Posthuman Blues

It really struck me the other day how absurd our collective disinterest in nonhuman intelligence really is. To me, the possibility of nonhuman intelligence is absolutely pivotal. One could argue that I have a natural inclination toward "weird" things because of my literary interests. But are the things we deem "weird" really weird? Could our smugness be hindering our intellectual/psychospiritual/cognitive progress?

As planetary citizens, we're a dreadfully solipsistic lot. The mind-numbing holy trinity of Western civilation -- religion, patriotism and professional sports -- keeps us from asking basic questions. It's no surprise that answers are in short supply. We have entrusted the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence to a small and rigid priesthood of self-proclaimed skeptics (however sincere their intentions). The "alien" -- as a meme -- has been quarantined under the most stringent protocol. Occasionally we glimpse it retooled for the big screen in the form of "Independence Day" or "Contact." Advertisors seem to have an inexhaustible penchant for using the alien meme as kitschy media fodder.

The consequences of this are intellectually devastating. Americans, in particular, have taken the "alien" inquiry and turned it into a ridiculously binary issue of "belief" in flesh-and-bone extraterrestrial visitors. But the possibilities are so much more fascinating, as Dr. Jacques Vallee and John Keel point out in "Passport to Magonia" and "The Eighth Tower." We have allowed our imaginations to dim like so many cheap lightbulbs.

My research has led me to the conclusion that the human race is indeed interfacing with some sort of nonhuman intelligence. I don't know what it is, where it comes from, or what it looks like (although if pressed I'd suggest that it could look like whatever it wants). Whatever this intelligence is, it is unimaginably potent. If technological in origin -- as it seems it must be, at least in some abstruse sense -- then we're dealing with something very different than anything yet contemplated by humans. The evidence indicates it may desire to remain unknown (assuming it's knowable in the first place.)

By refusing to entertain "weird," potentially heretical ideas, we've disarmed ourself against a universe bristling with epistemological weaponry.