There was a wonderful opinion piece in the Washington Post recently by journalist Amanda Ripley. Her basic question is: why are so many Americans (including journalists) avoiding reading or watching the news? In her examination, she highlights three things that humans want and need.
Hope
Agency
Dignity
Hope is the knowledge that things can get better. Journalists need to provide solutions to problems that they examine.
Agency is the ability to change things in your life. That means reporters should include specific ideas on how individuals can enact change.
Dignity is the simple idea that I matter and you matter. Ripley suggests that listening is the best way to treat others with dignity.
She quoted NPR host Krista Tippet in her story, which is how I found it. I have been reading Tippet’s book “Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living.” It’s a handbook for approaching difficult times. Or perhaps it’s a toolbox for coping with 21st century problems? Her premise is that those tools can help us listen to each other and that can be the foundation needed to create practical solutions.
First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization will be difficult, if it occurs someday. It will require listening and understanding. Humans will need to have patience and engage creativity. That’s what I have been exploring in recent years. It may seem far afield from the consideration of extraterrestrial intelligence and the wider universe. But such thinking will be necessary if humans are to cope with and prosper After First Contact.
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