E.T. Phone Home

I love the stars. On a clear night, when you can see the band of the Milky Way, you can really make yourself feel insignificant. It is spectacular. On really clear nights, in the mountains of Colorado, you can almost feel the Earth turning under your feet. It's nights like those that make me feel as if I really am here, wandering through space with almost 7 billion of you, on our spaceship. It is quite an amazing experience to look up at the sky and have your stomach drop. It gives you a sense of scale almost. During the day, when you can't see the stars, you focus on yourself, and on the world around you. But at night, the stars make you appreciate the situation everyone of us shares with each other: the situation of being human. We are bound to this planet for infinity, even if we do eventually colonize the cosmos, and multiply into the trillions, Earth will always be the homeland, the motherland if you will.

The colonization of space brings up interesting moral quandaries for the human race. What do we do if we discover extraterrestrial life on a distant planet? Do we go and investigate, or do we quietly watch from a distance? What if an alien race finds us, and who is to say they haven't already? In my opinion, it is our prerogative to search the cosmos for habitable planets for scientific purposes only. I do not believe we have the right to impose our problems on a planet other than our own. I do not think that if we fuck this planet up too much that we should just colonize another, it won't solve anything. Some people believe that we can just spread throughout the cosmos without any respect for other planets or civilizations, but how would we feel if aliens landed on our planet and didn't respect our sovereignty? We would go ballistic and start an interstellar war, thats how. I think making contact with an alien race would benefit all of mankind if it didn't result in our oblivion. There is a book written by a Colonel who claims he was part of the Roswell cover-up. He states that a lot of our technology, such as integrated circuits and lasers, was derived from alien technology recovered from Roswell. If we had friendly relations with an alien species, we would be able to advance much quicker by trading information with them. This raises the question of how do we establish contact with an alien species without alarming them and sealing our fate? One day, we shall be an interstellar species, exploring the cosmos in the vain of Star Trek, and maybe even being a member of a larger galactic republic.

Of course, all of this is hundreds if not thousands of years into the future. I, personally, have little faith in humans being able to keep our selves from self destruction for that long, and no one living today will witness it, but it is possible. For this to happen, we have to get over ourselves, and all the petty bullshit. To advance we must abolish poverty, war, and inequality. You and I will never have the pleasure of being able to witness a world such as this, but maybe our children's children's children will. If we hope to have a beautiful, safe world for our future generations, we have to focus now.

Much love and goodnight

- Zack