FA+
Shop
Read this if you love aliens
15 years ago
For a while I've been mulling over a scenario that is very emotional to me in my head. The scenario came to mind one day when I was playing Halo with a few of my friends, and the theme "Never Forget" was playing. You should listen to it here, especially since it might get the creativity flowing like it did with me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDZscyf8lU
I know nothing about Halo's storyline, and I haven't really played the game much. But when I heard this music, I paused for a moment and realized how upsetting it would be to have our first physical contact with another form of intelligence in the universe ultimately wind up as, well, what Halo wound up as.
Many scientists argue that any contact at all, let alone physical contact, would be the single most significant event in all of human history. They'd likely be far wiser and far more technologically advanced than us, so the possible benefits implied for humankind with regards to our standard of living, health, lifespan, quality of life and virtually everything else would be unthinkable. They'd perhaps have gone through the same struggles as a species and dealt with the same fundamental questions that burdoned and perplexed the smartest of our kind, questions that inspired entire religious systems into existence.
But all that aside, establishing a meaningful, peaceful relationship with them I feel would in many ways be like a marriage between us and the entirety of sentient life itself. A transition from being this lonely, isolated speck in a cold endless unknown, to being part of it - or to at least have someone else out there to be cold and isolated with.
I'm an atheist / agnostic, and while I don't want to represent the entire atheist community, I feel that the possibility of there being some benevolent intelligence out there who started off with the same humble beginnings as we did--waiting to discover our messed up little planet or for the right opportunity to intervene--is the closest thing I have to a god. I believe that the only way we'll have a heaven is if we make it ourselves, here on earth, with or (most likely) without help from outside sources. But sometimes it's hard to believe we'll ever reach that point on our own, despite how much I hope and wish that I'll live to see the day it happens.
So on the occasion I'll drift into my imagination and participate in scenarios that reflect these feelings and ideas I have. Lately, I've been wanting to artistically explore a scenario, perhaps with drawings, a comic, a flash animation, even a short story or something. Something which the underlying purpose is to express and emphasize the sheer disappointment I'm sure a lot of us would feel upon learning that our chances of establishing a peaceful, mutual relationship with our galactic neighbors were ruined because of the stupid, selfish decisions made by powerful members of society.
I mean, imagine hearing about something like this on the news. Perhaps its 2050, and we've had knowledge of the existence of a civilization for years since we started hearing their signals from space. Eventually it became commonplace, like ordinary knowledge. It was a breakthrough at first but since we had no way of talking back to them, eventually everyone lost interest - until they started showing up at our doorstep.
They come in peace, and with benevolent intentions. They are a fascinating race, very intelligent and heartful, who see the dignity and significance in every individual form of sentient life. They offer their hand in guiding our species to a new level of peace and enlightenment. But the people in power don't want to give up their place above everyone else. Backs are stabbed, politics runs sour and before you know it our chances of connecting a peaceful alliance disappears.
Imagine yourself hearing about this, and the disappointment, realizing that all the extraordinary things that you were originally hoping to come from this, things that would change your life and everyone else's life forever, vanish just like that... The single most definiting, most beautiful moment for humanity, ruined.
If I make something with a story structure, I'm leaning towards a sad ending. They leave and the night sky becomes silent again. Nobody knows when or if they'll come back, but the years become decades, and the main character never lives to see the day they return to save us from whatever mess we're in. Like a dream, you think it's real and that everything will be different forever, but you wake up and everything is the way it always has been.
Anyway, the problem I'm having here is in trying to express this. The underlying concept is very abstract and I can't decide on what ways of the many possible ways I should take to make it more concrete - concrete enough so that I could create something tangible with it. Originally I planned on developing it into a first-person video game which I'd release in the forseeable but distant future, once I establish myself in that line of work well enough. But I can't wait that long. I need to express myself.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do?
I know nothing about Halo's storyline, and I haven't really played the game much. But when I heard this music, I paused for a moment and realized how upsetting it would be to have our first physical contact with another form of intelligence in the universe ultimately wind up as, well, what Halo wound up as.
Many scientists argue that any contact at all, let alone physical contact, would be the single most significant event in all of human history. They'd likely be far wiser and far more technologically advanced than us, so the possible benefits implied for humankind with regards to our standard of living, health, lifespan, quality of life and virtually everything else would be unthinkable. They'd perhaps have gone through the same struggles as a species and dealt with the same fundamental questions that burdoned and perplexed the smartest of our kind, questions that inspired entire religious systems into existence.
But all that aside, establishing a meaningful, peaceful relationship with them I feel would in many ways be like a marriage between us and the entirety of sentient life itself. A transition from being this lonely, isolated speck in a cold endless unknown, to being part of it - or to at least have someone else out there to be cold and isolated with.
I'm an atheist / agnostic, and while I don't want to represent the entire atheist community, I feel that the possibility of there being some benevolent intelligence out there who started off with the same humble beginnings as we did--waiting to discover our messed up little planet or for the right opportunity to intervene--is the closest thing I have to a god. I believe that the only way we'll have a heaven is if we make it ourselves, here on earth, with or (most likely) without help from outside sources. But sometimes it's hard to believe we'll ever reach that point on our own, despite how much I hope and wish that I'll live to see the day it happens.
So on the occasion I'll drift into my imagination and participate in scenarios that reflect these feelings and ideas I have. Lately, I've been wanting to artistically explore a scenario, perhaps with drawings, a comic, a flash animation, even a short story or something. Something which the underlying purpose is to express and emphasize the sheer disappointment I'm sure a lot of us would feel upon learning that our chances of establishing a peaceful, mutual relationship with our galactic neighbors were ruined because of the stupid, selfish decisions made by powerful members of society.
I mean, imagine hearing about something like this on the news. Perhaps its 2050, and we've had knowledge of the existence of a civilization for years since we started hearing their signals from space. Eventually it became commonplace, like ordinary knowledge. It was a breakthrough at first but since we had no way of talking back to them, eventually everyone lost interest - until they started showing up at our doorstep.
They come in peace, and with benevolent intentions. They are a fascinating race, very intelligent and heartful, who see the dignity and significance in every individual form of sentient life. They offer their hand in guiding our species to a new level of peace and enlightenment. But the people in power don't want to give up their place above everyone else. Backs are stabbed, politics runs sour and before you know it our chances of connecting a peaceful alliance disappears.
Imagine yourself hearing about this, and the disappointment, realizing that all the extraordinary things that you were originally hoping to come from this, things that would change your life and everyone else's life forever, vanish just like that... The single most definiting, most beautiful moment for humanity, ruined.
If I make something with a story structure, I'm leaning towards a sad ending. They leave and the night sky becomes silent again. Nobody knows when or if they'll come back, but the years become decades, and the main character never lives to see the day they return to save us from whatever mess we're in. Like a dream, you think it's real and that everything will be different forever, but you wake up and everything is the way it always has been.
Anyway, the problem I'm having here is in trying to express this. The underlying concept is very abstract and I can't decide on what ways of the many possible ways I should take to make it more concrete - concrete enough so that I could create something tangible with it. Originally I planned on developing it into a first-person video game which I'd release in the forseeable but distant future, once I establish myself in that line of work well enough. But I can't wait that long. I need to express myself.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I could do?
ZydecoRouge
~zydecorouge
You could always go to writing to help.
dragon103
!dragon103
OP
Thanks for commenting on this. I spent a bit of time writing it up and thinking it out.
