A Cosmic Mystery

If you can travel the universe, you don't need to acquire more real estate.

I am fascinated by the UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) , UFO (Unidentified Flying Object), "is there Life in the Universe?" conversation. The more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

My take is that it is narcissistic to think we are alone in the universe. Especially when you realize Earth is 4 billion years old. I think there has probably been at least one, or more, civilizations here prior to our current one. That with billions of stars in the Universe, each of which have a similar lifetime, it is highly probable that some form of intelligent life has been, or still is in existence, somewhere out there.

I prefer to speculate about how would an extraterrestrial explorer choose to interact with our planet.

Would aliens be, most likely, further along the path of technological and biological evolution? And if so, how wide would the deficit be? Would we be Cave Men compared to them?

If one of our satellites observed life on another planet that was nothing more than fungus, would we spend the time and money to land a mission there? I say yes, but only to the extent that we could collect some samples for further study. We aren't in a position to send the Nino, Pinto and the Santa Maria to conquer the New World.

Aliens that can travel across such enormous time differences and still be operating in a "real time" dimension once they reach Earth suggests they can warp time, and therefore live in a totally different reality than we do. We are stuck in a linear time frame while they, it would seem, are able to escape that time cage and therefore would be hamstrung to communicate and relate to us in our 'present' time frame.

Imagine Elon Musk meets The Flintstones.

Think about it, it would be the same kind of challenge as us learning how to speak with the fish in an aquarium. We can watch them, enjoy them and to some degree share their world of liquid existence. But it is another challenge altogether to meet on equal "ground". To give them advanced intelligence, or to help them advance their "culture".

If we expand that aquarium analogy to our oceans, we continue to watch, experiment and investigate various species of fish, but we basically stay out of their way. We maintain a "friends with benefits" relationship because we are higher on the food chain. The truth is we are just beginning to grasp the enormous array of life at the deepest parts of our oceans. Much of it is literally alien.

We are in no position to speak to them, or to impose our norms on their existence.

Extraterrestrials would, by definition, be higher on the food chain too. So I think they would maintain a low profile and continue to observe us, looking for opportunities to increase their influence.

They have no reason to obliterate us, which they probably could in a matter of seconds. If you can travel the universe, you don't need to acquire more real estate. Sowhat are their motives?

We have little to offer them, so their only upside is to observe us as a "hobby" aquarium. To take away some form of educational and vicarious enjoyment. Try to understand what makes us tick, and if possible at some point in the future, establish communications.

Humans love our neighbors on Earth. We venerate other forms of life (with maybe the exception of flies). As our understanding of the millions of species increases, and learn more about their role in the ecosystem, we do more to protect them. We are learning that every species has a place in our world. Each plays a role in the balance of forces needed to keep our complex system of life from imploding. Maybe in some small way extraterrestrial species see a similar form of coexistence as necessary to keep the larger Universal Ecosystem in balance.

They may or may not have a permanent presence on Earth. If so, they hide, preferring not to effect big changes in our world, choosing instead to keep a close eye on us, but remain aloof.

Or maybe they have a much deeper personal goal. They want to understand THEIR origins.

Reports of alien abductions usually include some form of biological experimentation, sample taking and non-verbal communication. This suggests they are extracting some forensic information about who and what we are.

Some scientists theorize that aliens could be time travelers. Like cosmic archaeologists, they want to understand their origins. So they go back through that worm hole or whatever cosmic time warp device they have acquired and dig for clues using highly advanced medical procedures.

That begs the question: If they are so advanced wouldn't they have already studied and understood their origins? Wouldn't it mean they are looking at us as ancestors, looking for some human connection to their current condition?

Perhaps aliens have blended biological entities with so much technological machinery that they have lost track of which is which. They have discovered that hybrid machines aren't the panacea they thought they would be, and the machine part has wiped their identity clean. Maybe they're trying to restore a biological foundation to their hybrid "species" by searching for the elusive Human Soul.

Wouldn't that mean they are just coming home? Going back to the proverbial Garden of Eden? If that were true, it means understanding the Origin of Life is an unsolvable cosmic mystery.