I saw a great TV show when I was younger. I think I was in my early to mid 20's. I cannot remember the name of the show. It was not on long and probably did not get great ratings. It must have been a Twilight Zone type of show which featured different characters in different situations every week.
The episode I am thinking of illustrates a world where a "Mom" computer has helped to create a Utopia. People no longer have to work because robots, controlled by Mom, do everything for us. With nothing else to do, people across the globe have been conditioned to sit on the couch, put on a pair of Virtual Reality glasses, and grab a game controller. This permits them to live out their greatest fantasies without ever getting off the couch.
The thing about this society which makes it more Dystopian than Utopian is that the video games the people play are against each other, using real weapons. So if you are playing an opponent on the other side of town, you will be controlling a real robotic death machine which goes to the other player's house and destroys him in real life. Mom presumably has the dead player's house renovated, since everything in the show looked perfect.
After many years of this, all human life on the planet has been extinguished with the exception of one boy and one girl. In addition to the real life war games, people are not procreating because the fantasy world is more fun and interesting than real life. Mom realizes that in order for her to really do her job, which is to protect and promote humanity, she must somehow get these last two people to put down their game controllers and mate.
Could this be us in the future? It is possible. The show was aired at the dawn of the internet, a decade before we even had smart phones. Imagine what future undreamed-of technology will enable us to do. The bigger question is, is this what happened to other advanced societies on other planets which evolved before we did?
What is the Future of Humanity?
The premise has been suggested in a Wikipedia article about the Fermi Paradox. The reason many academics hate Wikipedia is because, as in this case, you may not know who wrote it and there may be insufficient proof. The passage cites one article titled Where Are They? by Nick Bostrom at the Future of Humanity Institute. I do not think Bostrom's article is even purporting that the scenario I outlined is even likely, although he does list many other reasons why we have not been contacted.
But suppose, for a moment, that this happened out there on some planet millions of light years from here. Suppose it happened on many planets. That would certainly explain why some civilizations which evolved millions of years before we did, are not visiting us. It does not explain why others have nor why they have chosen to keep quiet.
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| Are we too violent for aliens? |
Sticking with the we-shall-destroy-ourselves theme of the day, one reason aliens may be observing us but not contacting us is because we are so violent. Out of the nearly 200 countries in the world, only a couple dozen countries have no military. At nearly any given point in time, there is a war somewhere and the frequency of war is growing. The US has been at war with Afghanistan for nearly two decades.
Are we too violent for aliens?
If we cannot stop fighting with each other, why should any external civilization believe we will be nice to them? If you saw two wild animals fighting, would you tap one of them on the shoulder and say, "Pardon me, but I'd like to establish diplomatic relations with your species."
What you might want to do is take a few steps back and watch the fight. We do it all the time, whether it is watching animals fight on TV, or Boxing, MMA, or Wrestling. People love to watch a good fight. Dial that fight up to war status and it gets even more attention. People who would never watch two men beat each other up in a boxing ring will watch two armies fight on cable news, or even a movie about two armies fighting, in the theater.
We learn this as young children on the school yard. The moment a fight breaks out a crowd of kids will encircle the ones fighting and begin cheering them on. People of all ages love a good fight.
If we ever want our visitors to reach out to us and establish a line of communication we may have to first stop trying to kill each other. Note, I am not advocating any political agenda. I am just stating the obvious which is that people are violent, we are highly militarized, we war with each other, and this may make us appear too wild and violent to outside observers - too risky of a proposition. For now they are going to stay in their Land Rovers and observe the wild animals from afar.
That is it for this week. I will continue exploring the possibilities of Why are they hiding from us next week. Have a great weekend!
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Thank you for reading and keep an eye on the sky.
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