One reason may be that we are too grotesque and frightening. I do not mean necessarily in appearance, although it is possible that to an alien our concept of beauty is as frightening as the aliens of science fiction are to us.
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| Frightening Alien Creatures |
By grotesque I mean more related to our habits. Specifically, our habit of eating other animals. Make no mistake, I am an omnivore and I love meat. I also believe it is an essential part of the diet. But even the most devout carnivore has to admit it is a barbaric practice. We kill other animals, strip them of their hides, and dismember them. We then put their dissected body parts out on display in markets for sweet and caring parents to serve up to their children.
If you came from a society which has transcended the need to consume meat or even moreso, from a society which has always been vegetarian and has collectively never considered eating another animal, we would be considered savage barbarians. They would think of us the same way we think of cannibals.
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| Cannibal |
Phagophobia
Imagine you are an anthropologist or a missionary in the 1700's and you stumble upon a tribe of technologically primitive people. The natives are kind and hospitable enough but you notice smoke-cured human body parts hanging from trees. You would probably be both scared and revolted, at the same time. Phagophobia, the fear of being eaten, is one of the most frightening feelings one can experience. Unlike fear of the dark, for example, it is also one of the most avoidable. If you do not like the dark, you cannot stop nighttime from coming. If you do not want to be eaten, just avoid creatures that might eat you. Pretty simple.
Could that be what aliens are doing to us? Are they avoiding us? Are aliens afraid we will eat them? Perhaps they see us eating cows, pigs, and chickens and they consider these animals to be our fellow Earthlings. If all life on Earth is lumped into one type of creature then we might appear to be cannibals, to outsiders.
I am not suggesting that aliens are incapable of distinguishing between species or classes of animals. As I always say, "anyone who can get from there to here..." They know. But that does not mean they perceive the same distinctions between all of us Earthlings. I know there is a difference between evergreens and deciduous trees, each of which can be broken down into many species. Do I care about those distinctions when I am hiking through the woods? Not much. I just enjoy all the trees. I know there as a difference between sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. Do I care, when I am standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, taking in the view? No. Looks like a lot of pretty rocks, to me.
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| A bunch of pretty rocks and stuff |
To people from other planets, humans and other creatures of Earth may all be simply Earthlings. When they see Earthlings eating each other, they may be repulsed and frightened. Surely they could neutralize us with weapons, more advanced than ours. Likewise, we could take out any predator on Earth which may want to eat us. But that does not make it any less scary to come face to face with a lion. A lion may not want to eat you. It may be friendly. But do you really want to take that chance? You have seen what lions are capable of. Do you want to try to make friends with a lion?
I am not ready to give up steak dinners or BBQ Chicken. But I wonder if that is what it would take in order for aliens to make contact with us. Would mankind consider it worth the sacrifice?
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Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.
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