The wonder
of discovering an extraterrestrial civilization will eventually lead to an
examination of who we are as human beings. If we meet technologically advanced
extraterrestrials we may feel inferior. We may fear extraterrestrials because
they are different from us. We may be incredibly impressed and seek to emulate
alien thought. However, the discussion of those issues will eventually lead
back to who we are as humans. What is the power of humanity? What makes us
proud to be human? What would we share with extraterrestrials as examples of
what we are capable of: music, literature, visual arts, science, technology, philosophy?
In the
1970s NASA sought to collect those very ideas on special discs that were placed
on each of the Voyager space probes. They are now traveling outside of our
solar system in interstellar space. Carl Sagan chaired the committee tasked to
create the discs. Much of the information on the discs described our human biology
and the physical makeup of our planet. Aside from the sciences, and an attempt
to show how we view the world around us, there were also cultural depictions.
Those included pictures of architecture, cities, and food. Music recordings ranged
from Bach to Chuck Berry. These subjects, updated of course, might be similar
to what we share with extraterrestrials if First Contact does occur someday.
However, if the aliens are thoughtful and enterprising, they will have already
seen much of that through our television transmissions flying through space or
thanks to the Internet, if they have sent a probe to Earth orbit.
The bigger
question is this: who are we? What would set us apart from other civilizations
in the universe? I think we would inevitably turn to the basic, positive
functions of human life: love, friendship, family, community, learning,
creativity, communal progress, curiosity, religion, science and philosophy.
That would, in turn, lead to questions: What about the negative aspects of
humanity? Conflict is an inherent part of human existence. Just to live on this
planet is a struggle. We could point to the institutions of government and
religion as ways we attempt to join together and overcome conflict. And, of
course, to be honest, we would have to share those same institutions as things
that often drive us apart.
Despite
horrific wars, daily violence, and conflict of all varieties, we are apparently
thriving with 7.7 billion humans. We have built a large civilization. And as we
have come to learn in recent years, that progress is not necessarily always a
good thing. We are changing our planet in ways that nature did not intend, so
much so that we face many new challenges. Climate change is impacting our
weather and our coastal cities. Species extinction is at record levels and
proceeding at an astonishing rate. We face the threat of ecological collapse.
The threat of nuclear war hangs over our heads. Is this who we are- beings hell
bent on dominating each and every square foot of planet Earth? Do we care
nothing for other species? Do we care nothing about the future of coming
generations of humans? Are we selfish creatures prone to self-aggrandizement?
Certainly
all of those aspects of humanity are true to some extent. But let’s get back to
the basic positive functions of human existence and focus on one in particular:
love. Love may be quite unique in the universe. Perhaps extraterrestrial beings
are already so closely connected to each other that they don’t even understand
human differentiation and thus love? Or they could be so far advanced in technology
to not even understand the concept of caring and love. So much of what I have described
as human is the result of specific biological needs on this planet. Different
biological needs on different planets would create not only different
extraterrestrial biology, but also different alien psychology. This difference
could be especially acute if aliens are machine-based artificial intelligence.
If love
and friendship are so important to us, why do we so often dwell on conflict and
division? Our existence in 2019 is beset by many challenges. It is difficult to
support 7.7 billion humans. There are natural human behaviors that cause us to
seek the best resources for ourselves and those closest to us, while leaving
other people without. We struggle with how we govern ourselves and how we
interact as communities. We are attempting to overcome the weight of our
history.
Despite
the news of the day, we continue to improve our lives. We generally live in a
safer, healthier, and higher opportunity world than our ancestors. We face new
challenges daily, and together we manage to overcome those challenges. We can
find cures for disease and new ways to grow crops to feed more people. We have
done these things for thousands of years. We continue to develop. How do we do
that? We rely on love, friendship, family, community, learning, creativity,
communal progress, curiosity, religion, science, and philosophy. And so I come
back to the power of humanity. What is it that we can sum up as representing
the human civilization? I think most of us would agree that it is love. Love,
in it’s many forms, is the glue that holds our civilization together. Fred
Rogers, of the TV show Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, perhaps said it best:
“When
I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to
me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
There
are humans dedicated to helping war refugees. We send aid to other nations in
times of famine and natural disaster. We rush to assist a person who has been
hurt. We take these actions every day, and perhaps in far greater frequency
than we take part in conflict and violence.
Our
civilization is built on the good work of people- the so-called “common people”
in every city and every nation on the planet. I would imagine that they are the
great majority of humans on the planet. They are often not the most famous or
the most powerful humans. They are certainly not perfect. They may do an awful
thing one day and then turn around and do something good the next. But they will
most likely be there in times of need. There are billions of people on planet
Earth helping other people in one way or another. That is the power of
humanity. And no matter what we learn about alien worlds, that essential nature
of humanity is something we need to come back to when assessing this new
perspective. Humans have the power of love. We can support each other and
create tremendous change when we work together. We can overcome nearly any
challenge imaginable, if we just believe in each other and understand that
power. The only things holding us back are negative thinking, selfishness, and inaction.
Critical thinking is essential. It shows you how to make things better.
Negative thinking becomes a spiral to drag us down, either individually or
collectively. We give up and succumb to the horrible. Love can pull us out of
that hole. We have used it to do so throughout human history. Let us proudly
show off our great human power to any extraterrestrial strangers we meet some
day. And let us resolve to use it here on Earth to heal wounds and make our
world better.
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