Eyes in the Galactic Skies

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I read recently that experiments aboard the International Space Station have isolated a fifth form of matter, a Bose-Einstein Condensate. A giant step forward in the wild world of physics, or so they say. CRISPR allows us to shuffle genes around, opening the door to unprecedented opportunities to heal and cure. I just read about a study where the die-off of pollinating honey bees was being addressed in part by using gentle soap bubbles to carry pollen to flowers without damaging the fragile blossoms.  And an intriguing study from the University of Nottingham asserts that there are more than 30 intelligent and communicating civilizations here in the Milky Way Galaxy. We are an incredible species - until you read/watch/listen to the news.

There we learn about different creatures altogether. These entities seem determined to eliminate both themselves and the planet they inhabit, and, as any historian or anthropologist worth their Ph.D will tell you, they have been doing so since they first figured out how to knap flint into weapons millennia ago. 

If the scholars at the University of Nottingham are right, heck, even if they missed a few of the “30 intelligent and communicating civilizations here in the Milky Way Galaxy” you can bet some of them are watching us. And why, we might ask, haven't any of those “intelligent and communicating civilizations” tried to make contact with us? After all, SETI and other projects have certainly been reaching out. 

Hmmm. Think about it for a moment. Imagine you are them and not us. You are tapping into our social media. Observing our “news.” You have been following our “evolution” over millions of years. An exercise that would reveal that we create and destroy our “civilizations” through cycles of violence. There are occasional pacifist blips led by charismatic individuals, but these tend to be sadly short-lived, often with the pacifist teachings getting twisted around to rationalizations for violently eliminating others somehow less insightful. Would you be anxious to open communication with us? No, I thought not.  But it may not be too late.  

Again, think of it from their perspective. Odds are these are incredibly ancient civilizations. Perhaps they have observed brutish planets like ours in the past. Maybe our self-destructive inclination to violence is just a phase - like the “terrible twos” on a galactic scale. They may still be watching.

I remember taking a walking tour of Florence.  It was on the back side of the Arlo, away from the more famous cathedrals and galleries. The student section. Our guide called our attention to ubiquitous portraits of the Virgin Mary. They were perched high on walls, often overlooking isolated calles. Our guide informed us that these icons were medieval “security cameras.” The idea was that the thugs of Florence would be deterred from their evil deeds if the Virgin Mary was “watching” them.

Our belief systems and philosophies seem to be unable to reign in our own thuggery. Perhaps we need to consider the possibility that, like the icons of ancient Florence, there are galactic eyes in the sky watching us, and keeping score. If we eventually become truly civilized, maybe we get to join the club. We learn the password, the secret handshake. And perhaps we learn how to stop killing each other.

And how do we begin? Foster Harmony. Enable Beauty. Distill Complexity. Oppose Harm.

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