, but find that we lack the sensory or communicative organs necessary
for interaction. If a single “contactee” is telling the truth, then at least
one incident of alien contact has occurred on Earth, and that incident too was
disregarded by the recognized authorities. It is, quite simply, against the
cultural laws of the Western elite to acknowledge the possibility of an alien
interaction without “evidence” which seems truthfully to be a cipher for
automatic refusal regardless of what information is presented to the contrary.
8.) That our governments, cultures, economics and hierarchies
would be recognizable to a non-terrestrial civilization
Would a species of technologically advanced ants identify
our systems as legitimate? Is it entirely possible that an off-world
civilization might look at how we are ruled as a species and determine that we
need to be liberated? Is it equally likely that we could be viewed as tribal,
backward and brutal? Could a civilization reach the point where it would
conclude that populations not involved in consensus are essentially
volunteering for elimination by the greater whole? Could a civilization developed
by a non-terrestrial species be conceived as in perfect balance or efficiency
when those who hold the statistically “wrong” views are “recycled” so that
their nutrients and proteins can be used by those with the “right” viewpoint?
It is possible that a perfectly machine-like attitude could be desirable for
successful interstellar governance. Or an alien species might choose to be
ruled by something superior to but related in form to our criminal oligarchies
masquerading as messy pseudo-democracies. Perhaps an ursine race might accept
the autocratic rule of a line of female sages. Perhaps an intelligent and
technically advanced species of crustaceans would find our systems so immoral
that they would set out to obliterate us the moment we were detected. We have
absolutely no way of knowing.
9.) That human cognitive mechanisms are accurate in
perception or reason
What external evidence do we possess to suggest that our
ways of perceiving, interacting and judging are of any validity? The contrary
can be argued quite persuasively. Human societies are unstable over time. Human
cultural and social designs seek timeless truths for their bases, yet the core
beliefs and values of virtually every people are observably altered over time.
Civilizations fall neatly into predictable and inevitably destructive patterns
like conservatism versus liberalism, stagnation versus the generative, sedentary
versus exploratory, aristocracy (by whatever name) versus proletariat (also by
whatever name) and entertainment versus productivity. If our species cannot
even design a reliable mechanism for general organization that does not
disintegrate as a result of its own innate structural flaws, how can we even
begin to conclude that our perceptions and judgments are accurate? A little over a century ago, men believed that
the evidence of civilizations could be seen on the surface of Mars. Now, having
sent sub-robotic probes there and surveyed some few square miles of terrain, we
are told no such thing exists. But the entire debate hinges on how well we see, and we are told with equal
certainty that seeing is an interpretive function. The brain processes light
information. So what we see is less what is there and more what we believe is
there – or not there- as the case may be. Given the nature of human psychology,
it seems far more likely that we collectively construct temporary truths which
we insist are real in order to perform simple roles in maintaining our sanity.
We tell ourselves what lies we must in order to maintain the integrity of our
egos, the perceived validity of our mythologies, and the desperate hopes we
depend upon for peace of mind. The genuine realities are likely far removed
from the “truths” constructed of human intellect.
10.) That there is such a thing as evidence to begin with
Is there evidence that would convince the people of 50,000
CE that the United States once existed? Is there evidence to be trusted with
regard to the vilification of some, and the enshrining of others? What evidence
exists to state that Hitler was evil, whereas Gandhi was good? While it is true
that many of us disagree with Hitler or else identify with his victims, this is
not proof of error. Unpopularity or generalized repugnance does not stand for
evidence of a moral “truth”. Gandhi may have said and done many fine things in
the view of many people, but this again is opinion. Therefore, evidence is a
matter of opinion. Some are convinced by very little in the way of physical
data. Others require more. And all evidence is subject to interpretation. It is
a matter of interpretation for nearly every living human being that the Earth
is “round”, since very few people have ever been in a personally valid,
personally reliable situation from which to observe the Earth as a spheroid
object in space. We very often take for granted the “evidence” that is offered
to us, and this is increasingly a crazy thing to do considering the emergent
technologies that allow fabrication of convincing vistas, experiences and data.
Not having been to the Moon, none of us know for a personal fact that it exists
as a quasi planetary body orbiting our world. Not having traveled to other
star-systems, absolutely no one has a valid opinion regarding life on other
planets, the nature of planets in other solar systems, or the ways in which
alien species should or could or would develop and/or evolve. Evidence is what
we make of it, what we argue it to be, and nothing more. The emotional reaction
is predictable in those for whom evidence is a dogmatic article of faith. There
are those who will argue that certain instruments are flawless, without
realizing that what is constructed by humans will be subject to human
fallibility and that even this is a human conceit. The collected data is
interpreted before it is even processed as data, when the trained human mind
translates one set of symbols into another. Lovecraft may have had far more
right about the universe than Einstein, and it is only human fallacies that
render the mathematician superior to the pulp literary icon. We hold certain
endeavors more valuable and valid than others, while the tendency for our
civilizations to collapse implies that we are placing faith in the wrong
things. A certain flexible stability would seem the hallmark of a species that
is capable of enduring, and human kind has not been around long enough in
cosmic terms to make any lasting claims on anything.
To the otters and octopi that will inherit our world in a
few million of our years and manage to translate the relics of the past into
meaningful terms, I would convey a message: “It’s our assumptions that got us
in the end. Mind your own – If you can.”
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Fortune favors the bold.