Comment Re: interstellar comm as worthy science (Score 1) 238
We can't make any realistic assumptions about alien life-forms that aren't refracted through our own self-concept as a species. Either we think of ourselves as too primitive to go on the air (an unjustified inferiority complex left over from the arrogance of the Industrial Revolution), or we preen as the only creatures bright enough to "invent" radio (unlikely). Both attitudes are archaic, self-destructive, secretly resentful, and (worse) miss the point.
Continuing the effort to make contact, by whatever means we have, is intrinsically beneficial as a human activity, regardless of whether our local planetary cultures understand why that is so, and regardless of whether we get it right in the first 1000 years of the attempt.
If we are eventually to become galactic citizens of some sort, we'd probably make the best possible first impression if we develop a vaster worldview before we make definitive offworld contact. If we can use the process of seeking that contact to develop a seriously long view of time (in which our "history" is a drop of food coloring) and to cultivate some cosmic patience, at least we might have something reasonable to say when we do build a fancier toy that tunes us in to the request line for the Galactic Top 40.
Continuing the effort to make contact, by whatever means we have, is intrinsically beneficial as a human activity, regardless of whether our local planetary cultures understand why that is so, and regardless of whether we get it right in the first 1000 years of the attempt.
If we are eventually to become galactic citizens of some sort, we'd probably make the best possible first impression if we develop a vaster worldview before we make definitive offworld contact. If we can use the process of seeking that contact to develop a seriously long view of time (in which our "history" is a drop of food coloring) and to cultivate some cosmic patience, at least we might have something reasonable to say when we do build a fancier toy that tunes us in to the request line for the Galactic Top 40.
