Comments on: “Don’t pick up the phone”. https://habitablezone.com/2015/04/29/dont-pick-up-the-phone/ Sun, 19 Apr 2026 04:50:17 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2015/04/29/dont-pick-up-the-phone/#comment-32492 ER Fri, 01 May 2015 16:22:59 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=49484#comment-32492 Even microbes are able to alter their behavior in response to threats or opportunities in their environment. But just where do you draw the line between "animal" and "man", a herd of beasts and a civilization of sentient humans. The answer is, of course, subjective. Human beings have too often considered whole categories of their own species as property, not just as spoils of war, prisoners, or economic chattel the way the Romans and Greeks treated their slaves, but as subhuman beasts of burden the way Europeans treated Africans, or the Nazis treated everyone else. We have no way of knowing how alien races will respond to this, or if or how they will manage any cross-species ethics they may or may not have. The big hazy divide between people and creature may be marked by a purely arbitrary boundary, one fixed by simple convenience or even economic expedience. I recall in one science fiction story where the aliens considered only civilizations who had developed interstellar travel as real people. These aliens were interstellar merchants who traveled from star to star on lightsail ships propelled by induced novas in the suns they stopped at to trade. They were willing to allow "primitives" to develop in peace, as long as they (their customers)were willing to build the giant laser cannon needed to propel them (the merchants) to the next world in their itinerary. But if the inhabitants of a system were unwilling or unable to do this, they and their world would be vaporized in the artificial nova event required to boost our aliens to their next business opportunity. Our merchant aliens carried a device aboard their ship that could initiate core instability and detonation in any star. After all. If you can't build a starsail-propelling laser, even after you are sold the plans, then you are obviously not real people. You're just an animal. Even microbes are able to alter their behavior in response to threats or opportunities in their environment. But just where do you draw the line between “animal” and “man”, a herd of beasts and a civilization of sentient humans.

The answer is, of course, subjective. Human beings have too often considered whole categories of their own species as property, not just as spoils of war, prisoners, or economic chattel the way the Romans and Greeks treated their slaves, but as subhuman beasts of burden the way Europeans treated Africans, or the Nazis treated everyone else.

We have no way of knowing how alien races will respond to this, or if or how they will manage any cross-species ethics they may or may not have. The big hazy divide between people and creature may be marked by a purely arbitrary boundary, one fixed by simple convenience or even economic expedience.

I recall in one science fiction story where the aliens considered only civilizations who had developed interstellar travel as real people. These aliens were interstellar merchants who traveled from star to star on lightsail ships propelled by induced novas in the suns they stopped at to trade. They were willing to allow “primitives” to develop in peace, as long as they (their customers)were willing to build the giant laser cannon needed to propel them (the merchants) to the next world in their itinerary. But if the inhabitants of a system were unwilling or unable to do this, they and their world would be vaporized in the artificial nova event required to boost our aliens to their next business opportunity. Our merchant aliens carried a device aboard their ship that could initiate core instability and detonation in any star.

After all. If you can’t build a starsail-propelling laser, even after you are sold the plans, then you are obviously not real people. You’re just an animal.

]]> By: bowser https://habitablezone.com/2015/04/29/dont-pick-up-the-phone/#comment-32491 bowser Fri, 01 May 2015 15:47:36 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=49484#comment-32491 Our best guess as to how folks from other worlds would treat us may be to see how we treated folks who don't resemble ourselves. Although we regard ourselves as kind, generous, considerate and so on, let's check that with reality. On an individual level we can be all of those things. On a group level we've abused African-Americans, Mexicans, Middle Easterners and on and on and on. And that's within our own species. Nope, anything different from "us" is abused. And we should assume another intelligent being with the technological tools necessary to get here would react to us the same way. Hopefully we'll stay like a submarine, stealthily quiet, sensors alert, taking in our surroundings but not revealing out presence. Our best guess as to how folks from other worlds would treat us may be to see how we treated folks who don’t resemble ourselves. Although we regard ourselves as kind, generous, considerate and so on, let’s check that with reality.

On an individual level we can be all of those things. On a group level we’ve abused African-Americans, Mexicans, Middle Easterners and on and on and on. And that’s within our own species.

Nope, anything different from “us” is abused. And we should assume another intelligent being with the technological tools necessary to get here would react to us the same way.

Hopefully we’ll stay like a submarine, stealthily quiet, sensors alert, taking in our surroundings but not revealing out presence.

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