Ship of Fools: Human Gift

Thread: Human Gift Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Doublethink. (# 1984) on :

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 ?

Posted by MSHB (# 9228) on :

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 ]

Posted by Doublethink. (# 1984) on :

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.)

Posted by Sipech (# 16870) on :

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.

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

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?

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

Here I am, send me [Big Grin]

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

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."

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

Bach. His complete works.

Posted by Stoo (# 254) on :

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)

Posted by Doublethink. (# 1984) on :

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. ]

Posted by Bene Gesserit (# 14718) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Bach. His complete works.

I could not have put that any better.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

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.

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

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?

Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :

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."

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

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.

Posted by Hedgehog (# 14125) on :

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.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

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... ]

Posted by Lord Jestocost (# 12909) on :

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."

Posted by The Rogue (# 2275) on :

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.

Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :

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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