SETIs Monsters Under the Head
No one has ever proven the existence of life beyond the earth, but some people have the earth’s international response all worked out. They know how we should react whether the aliens are friendly or hostile. Mike Wall at Space.com published the idea that if we are not alone, we should fear the aliens. But are the aliens monsters in reality, or just under the head?
His opening line omitted the power of positive thinking: “When considering the prospect of alien life, humankind should prepare for the worst, according to a new study: Either we’re alone, or any aliens out there are acquisitive and resource-hungry, just like us.” This pessimistic view is the thinking of Simon Conway Morris, who belongs to a camp of evolutionists who think evolution is directional and predetermined. Since humans are avaricious, he reasons, the aliens will probably be, too: “If intelligent aliens exist, they will look just like us, and given our far-from-glorious history, this should give us pause for thought,” he wrote in a journal of the Royal Society.
The opposite attitude was expressed in the same issue by psychologist Albert Harrison, who believes the discovery of aliens would inspire delight, not fear. He thinks the two parties would find a way to work out a peaceful coexistence. Besides, “there will be coalitions of other civilizations that will keep them in check.”
Mike Wall isn’t sure whether the “86 percent of Americans [who] believe that aliens are more likely to be friendly than hostile” are aliens or suckers. Live Science also posted this story.
Well, this entry surely must have stimulated your intellect. Let’s try this logic on monsters under the bed: Either monsters exist under the bed, or they don’t. If they don’t exist, we wonder why not. If they do exist, either they are friendly or hostile. If they were friendly, they would have come in peace by now, so they must be hostile. We also know they must be hostile because they probably evolved like us, and we are hostile. Was this conversation really carried on by adults with white lab coats, or by Calvin? (the cartoon character, not the theologian). Wasn’t Freud the one who called belief in God a projection of the human psyche?
Simon Conway Morris is an expert on Cambrian fossils but has weird ideas about evolution. Very few evolutionists think evolution is predictable and predetermined to produce creatures like those on earth, but he gets away with his weird views because he is NOT a believer in creation or intelligent design. He really should study Darwin’s Dilemma, in which he made a prominent appearance. He believes in SETI, yet he bet he ready dread ETI, because human history isn’t pretty. And if that isn’t enough groaners to rhyme with SETI, remember it also rhymes with the mythical monster Yeti, which stands for Yarns about Extra-Terrace-trial iPhones (see 12/09/2010 commentary).