posted on Feb, 6 2011 @ 07:51 PM
Perhaps it is the other way around.
The depictions of "UFOs" and "ships of the gods" have not really changed much over the thousands of years semi-modern man has been around. Just a
little over a hundred years ago, steel was pretty much at the forefront of engineering technology. Now, we're exploding, technologically,
hand-over-fist.
Presuming UFO = superior technological origin, and that this has not noticeably changed for thousands of years.... it may be of note that we have gone
from horse-and-buggy to the moon in less than a hundred years. Perhaps they are not here to teach us anything, but wait for us to surpass them and
solve their problems. Thinking on the human time-scale is relatively silly, considering even we are on the verge of being able to extend the life of
our tissues, in theory, indefinitely. To suppose this is not the natural evolutionary case of any ET, or some acquired techno-biological capability
is rather short-sighted.
We cannot envision the future of our technology any more than our grandfathers could have sat there, in the 1920s, and predicted nuclear power, laptop
computers, the internet, and computer-controlled engines. Our clothing made of synthetic fibers would just about blow their mind (particularly the
higher dollar stuff, like Gortex). Sure - they may have been able to make some pretty good stabs at what the future would look like - but we got
computers in place of flying cars, the internet in place of lunar resorts.
We may already be providing them with answers. Sure, they may be able to be-bop through the stars... but do they know how to make a seed grow? Or is
our planet's concept of seeds a rather novel one - the entire concept of agriculture could be as alien as an inorganic sentience is to us?
Perhaps it's nothing to do with our technology - the idea of male and female may be quite rare; but something that gives us such a unique
reproductive advantage as to warrant study. Perhaps our entire society is a welcome breath of fresh concepts and ideas - the idea of billions of us
all being individual but still working together (for the most part).
Or, perhaps - our experiences and conscience are just too different for them to even register us as being 'alive.' Much like we would consider
molecules to be 'not alive.'
And that may be the key. We are able to think and dream about what other sentient species may be like. Perhaps it is this ability to consider the
unknown and unknowable and push ourselves beyond our current existence and understanding that puts Earth and humans on the map, presuming other
species are able to take note of such a trait (and/or that it is a rare trait).
I wouldn't say humans are struggling to understand anything. I also wouldn't say ET is helping (that is presuming far too much about the nature of
any ET entity and projecting human values and ethical considerations onto something, decidedly, not human - or even of our biosphere). On the time
scale of thousands of years - perhaps even millions - even our worst nightmares involving wars and civil unrest are but a stumble. Our genetic
history indicates that there was a time in our not-so-distant past when we were close to extinction - estimates of our -global- population as low as a
few dozen.
Climate Change? Governments? War? None of these are problems for ET to worry about. Steering Earth-killing asteroids out of the way - maybe.
Giving us technology? Probably the last thing they'd want to do - if an observation of our planet and its history has yielded anything to any
species - it is that diversity is the key to survival and progress. Giving us technology undermines the entire concept of diversity - a different way
to achieve the same ends. Why do differently what is already done?