Posthuman Blues

Assume that something very much like the "Singularity" we've been hearing so much about has already happened.

Unfortunately, depending on one's perspective, it happened in secret, perpetrated by an unacknowledged offshoot of our species that has its own plans for the future of the planet. It's conceivable to me that this "stealth singularity" might have happened tens of thousands of years ago -- more than enough time for the beneficiaries to become almost incalculably strange; we could be dealing with an intelligence exponentially more advanced than ourselves. Needless to say, we're effectively at its mercy.





If I'm right, a postsingular indigenous intelligence would eschew formal contact for the simple reason that such disclosure would destabilize us, possibly to the brink of existential obliteration. Theorists have attacked the trite assumptions of mainstream SETI for the same reason. If our own history is any example, technologically robust civilizations inevitably subsume less sophisticated cultures, not merely by violently dismantling them, but by introducing a virulent strain of apathy. (The infamous Brookings report to NASA, recommending that the discovery of extraterrestrial artifacts be covered up for fear of paralyzing research/development enterprises, stands as perhaps most explicit elucidation of this idea.)

The UFO/"alien" phenomenon described by Jacques Vallee, John Keel and Whitley Strieber is alarmingly congruent with the Indigenous Hypothesis. We appear to be interacting with an exceptionally patient intelligence which, despite its advantages over terrestrial science, seems limited by a steadfast refusal to make itself widely known. (Whether this indicates a guiding morality or pragmatic necessity remains to be seen.) Contrary to mainstream expectations, our visitors have opted for a much more gradual form of contact, evidenced both by the often theatrical nature of the apparent vehicles in our skies and by the behavior of the presumed occupants (who seem to enjoy letting us assume they hail from outer space).

I propose that this intelligence has played a significant role in occasionally hastening our species' development as well as keeping us in a periodic "standby" state, rendering us less likely to destroy ourselves. In a way, the human legacy has been scripted to conform to an alien template about which we know little or nothing. But the available historical, mythological and experiential evidence tends to support a largely benevolent raison d'etre. Perhaps we're being groomed in preparation for our own Singularity, after which the "others" could have no choice but to deal with us as equals.