Writing Guidelines for Future Occupation of Earth by Extraterrestrials (Part #3)

 

Varieties of 'extraterrestrial'?

The term 'extraterrestrial'. as with 'alien', suggests a variety of interpretations to be considered in relation to the process of writing any set of guidelines. These can be tentatively clustered as follows, although this does not imply that there is not a degree of overlap between some categories:

• Belief and attitude:
  • Transmundanity: Some belief systems may stress the extent to which those beliefs raise them above mundane, material. terrestrial concerns and identifications, in that sense, qualifying them as 'extraterrestrials'. Some may then be held to be 'not of this world'.
  • Specially chosen: Those peoples, or individuals, who consider themselves specially mandated by deity, or by revelation, might be appropriately considered as 'extraterrestrials, whether by themselves or by others. This might include those who believe themselves to be 'rapture ready'.
  • Genetic superiority: It is possible that those attaching significance to their genetic superiority could be understood as exceptional, special, or 'extraterrestrials, as embodying the desirable characteristics of the human race.
• Demographic:
  • Overpopulation: Understandings of population overshoot may be interpreted as being a consequence of there being an unsustainable number of humans, namely 'extra terrestrials' in terms of the Earth's carrying capacity -- surplus to capacity.
  • Extra planetary requirement: The currently recognized requirement for two or more 'extra planets' to nourish humanity in the near future may be understood as transforming humanity as a whole into 'extra terrestrials'.
• Location:
  • Off-planet origin: This is the conventional understanding of 'extraterrestrial', namely those coming from elsewhere. Attention has been given to a distinction between those of benevolent or malevolent intent. However, such distinctions may need to be refined (if only in the light of human tendencies) to distinguish categories of benevolent and malevolent as well as neither benevolent nor malevolent.
  • Off-planet human colonies: The expected future development of human colonies in space would justify labeling them as 'extraterrestrials'. Such a distinction would become especially relevant if it gave rise to political and/or military disassociation.
  • Water-borne: Beyond an existing tendency for some humans to live permanently on rafts and boats, the expected rising sea levels may force whole populations (notably those of low-lying islands) to live on the water in some way. This would justify categorizing them as 'extraterrestrials'. Metaphorically there is also the sense in which many are already to be recognized as 'all at sea'.
• Identity:
  • Relationship to the land: There is a sense for those who live 'off the land', and in intimate symbiosis with it, to distinguish those who do not have that relationship to it as being 'extraterrestrials' in effect. This is especially significant for those who consider themselves to be 'of the land', namely those whose identity is bonded with it --as stressed in many indigenous tribes (perhaps most appropriate to be understood as 'extra terrestrial' because of that bond).
  • Virtual identity: The explosion of virtual environments and 'virtual worlds' in cyberspace (notably offering a Second Life) has been the subject of extensive comment. To a degree at least, those whose identity is primarily within these environments can be appropriately categorized as 'extraterrestrials'. Of particular interest is the ever-increasing use of telepresence, surveillance by camera, and the use of military drone aircraft. Those projecting their identity in this way might well be labelled as 'extraterrestrials'.
• Responsibility and stewardship :
  • Environmental respect: Of particular interest are those who are held (or believe themselves) to have no earthly responsibility, being unconstrained in their behavior by any stewardship role with respect to environmental systems. They might well be understood to be 'extraterrestrials'.
  • Air-borne: Whilst the feasibility of space colonies and water-borne habitats has been envisaged, the possibility of air-borne habitats is rarely mentioned. Metaphorically however there is widespread recognition of a need for some to be 'brought down to Earth' and face reality, implying that in that sense they are functioning as 'extraterrestrials'.
• Alienation:
  • Ethical disassociation: It is appropriate to recognize that many humans currently undertaking initiatives, which may be perceived by the future as totally inhumane and 'contra-terrain, could themselves now be perceived to be 'extraterrestrials' or 'aliens' -- given their dissociation from humanity and their adoption of an essentially 'unhuman' standpoint. Those labeled 'evil', notably in legal proceedings, could possibly be seen in this light.
  • Psychological alienation: Those conventionally distinguished as alienated might well be understood as effectively defining themselves as 'extraterrestrials'. This raises the interesting possibility that increasingly 'alienated youth' may be effectively transforming themselves into 'extraterrestrials' -- if only in their own experience.
  • 'Not of this world': Various extreme psychological conditions might well be understood as 'extraterrestrial', including the extreme case recognized as 'possession'
• 'Drama'
  • Whether through the continuing explosion of urbanization, the ever-increasing inequality, or the possible drama of occupation by extraterrestrials, much of humanity is liable to be transformed into 'terrestrial extras' -- as the term is understood in the world of drama. In that sense, humans would all become 'second-class' citizens.

Some of these understandings of 'extraterrestrial' imply that the Earth is already 'occupied' by one or more 'extraterrestrials' who may themselves be relatively active in elaborating guidelines for the occupation of Earth by others in the future. Of interest in some of the above categories is the extent to which 'extraterrestrial' implies the absence of 'cognitive entanglement' of some kind, as explored elsewhere (Towards a University of Earth? Exploring the cognitive entanglement between lifestyle diseases and planetary ills, 2010)