Anticipation of Judicial Inquisition of Humans by Extraterrestrials (Part #4)

 

Potential universal inquiry into human treatment of other species

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The following argument is necessarily purely speculative. It invites development through speculative media presentations, as has been done with Avatar and other movies. Movies of that kind have relished the depiction of extraterrestrials of every form -- with an emphasis on the humanoid. Poetic justice on a universal scale would however be better served if any  contact was undertaken by extraterrestrials of a form corresponding to that with which humans were especially familiar.

Morphological transformation: The possibility can be argued most effectively in the light of the illustrations famously presented by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson regarding the relationship between forms of animals (On Growth and Form, 1917/1942). Those below indicate the possibility that proportional increase or decreases along particular dimensions -- through some radical analogue of shear mapping -- might characterize the extraterrestrials who may choose to contact humans.

Illustration of transformation of Argyropelecus olfersi into Sternoptyx diaphana (by applying a shear mapping)

D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson / Public domain

In the light of such possibilities, members of the ET commission might prove to be especially skilled in shapeshifting -- far beyond the skills of humans in changing facial expression and bodily appearance. However, rather than being limited to the physical traits, as illustrated above by D'Arcy Thompson, the morphological transformations might apply to a greater degree to cognitive skills, as might be envisaged with respect to humans (Resonance: enacting the world through shapeshifting, 2011; Insights into shapeshifting from collective behaviour, 2003)

The possibility of any sense of ET identity being fundamentally associated with morphological transformation and resonance, suggest that human understanding of their existence (especially in collective terms) might be usefully informed by the highly controversial insights of Ruper Sheldrake regarding morphic resonance (The Presence of the Past: morphic resonance and the habits of nature, 2011). Ironically these are dismissed by those forms of science of pseudo-relevance to the current human condition.

Distributed intelligence: In contrast to the conclusions of human science that intelligence is dependent on the size of the brain -- thereby confirming superiority from a human perspective -- intelligence might be manifested otherwise in extraterrestrials. In the case of ETs, cognitive functions might be extended to a higher degree into the manner in which intelligent behaviour is manifested (En-minding the Extended Body: Enactive engagement in conceptual shapeshifting and deep ecology, 2003).

Functions localized in the brain in humans might consequently be distributed throughout the physical form to a far higher degree -- and variously enhanced by external technology (as anticipated in the case of AI support of human intelligence). Emerging human understanding of distributed intelligence and collective intelligence, most obviously within teams, may well have been developed to a far higher degree by ETs.

Given the potential sophistication of discourse between ETs -- and its challenge for humans -- the issue may be how meaning is cognitively "embodied" by contrasting forms, as suggested by the arguments of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Philosophy In The Flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought, 1999). In the light of the meaning associated by many with sport and dance, of further relevance is the subsequent work on the cognitive implications of movement (Mark Johnson, The Meaning of the Body: aesthetics of human understanding, 2007; Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, The Primacy of Movement, 2011).

Also of relevance is the questionable nature of the particular human assumptions regarding "hegemony" and "dominion", especially as qualified by religious interpretations (Embodying Global Hegemony through a Sustaining Pattern of Discourse: cognitive challenge of dominion over all one surveys, 2015). Clearly ETs could be expected to understand hegemony and dominion quite otherwise -- given a universal perspective contrasting with the human military presumption regarding so-called "full-spectrum dominance".

Form and operation of a commission of ETs? It is in this light that it is appropriate to speculate on the composition of a commission embodying universal justice in the initial contact of extraterrestrials with humans. The possibility of a commission composed of the forms identified in the following section therefore merits consideration -- especially in the light of their preoccupations with respect to human consumption of animals or animal testing.

Of particular relevance is the question of how any human understanding of "commission of inquiry", "justice", or any "mitigating circumstances" relating to "development" might be understood otherwise in a universal context -- and perhaps radically so. Assumptions that these might bear some simple resemblance to the Nuremberg military tribunals, or to the procedures of the Spanish Inquisition, may well be totally misplaced. The possibility of an aesthetic emphasis on dance, music or poetry merits consideration -- if a high degree of morphological transformation is to be anticipated.

Arguably the credibility attributed to religious traditions of judgement in the afterlife suggests a degree of intuitive comprehension of dimensions of the judicial process on the Judgement Day, in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead or the Bardo Thodol of Tibetan tradition.

Insights from science fiction: Possibilities which have been explored to a degree in science fiction include:

• an unexpected priority given to aesthetic qualities -- of which human reference to poetic justice is an indication. Possibilities can be explored through speculation on the nature of human governance in the distant future, potentially embodying forms of dance, opera and music and even extending to synaesthesia (Aesthetics of Governance in the Year 2490, 1990).
• an unexpected emphasis on forms of game-playing deemed most appropriate to such interaction, notably highlighted in Swedish culture (The Seventh Seal; Death playing chess). The appropriateness could be inferred from the manner in which various forms of negotiation and dialogue are increasingly recognized as implying a degree of game-playing, most obviously in war gaming. Aspects could be said to have been intuitively recognized in the magnum opus of Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse (The Glass Bead Game, 1943)
• heightened sensitivity, potentially combined with despair, at the limited capacity of humanity to respond fruitfully and sustainably to any such encounter, as described by Doris Lessing in a devastating commentary on communication of insight by a galactic agent with a representative of those facing planetary disaster (Re: Colonised Planet 5 - Shikasta, 1979):
  

To say that he understood what went on was true. To say that he did not understand -- was true. I would sit and explain, over and over again. He listened, his eyes fixed on my face, his lips moving as he repeated to himself what I was saying. He would nod: yes, he had grasped it. But a few minutes later, when I might be saying something of the same kind, he was uncomfortable, threatened. Why was I saying that? and that? his troubled eyes asked of my face: What did I mean? His questions at such moments were as if I had never taught him anything at all. He was like one drugged or in shock. Yet it seemed that he did absorb information for sometimes he would talk as if from a basis of shared knowledge: it was as if a part of him knew and remembered all I told him, but other parts had not heard a word. I have never before or since had so strongly that experience of being with a person and knowing that all the time there was certainly a part of that person in contact with you, something real and alive and listening -- and yet most of the time what one said did not reach that silent and invisible being, and what he said was not often said by the real part of him. It was as if someone stood there bound and gagged while an inferior impersonator spoke for him. (pp. 56-57).

Be done by as you did? Ironically, as noted above, the posture of the ETs might emphasize to an unexpected degree (and as a matter of principle) a fundamental respect for the patterns of human behaviour and policy which have prevailed in asymmetric exchanges between human civilizations, most obviously with indigenous cultures. This posture might be described in human terms under the Golden Rule: Do as you would be done by.

As formulated by Charles Kingsley,  a more challenging complementary adage takes the form of: Be done by as you did (The Water Babies, 1863). This is widely cited as a pattern of behaviour toward others determined by how they themselves behaved towards others -- effectively making sure that that their actions came back to cause them instructive suffering, until they gradually learnt the golden rule of civilization: if you don't like it yourself, then best not do it to someone else (Mary Wakefield, What 'The Water Babies' can teach us about personal morality, The Independent, 26 December 2009).

The obligation to follow such practice may be deemed necessarily fundamental by ETs, as previously argued (Writing Guidelines for Future Occupation of Earth by Extraterrestrials,  2010).

ET frameworks challenging to human expectation: Science fiction has of course envisaged scenarios in which the ETs might be otherwise than as they might claim or be perceived, as exemplified by the following (especially in the light of human criminal and unethical behaviour):

• pretension to universal authority -- for which no credible proof can be provided
• pretension to benign concern -- in anticipation of profiting from the encounter in ways which may only become apparent too late
• a sense of relative status between ETs and humans -- recalling the behaviors in imperial courts of the past
• an invitation to trust -- where "trust" may be understood quite otherwise, as in confidence trickery
• an approach to dialogue in which the fundamental issue is implied rather than clarified explicitly -- recalling the "friendly" understanding framing a racketeering process
• a sense of time in total contrast to the pace considered appropriate by humans in making contact with such profound implications for humanity. Ironically this might follow from the 7th Generation Principle embodied in the founding document of the Iroquois Confederacy (the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth) regarding the impact of decisions on future generations (Seven generation sustainability). ETs might however adopt a retroactive perspective, as highlighted in Biblical arguments regarding the visitation of the sins of the fathers -- even unto seven generations, as clarified by John Piper (Does God "Visit the Sins of the Fathers on the Children"? Getting Serious about Education for Exultation).
• an assumption of proprietary rights on the part of ETs, calling into question any claims by humans. This would follow the framing of Australia as terra nullius -- now replicated with respect to the Moon and other planets of the solar system (Extraterrestrial real estate; Artemis Accords: why many countries are refusing to sign Moon exploration agreement, The Conversation, 19 October 2020).
• a shared belief system of an extremely radical nature on the part of ETs, namely one completely incomprehensible to humanity. This would of course recall the challenge faced by indigenous peoples encountering imperial colonizers
• a preoccupation with exploitation of human labour -- recalling the colonial focus on the slave trade. This possibility has been speculatively envisaged (Galactic Memo on Rapture Readiness, 2005)