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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Human Gift
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I was randomly daydreaming about alien first contact, as one does, and I imagined a dilemma I thought I would share. (Bear with me - it'll make sense by the end of this post.)
Random humanoid alien species makes contact with earth, they found voyager and have picked up media broadcasts for a while (maybe they sent a probe through a wormhole), so they are able to communicate with us. They teach us a common shared speech and provide a faster than light ship so we can send an embassy to an interspecies diplomatic council.
Hurrah, we are now part of the galactic community ! After the embassy has been fully set-up and settled in, about an earth year after first contact, the galactic collection is shown to the human ambassador. Each species has given a gift to the collection on joining the council, the gift needs to be durable and maintable without too much expertise or special care, and it needs to express meaningfully the uniquess and culture of the species.
You are the human ambassador, what do you advise the UN to send ?
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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MSHB
Shipmate
# 9228
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink.:
it needs to express meaningfully the uniquess and culture of the species.
You are the human ambassador, what do you advise the UN to send ?
I am puzzled. Without knowing the other species, how do we know what would be uniquely human?
[ 14. April 2015, 08:52: Message edited by: MSHB ]
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MSHB: Member of the Shire Hobbit Brigade
Posts: 1522 | From: Dharawal Country | Registered: Mar 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Perhaps highly characteristic then ? Though anything that involves produce of animals or plants evolved on earth is probably unique to our species - inorganic compounds probably arent though.
(By the time I invent one hundred aliens, each with a unique culture and ecosystem, I'll have written an epic sci-fi quintet.)
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Send a library. We have a rich variety of cultures that have been expressed in word throughout the centuries.
So perhaps each country could select (either by dictation or democratic vote) a work from their own culture. In our case, it would most likely be the complete works of Shakespeare. The Americans might send The Great Gatsby, Colombia could send Love in the Time of Cholera, etc.
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I think it has to be visual so how about a DVD?
It has to show mankind's desire to explore the universe.
It has to show humour.
How about Wallace and Gromit - A Grand Day Out?
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
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What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
How about a compilation of the ways we've killed, tortured and fought against each other, the cruelties we've inflicted upon each other, the despoiling we've managed of our planet, and at the end an apology "sorry. Perhaps you'd be better leaving us to ourselves."
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Bach. His complete works.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Stoo
Mighty Pirate
# 254
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
How about a compilation of the ways we've killed, tortured and fought against each other, the cruelties we've inflicted upon each other, the despoiling we've managed of our planet, and at the end an apology "sorry. Perhaps you'd be better leaving us to ourselves."
Sounds like you need a beer, Karl.
Beer - that's what to send. (and wine, whisky and gin)
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Posts: 5266 | From: the director of "Bikini Traffic School" | Registered: May 2001
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I feel some people are cheating the single gift idea a bit (much as I would personally like a library as a gift ....).
My original thought was a properly sealed jar of honey (which would last centuries.). Cos humans have eaten honey since we first evolved, probably our predecessor species too, it expresses our symbiosis with our ecosystem, it is produced across cultures, and it has been woven into languague, and the symbolism of faith and myth. It has also been used to annoint the dead, feed infants, treat wounds etc. And mixed with everything under the sun to make everything under the sun - from medicine to explosives to glue.
So always with us, ever adaptable and a choice (unlike water for example).
[ 14. April 2015, 17:33: Message edited by: Doublethink. ]
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Bene Gesserit
Shipmate
# 14718
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Bach. His complete works.
I could not have put that any better.
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Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus
Posts: 405 | From: Flatlands of the East | Registered: Apr 2009
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I am borrowing Bach from some other writer whose name I have forgotten. (As I say, this is not a new debate.) But he did add that even though Bach was perhaps cheating, it was good to lead off with your best.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
I am borrowing Bach from some other writer whose name I have forgotten. (As I say, this is not a new debate.) But he did add that even though Bach was perhaps cheating, it was good to lead off with your best.
It was Carl Sagan, wasn't it, when discussing what should go on the Voyager golden disk?
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
No, it wasn't Carl Sagan himself, but I found the reference in an article he wrote about how they chose the Voyager golden disk music:
"During these times we found ourselves considering Yale professor Dr Lewis Thomas's solution. "I would vote for Bach," he wrote in his book The Lives of a Cell. "All of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging, of course, but it is surely excusable for us to put the best possible face on at the begin¬ning of such an acquaintance. We can tell the harder truths later."
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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churchgeek
Have candles, will pray
# 5557
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Posted
It would be a really difficult choice without knowing something about the alien species. Do we know, for example, that they would have any means of approaching Bach? Bach, and all music, art, and literature, is embedded in certain contexts, many of which we really take for granted (like the way our brains perceive and interpret sounds). For all we know, some of the instruments used would sound to them like nails on a chalkboard do to us - or the compositions would sound like random noises.
I like the honey idea, though. If they don't like the taste, or can't metabolize it, or whatever, it still has a lovely symbolic aspect to it.
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I reserve the right to change my mind.
My article on the Virgin of Vladimir
Posts: 7773 | From: Detroit | Registered: Feb 2004
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Hedgehog
Ship's Shortstop
# 14125
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Posted
How about sending all Tea Party Republicans? They would certainly agree that they are the best that humanity has to offer, and I, for one, would not oppose sending them off planet.
Although I suppose that would be something of a nasty trick to play on our new alien friends. Especially if we are not sure whether they even have a sense of humor.
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"We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it."--Pope Francis, Laudato Si'
Posts: 2740 | From: Delaware, USA | Registered: Sep 2008
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I recall sitting in the rain at a Pioneer Camp in Alberta around campfire with this very discussion in 1970 (run by IVCF-Canada, IVCF is not at all my cup of tea).
They talked of trying to evangelize the aliens and telling how great it was that Jesus came to earth, and aren't we the lucky ones. I thought, at the time, that they might like some hot cocoa and a marshmallow. Later, we sang some campfire songs, and I wondered if the aliens had ever sung a round (the type of song where different groups start the same song at different times). A few years later, I wondered how they might like a fugue.
Do you think it might be best to have a little meeting with the aliens, and see what they like? Then give them that?
[ 15. April 2015, 02:24: Message edited by: no prophet's flag is set so... ]
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Lord Jestocost
Shipmate
# 12909
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Hedgehog:
How about sending all Tea Party Republicans? They would certainly agree that they are the best that humanity has to offer, and I, for one, would not oppose sending them off planet.
Although I suppose that would be something of a nasty trick to play on our new alien friends. Especially if we are not sure whether they even have a sense of humor.
"Your Tea Party Republicans are ..." [twitches eyebrow] "...illogical."
Posts: 761 | From: The Instrumentality of Man | Registered: Aug 2007
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The Rogue
Shipmate
# 2275
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
They talked of trying to evangelize the aliens and telling how great it was that Jesus came to earth, and aren't we the lucky ones.
There was a cartoon kicking around which had a man going to another planet where they said they welcomed Jesus with presents and love and then asked what humans did.
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If everyone starts thinking outside the box does outside the box come back inside?
Posts: 2507 | From: Toton | Registered: Feb 2002
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by The Rogue:
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
They talked of trying to evangelize the aliens and telling how great it was that Jesus came to earth, and aren't we the lucky ones.
There was a cartoon kicking around which had a man going to another planet where they said they welcomed Jesus with presents and love and then asked what humans did.
Oh, we did that as well. It's what we did when he, as Douglas Adams observed, started saying what a great place the world would be if we started being nice to each other for a change...
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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