Posthuman Blues

I mentioned that SARS might be extraterrestrial. I wasn't joking. Noted astronomer Fred Hoyle pioneered the concept of panspermia, and concluded that life on Earth almost certainly originated not on the planet's surface, but in the warm, watery interiors of passing comets. I read his book "Diseases from Space" a couple years ago and was very interested in his study of flu outbreaks. Strong circumstantial evidence indicates that new flu strains arrive from above -- evidently from space.

In 2001 a research team detected unknown organisms thriving in the upper atmosphere: they very well could have been ET microbes that had taken up temporary residence. The prospect is totally plausible, but "experts" seem to have an ingrained aversion to things dealing with space; consequently, the necessary research isn't being done.

I'm reading a new science fiction book called "Slave Trade," by Susan Wright. I'd read Wright's book about Area 51, which held my interest (although it wasn't nearly as well-executed as David Darlington's "Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles"). "Slave Trade" -- the first in a projected trilogy -- is a disconcerting "Star Trek" rip-off in which aliens kidnap humans, who are horrified (and sometimes thrilled) to discover that they are prized as sexual delicacies.

I immediately emailed Wright about the biological implausibility of an alien species finding Earthlings sexually desirable. Her response was sincere yet somehow flippant -- and totally unconvincing. I pointed out that I tended to doubt the "real life" alien abduction theories of Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs, who think that the "Grays" (see essay below) are manufacturing a hybrid species using alien and human DNA. This is roughly as likely as a human mating with a grasshopper and producing viable offspring. Hopkins and company would insist that either

a.) the Grays are related to us, allowing genetic compatibility

or

b.) the Grays are extremely talented genetic engineers.

But if "B" is the case, why the fascination with human DNA? Why don't the aliens just synthesize it? Surely the supposed "abuction program" is inefficient and redundant. Unless, of course, the extraction of reproductive material is a metaphor for something else. This is Dr. John Mack's take. I personally think it makes more sense than Hopkins' doomsday scenario. If we're interacting with a muiltidimensional intelligence as opposed to interstellar visitors, then this might have a strange limiting effect on the human mind and the mechanics of perception. The aliens' methods might seem primitive or nonsensical to us simply because our three-dimensional minds are incapable of grasping the big picture. (There's actually a field of quantum physics that deals with this sort of thing.)




Talk about xenophobia...