NASA: Humans Will Prove Not Alone in Universe Within 20 Years

[circlethesquare]

From: The David Pakman Show

[Peace Patriot]

1. Well, I think that this pat answer, that nothing will change, needs examination...

...and much more thought. It seemed flippant to me.

This very common belief among progressives that "nothing will change"--no matter how many anti-war protestors take to the streets (hundreds of thousands, over several unjust wars), no matter how many Americans oppose unjust war (about 55%, all polls, March 2003), no matter how many labor union protests there are, nor how many 'Seattles' (anti-globalization protests--there were many in addition to Seattle), no matter how many 'Occupies' there are, no matter what we do to demand fairness and justice--this paltry and inaccurate view about change has been induced, most recently by the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines now endemic in the U.S., largely controlled by one, far-rightwing connected corporation (ES&S, which bought out Diebold), and prior to that corporate capability (vast rigging of elections), we had corporate media deification of Reagan, vast moneys of the rich and corporate poured into elections, and so forth. Combined, these things--corporate media, corporate money and, now, corporate-run vote counting--have devastated our will, as a people, and--far worse--our self-confidence, especially about change for the better.

Those who only want change to mean, oh, getting rid of Glass-Steagle (regulation of the banksters), or throwing out the progressive tax system, or establishment of corporate human and political rights, or the end of Social Security and all public projects--that is, those who want only radical fascist change for the worse--are in ascendancy, and have vast control of media, money and vote counts.

So, naturally, we feel depressed and disempowered, and, believe me, this is part of their program. I think we should resist knee-jerk (unthoughtful) expressions of these feelings, and use that energy to think up and propose ways to counter the corpo-fascist forces and restore our democracy. First, get rid of the corporate-controlled voting machines, is my advice. Gotta start there. Bottom line of democracy. But there are many places to start--people involved in alternative media, people involved in organic and small farming and food supply issues, people organizing co-ops and community banks, etc. There is a lot to do, to re-start this democracy--a democracy that at one time inspired the world.

Also, quite a lot of educated, progressive people are simply ignorant to the vast changes--many for the better--that are occurring elsewhere--for instance, the utterly amazing leftist democracy movement in Latin America (Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Nicaragua, all with re-started democracies and elected leftist governments, with some progress in Peru, El Salvador and other places), or the also amazing worldwide campesino (peasant farmer) movement, or indeed, the rather amazing "slow food" movement in our own country, spurred by gardeners, farmers, organizers of farmers' markets, re-starters of farmer granges, cooks at home and in restaurants, and the many customers who want organic, non-cruelty, good local food.

If you get your news mostly from the corporate media, you WILL be depressed. That is their role!

And then, when you think about humanity discovering intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe, you will naturally think that nothing will change here--idiots will remain in charge of an idiot population--or you may also think that alien contact can only go badly--say, a repeat of western Europe's conquest of the Americas, or--in the other direction, aliens turning the tables and conquering us. Yeah, it could go that way: a) make no difference to our political troubles, and/or, b) make things worse in some way. But it is not inevitable.

If there is anything characteristic of human beings, it is our ability to NOT repeat the past, or at least to try hard not to. (I think that nearly every parent on earth, for instance, wants to do a better job than their own parents did, reflecting their inherent hope for, and belief in, the future--belief in change, that their kids will be smarter, healthier and happier than they are, or than their parents were.) I suspect that this is characteristic of all biologically based sentient beings. We don't know that, of course--what--or rather who--we will find. But there is also no reason to automatically think the worst--including the most depressing thought, that "nothing will change."

Sidelight: I wonder about NASA making this announcement. First thought: Wow! SETI's gone mainstream. Second thought: It's unwise to predict something you can't know for sure, and even give it a time-frame. Third thought: NASA is underfunded and is trying to excite our ES&S/Diebold-appointed officials to cough up more funds. Fourth thought: They have already made this discovery--of intelligent life elsewhere--and are trying to prepare people for it.

That last is probably wishful thinking. I don't mind them fundraising. I think NASA should get most of the trillions that our government wastes on military contractors and uses for very bad purposes. And I think that the announcement is justified--if a bit risky--based on what I've read of the recent discoveries of other planets in our galaxy alone (and there are billions of other galaxies, I'd guess about half like our own--spiral galaxies--teaming with billions of other suns and planets). I think we are bound for space. It is our destiny to explore. It will be a sad fate for humanity NOT to take the next step into the great Universe. I also think that if we don't do it, the human component of earth will vanish. We need the technological advances of space travel to save our planet from our own mistakes; it is currently our only home and the mother of our own evolution.

Do I think the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere will change things here, in our country or in the world? Columbus' 'discovery' of America was a disaster for the Indigenous population of the Americas and for the human beings kidnapped from Africa and transported to the Americas as slaves. It was also disastrous for the Pacific islanders and parts of Asia (for instance, the British opium trade imposed on China). But I do think that European culture changed, drastically, for the better, with the change from "flat earth" to spherical earth (its true shape)--an important intellectual leap in Europe (and for all people)--and with the mixing of the races, however horrendous and long-lasting the first cultural clashes were. Though these changes took time, and are still in progress, they resulted in a period of vast advancement of human understanding and of human rights. Not the least of that advancement was the declaration that "all men are created equal." Despite all the hypocrisy (then and now), that concept survived and is still with us here and in the world. It is now the world's stated ideal.

My point is this: The 'discovery' of the Americas shook Europe to its foundations, and eventually resulted in revolution after revolution, here, there and all over the world, all to do with equality.

The discovery of intelligent life elsewhere might not change things all at once, but it will most certainly do so eventually. We will still have to eat, live somewhere, raise children, do jobs, and all the things we do. But the intellectual leap that life elsewhere will induce--a leap that human brains seemed designed to make, a leap that all of us are capable of--will change us profoundly. There is no discovery that is comparable, and no precedent.

And, since NASA itself is now saying that it is just over the horizon, we had better think about this and get ready for it, and not dismiss it as "nothing" (the same-old same-old will prevail). I find this view comparable to the bishops who reportedly refused to look through Galileo's telescope. It's an unthinking view--the view of someone who can't analyze the impact of corporate news upon himself, let alone analyze the impact of the discovery of other intelligent life on our society or on the world. The prelates of the Catholic Church were afraid to look in that telescope, and no doubt told themselves "this changes nothing" though they knew damn well what a threat it was to their power as well as to their concept of themselves. So, in a sense, they WOULDN'T think about it. Yet that discovery eventually, and relentlessly, and inevitably, changed our society in fundamental ways, as with the 'discovery' of the Americas.

Those with glib answers, who refuse to think about this potential discovery, are doing us no favors. We NEED TO think about it. Thinking about it is the only way that we can prevent the repetition of past mistakes. Thinking about it is what we do. It is our self-described identity as sentient beings. Predicting "same old same old" is what idiots do, and what those who manipulate idiots, for profit and power, want them to say. Nothing ever changes.

[Peace Patriot]

2. circlethesquare, do you have a url to the actual NASA announcement,

or some clue--the actual title of their announcement, for instance--to help me locate it. The commenter seems to be reading from it and quoting it, but I would like to read the original.

[zebonaut]

3. We've always had company in the Universe for billions of years

we just don't know it yet