Tag: human

Communicating with visitors from outer space: The uncanny resemblance of the Unfamiliar Familiarity…

Communicating with visitors from outer space: The uncanny resemblance of the Unfamiliar Familiarity…

We are born… totally unaware of the world around us; an alien world…
We learn crying first… that’s our first attempt in communication… or attention seeking until we find more effective ways…
Then, we learn to stand on our knees, crawl and finally walk…
In the end, we learn to speak as we complete the totally helpless phase of our infancy. The comms link is finally online…

It takes us years to get familiar with our home world and its humanoid inhabitants. Yet, we are never fully familiar towards other life forms on our planet…

Nobody has communicated with a chicken…
Nobody knows how a potted sunflower truly feels when neglected too long…
Nobody has ever set their eyes upon the creatures living in the deepest parts of our oceans…
Nobody has tried to make a pact with deadly viruses for them not to make us sick… oh wait! Most of us aren’t even aware that viruses aren’t living organisms… but we try to kill these lifeless but contagious pieces of code anyway.

We still know only bits and pieces about the other life forms we coexist with, on our shared planet…

Yet, we seek intelligent life forms in deep space and still believe we can come to terms with these aliens through diplomacy once we find them and form an inter-galactic federation to rule the galaxy peacefully altogether… or crush the destructive, evil ones…

human-alien-02

Before elaborating more on the ways to communicate with aliens, let’s take a short trip into some popular alien encounter plots in the sci-fi world:

A spaceship either makes its way to one of the largest cities in the world, or just crash lands in the suburbs where a small town lies nearby. The aliens’ agenda is always the same wherever they land though: to destroy us or strip our planet off its valuable resources. Then the war for our planet commences…

We beat them 9 out of 10 times. Perhaps because they look like us somehow… an uncanny resemblance of the unfamiliar familiarity: they’re either off-color humanoids, complete with all the limbs etc. Or some variation of earthly creatures like giant bugs or non-aquatic octopuses.

This physical familiarity must be the reason we believe we can communicate so easily with them.

So, let’s make it easier for the mankind and imagine the first aliens we encounter are not only humanoid in form, but also a nearly exact copy of our image. But even then… what makes us think we can understand each other? How easily can we communicate with other people? Can we even completely understand our fellow earthlings?

human-alien
… in a world where,

… men can’t truly understand women…
… archaeologists can’t decipher most ancient writing forms… (such as the Rongorongo of Easter Island)…
… each Earth culture has its own beliefs and values…(even gestures)…

Still not convinced?

Try explaining snowflakes to a young Masai warrior…

or

what an ocean is to someone who has lived in a landlocked country all their life…

Men are from Mars.Women, too

No, this article has nothing to do with intersexual relationships. The title is quite literal and if you were hoping to read about relationship secrets, I suggest you hit the back button on your browser and google it using the key words provided above.

This article is all about “panspermia” or the theory that our home planet wasn’t the planet Earth but our building blocks hitched a ride on an asteroid or something and ended up here. 

As I’m not a scientifically inclined being (although I write sci-fi) I will not write about how a planet like Mars was suitable to support life billions of years ago or that it had water at some time along with a decent atmosphere. You can Google these up to satisfy your curiosity. My reasons are totally different and less scientific. Here’s my list of reasons ranking from more credible to totally absurd:

1. The feeling of not belonging, (most people I know have this); or feeling totally alien to Earth: Does the phrase “I’m not from this world” sound familiar? 

2. Getting a suntan and even hurting after prolonged exposure to the sun: Perhaps our bodies have always been accustomed to cooler climates where the sun wouldn’t have such effects on our bodies (like Mars). No other animal on Earth ever complains about sensitive skin. 

3. We are fragile beings suspectible to all kinds of diseases. It’s like the whole planet is trying to wipe us out. We suffer from all kinds of diseases and illnesses from deadly ones to common cold. Common cold? We get sick so easily.

4. Apart from aquatic animals, no other mammals are fur-free like us. We are the odd one out unless all the other animals aren’t the ones native to this world. 

5. Even as newborn babies we are quite defenseless upon birth and have to be constantly taken care of while all the other animals in the animal kingdom adapt to their surroundings in little or no time. Maybe we give birth to our off springs before they are completely developed in the womb and kind of forced out early due to a stronger gravitational force (different from what we were accustomed to)

6. Our constant awe towards stars and space: Space is mostly dark matter, or emptiness yet we are charmed with it everytime we look at the night skies. 

7. All religions have the notion of afterlife and other worlds (heaven and hell?) Be good throughout your life and your reward is heaven or perhaps returning to your home planet in some form?

8. We can’t live in peace with the nature. We are constantly trying to terraform the Earth by annihilating nature and building up comfort zones of concrete, maybe trying to make it feel like the barren lands of rocky Mars?

9. The nomadic gene within: Our desire to travel long distances to get away what we call home and to pursue happiness in remote locations in the name of tourism. 

10. The color connection: Our blood is red so is the Martian soil. 

11. Some people have an unexplainable affection towards Bruno Mars. 

I’m not expecting you to believe every word I wrote. However, I’m expecting you to look at the sky tonight and give it a moment of thought…