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The Dark Side of Flying Saucers

Christopher O'Brien

Back in the Saddle Aginn
Staff member
The Dark Side of Flying Saucers - Are We Dealing With Something Evil?
By Sean Casteel

Complete Article HERE:

The mystery of just who is piloting the UFOs witnessed around the world since ancient times has many so-called “solutions.” Working from the available evidence, one can argue for any number of interpretations of the phenomenon, and those interpretations run the gamut from the UFOs being an early harbinger of the Second Coming of Christ to an invasion by cold-blooded, methodical aliens bent on colonizing our planet by the skillful combining of our DNA with theirs.

There is also this less frequently heard interpretation: that the present day UFO and alien abduction phenomenon are simply a modernized, more technological manifestation of the same demons that have tormented and sought to manipulate mankind since the beginning of time. In other words, the gray aliens are nothing new and their basic malevolent intent has never changed.

This statement, by no less an authority than Lord Hill-Norton, the late five-star admiral and the former head of the British Ministry of Defence, helps to put that perspective into focus: “UFOs are essentially a religious matter rather than a military threat, and furthermore there is certainly a degree of psychic involvement in almost every case. Quite often, however, such experiences are definitely antithetical to orthodox Christian beliefs.”

I recently took part in the writing of a new book on this darker side of flying saucers. The book is called “Round Trip To Hell In A Flying Saucer.” A portion of the book is a reprint of an earlier book, circa sometime in the 1950s, by Cecil Michael, with which the later anthology shares its title. In the book, Michael describes a hellish abduction experience in which he visits the domain of the damned and is somehow miraculously returned and left coherent enough to write about the experience. Michael’s take on the subject is exactly the opposite of the majority of 1950s contactees, most of whom describe pleasant-looking, blond, Nordic aliens who compassionately warn mankind of his potential coming doom through nuclear warfare and environmental decay.

Given that Michael is for his time a dissenting, minority opinion, one would think it easy enough to dismiss what he is saying. But such is not the case. As all the updated material that was poured into “Round Trip To Hell In A Flying Saucer” so ably demonstrates, there are a great many researchers and abductees of our more current age who also believe that the UFO phenomenon is Satanic and demonic.

Two of the more prominent names in UFO research, the late John Keel and the celebrated Jacques Vallee (the character of LaCombe in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was modeled after Vallee), both arrived at the conclusion that there is a spiritual, paranormal aspect to flying saucers that is too often denied by nuts-and-bolts researchers who see only the appearance of aliens from another planet in physical ships. But there is much about typical UFO encounters that blends rather fuzzily with time-honored stories of demons and run-ins with the “little people.” It is that opening of one’s self to the paranormal and psychic components that makes the overall experience so terrifying to so many.

And the updated book does indeed present some terrifying anecdotes as it winds its way through its exhaustive treatment of the subject. One section of the book deals with the Jinn, the demons of Islamic mysticism, and makes a case for their overlapping with modern aliens. The Jinn are a morally complex form of demon, with some of them laboring to do good in the world, even “confessing” to the truth of the Koran.

Contributor Adam Gorightly deals with sexual encounters between humans and aliens, and discusses how “the Great Beast” Aleister Crowley used hallucinogenic drugs along with sexual “magick” to invoke otherworldly entities. Gorightly lumps together the sexual aspects of our present understanding of the alien abduction experience with ancient myths about demons as sexual predators in his chapter on “Psychic Space Age Vampires.” Meanwhile, author Tim Swartz recounts stories of human mutilation at the hands of the UFO occupants, one incident of which took place on a military base in Texas in 1956. The notion that the aliens/demons may feed on the energy contained in human blood and on human misery in general is also explored.

My own contributions to the book include a general overview of the beliefs of the aforementioned Keel and Vallee, as well as the case for the phenomenon’s wickedness made by pilot and researcher John Lear, the son of the man who invented the Lear Jet. When one sees the beguiling light show of an approaching UFO, Lear advises one to “run like hell” and not be suckered in by the beauty of the ships or in any way to assume their true demeanor is a friendly one. According to Lear, the aliens just want to suck out the marrow of our souls, and our fear and humiliation is nourishing to them.

I also interviewed a retired pastor named Tom Horn, who tells a story of a real-life encounter with a demonic entity that was witnessed by several members of his congregation. A rebellious teenager who had fallen under the spell of satanic heavy metal music appeared to become “possessed” and went charging at Horn only to run head-on into some kind of invisible force field and drop like a sack of potatoes. Horn believes he was singled out for the attack by the demon because of his position of authority as pastor, and testifies further that all who witnessed the apparent miracle were very shaken up and knew that there is a living God who watches over such things.

Horn very much believes that the UFO phenomenon is demonic for the most part, but he also acknowledges that his sister is an abductee, which creates a moral dilemma for him that he continues to ponder along with the many other spiritual issues that have long troubled him. He allows as how some of the UFO activity in the Bible can be put in the righteous category and that the present day abducting gray aliens may somehow stand outside normal notions of sin and wrongdoing. The phenomenon is not easy to categorize in everyday terms of black and white, even for those of devout Christian faith.

I also contributed a short chapter in which I discuss the views of “Communion” abductee Whitley Strieber and “Intruders” researcher Budd Hopkins. Strieber, at the time my interview with him was conducted, said it was very easy for him to equate the gray aliens with demons, and that the terror and the misery of the experience made it impossible to distinguish between them. Hopkins, on the other hand, said the moral complexity of the abduction phenomenon made it impossible to draw conclusions about the aliens’ inherent good or evil. All we can really do, according to Hopkins, is try to pick it up by the human end of it and examine the way it’s affected people, apart from any premature conclusions about the moral character of the abductors.

Meanwhile, there is no lack of scary stories to be told about the wicked aspects of UFO lore. In an interview with Timothy Beckley, the book’s editor and publisher, Christopher O’Brien discusses the folklore surrounding creatures called “skin-walkers” in the mysterious San Luis Valley, which spans parts of Colorado and New Mexico and has been a UFO hotspot for several decades. The term “skin-walker” is interchangeable with “shape shifter,” and essentially means a creature that can change his appearance from human to animal and back again.

“According to traditional knowledge,” O’Brien says, “skin-walkers are able to read a victim’s thoughts. They are also thought to be able to mimic any human or animal sound. This ability is sometimes used to draw unwitting victims outside by calling in the voice of a person known to them or using a familiar animal sound. Don’t ever look into and/or lock eyes with a suspected skin-walker. This will enable his will to enter you and take over all your motor functions and make you do and say things that are completely beyond your control. It takes the voodoo zombie thing to a whole new level!”

What is the government connection to all this? How do the intelligence community and the Pentagon view the good-versus-evil-of-the-aliens question? Noted author Nick Redfern alleges, in an interview with Tim Beckley about Redfern’s book “Final Events,” that the government long ago concluded that the UFOs were of a demonic nature and there was little to be done in terms of protecting the general public from the flying saucer devils. They began to develop a plan to convert the entire population to Evangelical Christianity so that they could at least wage a kind of spiritual battle for their immortal souls. Tom Horn, who I referred to earlier in this review, calls such people “prayer warriors,” saying, “Fervent prayer by the righteous would be the battering rams that could push through that demonic oppression.” Whether the government will ever go public with the prayerful strategy is another question entirely.

The classic demons of Christianity as well as zombies, shape-shifters, hellhounds, vampires, succubi and incubi – “Round Trip To Hell In A Flying Saucer” has it all. (Coauthor Tim Beckley believes that the ghosts who trouble the haunted are also part of that same list of manifestations of “alien” evil.) There exists nowhere else such a complete, exhaustive study of the evil aspects of the UFO phenomenon. Drawing on a large collection of contributing authors, every angle of wickedness is covered in remarkable depth and thoroughness. It is also packed with photos and interesting sidebar material and will keep the reader absorbed throughout its 300 pages.

I would like to add, however, that I personally believe the UFO phenomenon and even alien abduction are not simply demonic. It would take a whole other book to make the argument for righteous aliens to as complete a degree as “Round Trip To Hell In A Flying Saucer” argues for the evil interpretation, but in the meantime you can check out my earlier books “UFOs, Prophecy and the End of Time,” “Signs and Symbols of the Second Coming” and “The Excluded Books of the Bible.” In any case, it certainly can’t hurt for us to pray for God’s mercy on our souls, which you will definitely want to consider doing once you’ve read “Round Trip To Hell In A Flying Saucer.” The cover alone, with artwork by Tim Swartz, is enough to put a scare into you, so please approach this book with caution.

[If you enjoyed this article, please visit Sean Casteel’s UFO Journalist website. Several of his books are available for purchase there, as well as at Amazon.com]
 
A demonic view of Ufos requires a definition of what is a demon.
We are surely demons in the eyes of the other life forms that we exploit on this planet ;)
Are alien life forms operating at levels that enable them to exploit us automatically evil ?

Maybe we've forgotten the feeling of being a smaller fish in a food chain lmao
 
Sounds like a good popcorn movie. In this case mayby a popcorn book. :) I do intend to read it. Sounds interesting.
 
used hallucinogenic drugs along with sexual “magick” to invoke otherworldly entities.
Hmm... I think there is medication for people that think like this...
Horn believes he was singled out for the attack by the demon because of his position of authority as pastor
Yes, of course, Tom Horn does sound like a 'special' person. Of course he would be singled out due to his 'shining soul' of devoutness.Very dodgy...
 
As Ezechiel pointed out, to say that UFOs are demonic and their occupants are demons doesn't do much to define the phenomena. We must then ask "what is a demon?" Is a demon a flesh-and-blood entity? A physical manifestation of a supernatural force? A being from another dimension? In other words, many of the same questions that we ask about UFOs in general. Saying that UFOs are demonic would, though, have an important moral implication: that UFOs are here to perpetrate evil. If you wish to adopt this religious interpretation, could you also say that some UFOs are in fact "angelic" -- forces of good trying to counteract the demons? We could dispense with the religious imagery altogether and say that there are merely different sorts of UFOs and beings associated with them -- some having malicious intentions (at least the way we view it from our human perspective -- these "evil" aliens may regard us as barely sentient creatures perfectly fine to experiment on, enslave, fuck with psychologically, whatever) -- and some aliens having good intentions, guided at least by some sort of morality that we as humans see as beneficial to us.

Dark or Light is perhaps merely a projection of witness's own emotions during the experience -- and apparently a close encounter with a UFO is anything from unsettling to terrifying. But perhaps after a few times on this carnival ride, people might grow used to the unsettling aspects and become more comfortable -- even have fun with it.
 
Wahh the whole demonic ufo thing is just so silly my arse might fall off. In films and on tv, demons are scary monsters that fly, breath fire, bite people's limbs off ... and even the more lower forms can do cool (or just silly things) like enter a young girl's body and make her spew green gunk and say rude words. Ooo ... evil. So ... in real life what happens? Do we get the exciting and terrifying monsters beyond the seventh dimension. Nooo laddie ... we get even less exciting that the Exorcist-type ones (and that one was even very scary to begin with ... quite a contortionist though ...). They do almost nothing ... maybe jerk a young girl (why is it always girls??) about a bit on a bed ... and that seems to be about it. As scary as a very nice cuddly fox sort that hasn't got rabies or some other nasty disease of some sort.

So then we get to demonic monsters flying spaceships. Nahh ... why would they need them in the first place. And if they so evil, and nasty, why would they cower when some old dead bloke's name is uttered. Nahh sorry ... a load of rollocks, and if they are demons, then there is a god (because you can't have demons without god, can you??? ... for some straange reason) ... and if there is a god well then I should be shot down any moment for calling it all a lot of deluded nonsense.

Nope ... still here ... hmm ... thats odd.
 
I dont think "biblical demons" is a useful description when applied to the enititys associated with UFO's.
The bible and other ancient texts are not really technically accurate, the descriptions of real world things are simplistic and couched in the limited language and knowledge of the time (they were written)
The description of the human species being made out of clay...... not one i find plausable
The description of a great flood wiping out every human and animal except for noahs family and floating zoo...... not one i find plausible considering that the australian aboriginal has been here for over 40,000 years. put simply the data in the bible and the data concerning the AA dont match, one set of data has to be wrong
While i concede the biblical descriptions of demons might be of the same entitys, i contend the description, like the examples above are simplistic and inaccurate.

My dogs think the Vet is evil, i once had a really sick one who was within hours of death and really really flat, but when the vet arrived to put him down he managed a feeble growl.
Evil is a subjective theme.
The vast majority of mankind thinks nothing of raising biological lifeforms in appaling conditions for the sole purpose of eating them, are we evil ?
Its subjective one mans meat is another mans poison.
Is the lion who eats a baby antelope alive , tearing into its hind quarters while it bleats for its dam evil ?
Ascribing attributes like good and evil are subjective, and can never be absolute, to the point where i personally dont think good or evil actually exists, other than as a mental construct in the human mind.
One person sees a medium rare steak with all the trimmings as good, a vegan sees it as bad.
Which is it ? is it good or bad ?
From a topological pov its neither, its just a steak, nothing more nothing less
Good and evil only come into play from the perspective of the observer.
My dog thinks the Vet is evil, you should hear the noise he makes when she gives him an anal probe and takes his temperature.
But its for his own good, even though he cant comprehend that
Not being able to comprehend the motives of ET doesnt make them evil, even if they do scare you and cause physical discomfort
 
My dog thinks the Vet is evil, you should hear the noise he makes when she gives him an anal probe and takes his temperature. But its for his own good, even though he cant comprehend that
Hmmm, can't he comprehend that? I wouldn't be too sure of it. I had a large german shepherd who, while scared shitless of the vet and his anal probes and needles, nevertheless always complied and, while grumbling, never growled or bit. He seemed very much to know that the vet wasn't there to harm him.

---------- Post added at 09:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 PM ----------

If some non-human intelligence comes here and attempts to exploit the human race for their own ends, I don't care if they claim to be space-Buddhas or if we think they are mythical supernatural beings, we should treat them like we would treat a virus or dangerous bacteria.
But of course they would exploit the human race for their own ends. How else would you expect them to behave. But the question is, what could those ends be. Their ends might be cataloging humanity for their Encyclopedia Galactica, or it may be to harvest our brains for canned food. The point is we don't know at all, but I think we should treat them completely differently if the former case is true than if the latter case is true (hope not).
And... since brain-harvesting has not taken place yet, that I know of, I cautiously choose a more optimistic scenario.
 
I have no problem ascribing the label of evil to things that are destructive to human life or the human way of life. Certainly beings who exploit human beings (including other human beings) are evil from the human perspective. I honestly think that is the only perspective we should concern ourselves with.

If some non-human intelligence comes here and attempts to exploit the human race for their own ends, I don't care if they claim to be space-Buddhas or if we think they are mythical supernatural beings, we should treat them like we would treat a virus or dangerous bacteria.

By that rationale battery hens could derive the same conclusions about us

If some Non-Avian intelligence comes here and attempts to exploit the Avian race for their own ends, I don't care if they claim to be space-Buddhas or if we think they are mythical supernatural beings, we should treat them like we would treat a virus or dangerous bacteria


---------- Post added at 01:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 PM ----------

But of course they would exploit the human race for their own ends. How else would you expect them to behave. But the question is, what could those ends be. Their ends might be cataloging humanity for their Encyclopedia Galactica, or it may be to harvest our brains for canned food. The point is we don't know at all, but I think we should treat them completely differently if the former case is true than if the latter case is true (hope not).
And... since brain-harvesting has not taken place yet, that I know of, I cautiously choose a more optimistic scenario.

A good point, we record data in books, and store books in librarys, but what if you had the technology to go one step further, and extract and store the very memorys and total experience sets of the authors themselves.

You can read Plato, but what if you had the technology to see through Platos eyes, as he did , to see hear smell and feel what he did as he lived ?
Why shouldnt you take that data, once Plato's biovessel breaks down its "wasted" anyway.
And if you had the technology and resources to harvest the experience sets of every spark of human conciousness that exists, would it be wrong to do so ?
 
Wahh the whole demonic ufo thing is just so silly my arse might fall off. In films and on tv, demons are scary monsters that fly, breath fire, bite people's limbs off ... and even the more lower forms can do cool (or just silly things) like enter a young girl's body and make her spew green gunk and say rude words. Ooo ... evil. So ... in real life what happens? Do we get the exciting and terrifying monsters beyond the seventh dimension. Nooo laddie ... we get even less exciting that the Exorcist-type ones (and that one was even very scary to begin with ... quite a contortionist though ...). They do almost nothing ... maybe jerk a young girl (why is it always girls??) about a bit on a bed ... and that seems to be about it. As scary as a very nice cuddly fox sort that hasn't got rabies or some other nasty disease of some sort.

So then we get to demonic monsters flying spaceships. Nahh ... why would they need them in the first place. And if they so evil, and nasty, why would they cower when some old dead bloke's name is uttered. Nahh sorry ... a load of rollocks, and if they are demons, then there is a god (because you can't have demons without god, can you??? ... for some straange reason) ... and if there is a god well then I should be shot down any moment for calling it all a lot of deluded nonsense.

Nope ... still here ... hmm ... thats odd.

I don't think movies or television are a proper measure of anything. Anything making it to the screen dealing with the unexplained is stripped bare, made simplistic and consumable and easily plotable (I don't think that's actually a word but you know what I mean) to the point of being unrecognizable. Look at the way faeries are depicted in film. Does any of that stuff bare resemblance to the faeries of European folklore whatsoever? Anytime I mention faerie lore to someone they think of winged beings similar to Tinkerbell because of movies and television. And something that's been even more perverted by American culture, movies, and TV are the djinn.
 
There is certainly a "trickster" theme recurrent in the history of the UFO phenomenon. We could hypothesize the existence of intelligences from alien "realms" who apparently derive something from human suffering. But this is just one of many competing theories. And has been pointed out, labeling explains nothing.

There is a more down to earth aspect of aspect of labeling any phenomenon a kind of ineffable evil. And that is the historically well documented use of fear and superstition by humans to manipulate and persecute other humans. Humans have done far more horrible things to themselves than any otherworldly force of which we know. We need not look far back in history for examples.

Or flip the proposition upside down--If a superior intelligence with abilities rooted in universal physical law wanted us to simply believe them to be gods or demons, would we and could we have any choice? Given an adequate technological edge, I doubt it.
 
There is certainly a "trickster" theme recurrent in the history of the UFO phenomenon. We could hypothesize the existence of intelligences from alien "realms" who apparently derive something from human suffering. But this is just one of many competing theories. And has been pointed out, labeling explains nothing.

There is a more down to earth aspect of aspect of labeling any phenomenon a kind of ineffable evil. And that is the historically well documented use of fear and superstition by humans to manipulate and persecute other humans. Humans have done far more horrible things to themselves than any otherworldly force of which we know. We need not look far back in history for examples.

Or flip the proposition upside down--If a superior intelligence with abilities rooted in universal physical law wanted us to simply believe them to be gods or demons, would we and could we have any choice? Given an adequate technological edge, I doubt it.

Excellent post !!

Our own well-being is achieved by using lower life-forms, we test drugs on all kinds of animals... on a larger scale what would stop an alien entity from testing lethal viruses on our populations. Looking on the bright side of things (from a cosmic perspective) we are helping a higher sentient being unlock the misteries of life and effectively helping spread life throughout this universe. Long life to ETs lmao !!!

This process of destruction/creation (which could possibly be painful to some life forms being destroyed lol) is prevalent from the smallest biological scale to the highest most complex expression of life in this universe. IMHO, if we ever have contact with ET's it will be more of a peace treaty in the sense that we have achieved some sort of parity with an alien civilization and that exploitation or abusive activities will cease ;)
 
By that rationale battery hens could derive the same conclusions about us

Well that is my point more or less. Our perspective is not theirs. I view evil in this situation as being defined as harmful, injurious, or destructive. That we are evil towards them is their perspective and valid from that point of view. However, we need to be concerned with our point of view in relationship to something else higher up on the food chain than we are. If we are preyed upon by another species, that species is committing evil against us. That is a perspective we should not abandon for some philosophical reason. We eradicate dangerous organisms on a routine basis. Nobody thinks about whether we are evil in the eyes of parasites or other disease organisms we seek to genocide. Non-human intelligent beings who we may encounter that attempt to use the human race in ways that we use lower life forms cannot and should not be tolerated or viewed as morally equivalent. The Prime Directive for any species is the survival and health of that species. Things that adversely affect a species are evil to that species. If aliens or inter-dimensional interlopers come here to jack with us we should be doing all we can to send them packing or wish to whatever gods they worship that they'd never heard of the human race. But that's just my human-centric opinion I guess.
 
Well that is my point more or less. Our perspective is not theirs. I view evil in this situation as being defined as harmful, injurious, or destructive. That we are evil towards them is their perspective and valid from that point of view. However, we need to be concerned with our point of view in relationship to something else higher up on the food chain than we are. If we are preyed upon by another species, that species is committing evil against us. That is a perspective we should not abandon for some philosophical reason. We eradicate dangerous organisms on a routine basis. Nobody thinks about whether we are evil in the eyes of parasites or other disease organisms we seek to genocide. Non-human intelligent beings who we may encounter that attempt to use the human race in ways that we use lower life forms cannot and should not be tolerated or viewed as morally equivalent. The Prime Directive for any species is the survival and health of that species. Things that adversely affect a species are evil to that species. If aliens or inter-dimensional interlopers come here to jack with us we should be doing all we can to send them packing or wish to whatever gods they worship that they'd never heard of the human race. But that's just my human-centric opinion I guess.

I'm not a religious person but this is where the The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity should normally kick in:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule

Is this an earthly concept or a cosmic concept ;)
 
I'm not a religious person but this is where the The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity should normally kick in:

I guess I don't understand what you're really getting at. Are you saying we should view or react to another species harmful and destructive behavior towards humans differently because we could be viewed as equally as evil towards domesticated farm animals from the farm animals point of view?

From strictly biological viewpoint, devoid of philosophical muses, that which harms you and endangers your family/species is evil. If the hypothetical non-human intelligences are practicing The Golden Rule toward us then that would be another story. However, we shouldn't kid ourselves about the likelihood of that happening IMHO.
 
I guess I don't understand what you're really getting at. Are you saying we should view or react to another species harmful and destructive behavior towards humans differently because we could be viewed as equally as evil towards domesticated farm animals from the farm animals point of view?

From strictly biological viewpoint, devoid of philosophical muses, that which harms you and endangers your family/species is evil. If the hypothetical non-human intelligences are practicing The Golden Rule toward us then that would be another story. However, we shouldn't kid ourselves about the likelihood of that happening IMHO.

Foundations of earthly civilizations need some kind of golden rule to enable a semblance of civility. This quickly gets challenged under global frameworks.... Imagine in a cosmic framework ;)

So in the end, its every one for himself lol
 
You know, a couple of things I've noticed following this discussion. It seems the questions basically being asked here is 'by what moral principles would aliens be expected to be guided?' Of course any answer is open-ended and hypothetical, however what strikes me is how insane and ludicrous the 'dark' hypothesis sounds. Forecasting benefit-scenarios for 'evil aliens' is a real stretch, and I can't really think of any. I don't pretend to think like an alien, but my main assumption here is that usually, intelligence = sanity. If we are to ascribe intelligence to aliens, we should also ascribe them sanity. Sanity, as in the sort of sanity that we know and recognize in our everyday dealings. From there... if the 'aliens' are real, are intelligent, are sane, are here, have been here for some time, and we're still here, it follows, to me, that we don't have much of a problem.
 
You know, a couple of things I've noticed following this discussion. It seems the questions basically being asked here is 'by what moral principles would aliens be expexted to be guided?' Of course any answer is open-ended and hypothetical, however what strikes me is how insane and ludicrous the 'dark' hypothesis sounds. Forecasting benefit-scenarios for 'evil aliens' is a real stretch, and I can't really think of any. I don't pretend to think like an alien, but my main assumption here is that usually, intelligence = sanity. If we are to ascribe intelligence to aliens, we should also ascribe them sanity. Sanity, as in the sort of sanity that we know and recognize in our everyday dealings. From there... if the 'aliens' are real, are intelligent, are sane, are here, have been here for some time, and we're still here, it follows, to me, that we don't have much of a problem.

Uh oh :)

I see intelligence more as a defence mechanism, extremely useful in producing technologies/tools that can help a tribe dominate over another. Scientific progress and applied sciences can evolve in contexts that can be labelled insane from certain points of view ;)
 
I don't pretend to think like an alien, but my main assumption here is that usually, intelligence = sanity.

What would sanity look like in a intelligent insect for example?


So in the end, its every one for himself lol

I for one don't think it is a laughing matter. The problem is that we cannot ascribe any human derived philosophical notions to other organisms. While I agree we should look to being as non-hostile and threatening as possible in any potential non-human/alien contact and look to a mutually beneficial relationship, we should be prepared to encounter something more like our relationship with lower life forms. Recognizing the nature of that relationship (our evil standing with farm animals) is a good thing for us to do. It's beyond a superior or different culture; we are talking a different species, the operative word being different. If its all sweetness and light and Star Trek and all that, well great, but we should be prepared for the natural order to extend to that relationship rather than human created ideas and philosophies.

You hope for Star Trek and a organization of peace loving species, but what you might get is something like the Tyranids of Warhammer 40K. It's just a risk management kind of thing. I think if you look at history of life on earth the risk is great that when and if we encounter something higher up on the food chain than we are it isn't going to be going our way so to speak.
 
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