Alien Encounters and Human Respect

Unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) and the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence are front and center for the United States media, intelligence community, lawmakers, and millions of Americans exploring the possibility of non-human intelligence as hobbyists and professionals.

As we look toward the possible scenario that there is another conscious lifeform in the universe two vital questions arise: what would we want an alien society to understand about human culture and law, and, what would we hope would be the principles these “others” use to guide interactions with other conscious beings?

To promote happiness, harmony, and prosperity between races, we would hope for an alien society to be peaceful, cooperative, and nonviolent. It would be better if they respected each person’s consent and ownership of self, and best if they eschewed theft and violence in the pursuit of a better future.

They would likely wish the same of us. That is, after all, a baseline truth for beings with consciousness: Theft and violence always reduce happiness. Always.

Despite otherworldly arrivals being hypothetical, the lesson is worth considering in our legal and personal decision-making processes today as we are often exposed to ideas that are vastly different from our own. Alien ideas are commonplace between even two unique people. Modern interpersonal interaction with others can now span hundreds of countries and vastly different cultures at home and abroad.

In a world where encountering new ideas and unique people is the reality, we can take the best of what is alien to us and make it our own. We can incorporate, improve, and innovate to achieve happiness, harmony, and prosperity.

We can also choose to refuse ideas that promote hurting or stealing. Each person has within their power the ability to say no to initiating acts of violence and diminishing the wealth of others.

Even if aliens never arrive from other planets, there is little difference between that remarkable scenario and the similarly miraculous arrival of a new generation of humans. If you have children, you’ve likely come to understand that they are uniquely different, both in their personhood and outlook from the generation before. That is a natural progression: kids are born into a different time than their parents. They are beautiful innocent little aliens to this world who are being introduced to our society and culture for the first time. Those same two questions of understanding and principles need to be addressed.

The circumstances the next generation will know, the ideas they will create, their technology, and their world, are as alien to us as our world of the internet, social media, and globally available information was to generations before. Everything is in a state of becoming otherwise. We should wish and work for the same understanding for the next generation as we would for an otherworldly race: a culture and system of law that respects their unique humanity and rights.

Lawmakers seem overly concerned about exposing information about UAPs, ostensibly out of fear that the general population would be unable to peacefully cope, but that misses the point. In truth, it is lawmakers’ reaction to new human consciousness that should concern every voter and compassionate human. We can see how Washington suits both elected and otherwise are treating new emerging consciousness on our planet in the next generation: theft through massive debt obligations, violence in the form of multiple war fronts and occupation forces in more than 200 other countries, and the reduction of happiness for those of us forced to watch these bungled efforts unfold while footing the bill.

The proper role of government is to protect individual rights, and nothing more, unless individual consent is present. Without the Principle of Human Respect intact in law and culture, it is no surprise we find ourselves in a precarious situation. Violence, theft, and fraud are often legally protected behaviors.

The primary responsibility for making things better does not fall on elected officials or the administrative state. Those entities are downstream of each and every single person, you and me, choosing to believe in the Principle of Human Respect and, accordingly, refusing to be part of systems that bring about destructive ends.

It requires a principled pledge taken by individual persons, which can then be codified into law: To promote happiness, harmony, and prosperity, I will not initiate violence against others, nor will I diminish the wealth of others through theft, fraud, or destruction of their property.

We don’t need an alien encounter to bring about positive change, just growth into a belief that each human, and new consciousness we might encounter, is worthy of respect.