(That
life-form would have to be vastly different from ours, because of the relative
tightness of its satellite’s orbits, our idea of a ‘year’ passes in about three
Earth weeks there.)
Some prominent ‘Big Thinkers’, such
as Stephen Hawking, think we should be cautious, even fearful of attempting to
establish any contact with an unknown, sentient species. The concern is that
they will do to us what we have so often done to each other (when one race of humanity has met another in the past)
only worse, if worse is possible, and ‘worse’ is always possible.
Others believe we should greet
these aliens with open arms and offerings of peace. Unfortunately, some also
think our highest office politicians should do the greeting.
A few things we can all agree on
are:
a.) We don’t know what to expect, and...
b.) We have no previous experience
in communicating with another nonhuman intelligence of possibly alien origin.
c.) We really need to develop a well thought out series of communication
protocols based on what we can garner from communicating with the only nonhuman
species currently available to us.
To assume that another intelligent
species would communicate as we do could be disastrous. For example, how would an intelligent alien
species react to our custom of baring our fangs and barking maniacally like
rabid hyenas (laughing)?
And what about our habit of unexpectedly launching
biologically based microbial attacks (sneezing), or seeming to die suddenly and
unexpectedly every few hours (sleeping)?
And perhaps most startling to non-Earth
dwellers, the fact that some of us occasionally carry other people around inside
us, and all of us conceal internal
sacks of virulent waste products and other contaminants, if punctured, are deadly
enough to kill the host body.
Obviously, we need practice in both
communication and presentation, and we need to try to set some protocols.
***
Yet, surprising as it may seem,
that inexperience should not exist, for there are, indeed, ‘alien’, (as in ‘nonhuman’)
intelligences already among us, and have been for all our existence on this
small planet we call home. Why haven’t we learned to communicate with them?
The answer to that question is also
the first step in the process: First, we need to acknowledge openly that these nonhuman
intelligences exist in the first place.
Ignorance of our own planet is
another problem we need to address. At present, we know less about it and it’s
more exotic environments (and its inhabitants) than we know about space. We
know less about vast reaches of the ocean floor than we do our solar system and
the starry expanses beyond.
It’s no surprise, then, that we also know almost
nothing about communicating with the other also communicative, ‘nonhuman’ species
with which we share this planet.
Before we traipse off into the dark
expanse of eternal night of space looking for aliens to talk with, maybe we should attempt to practice
with those intelligences already here. Since we won’t have access to one of the
Star Trek Universe’s ultimate time-saving plot devices, the ‘Universal
Translator’, we should try to get some good practice in communicating with the
other nonhuman, higher functioning, communicating species already here. (‘Higher functioning’ meaning goals that
we, as humans, can readily perceive, and from which we can directly benefit.)
I’m talking, of course, about
primates (such as chimpanzees), as well as elephants, dolphins, our family pets
(dogs), birds, even bees,
and other hive mind, highly organized species of insects. (These are singled out
because of the information they readily share with each other about harvesting
and flight paths.)
(Note: For the purposes of this blog,
it’ll go easier if we pause to expand the meaning the word of ‘intelligent’ to
include the specific communication techniques of nonhuman species among
themselves. The purpose of this proposal, then, is to close the gap between
their form of communication and ours, a predetermined series of protocols
similar to the ones used by networks of dissimilar devices, which allows them
to exchange mutually beneficial communication and information.)
It is well documented that each of
these species, in their way, is highly communicative and has what can only be
called ‘species specific’ intelligence. Granted, it is not the same as the
human variety, but it has served each species well, and has probably evolved in
ways that either will not, or cannot imagine.
For example, dolphins and other
large sea mammals (such as whales) have shown sophisticated communication and
navigation skills to rival the best GPS navigation and sonar systems.
Primates exhibit a complex social
structure mirroring ours, including complex peer groups and pecking orders, and
negative ‘human’ qualities, such as revenge and retaliation, and even
retribution and reconciliation, and yes, even compassion and grieving.
Dogs, by their long-term exposure
to human habitations and communications, understand and can appropriately
respond to an astonishing range of human facial expressions, words, sounds,
gestures, and even subtler forms of communication. (Of all the nonhuman
intelligences listed here, we communicate the most with dogs, as if they were
human themselves.)
‘Birdbrain’ may be misleading,
because many species of birds exhibit complex, higher functioning reasoning capabilities,
including (but not limited to) having complex navigation skills over great
distances, which we are only recently beginning to fully understand.
Elephants
have been observed mourning
their dead, a sure sign of something approaching intelligence, while bees,
highly social, are also proving to be much more ‘intelligent’ than anyone had
previously assumed.
***
So why aren’t we practicing
communicating with these?
By ‘communicating’, I’m not
referring to striking up a conversation such as one might have with another
human, but a ‘discourse’ based on the same thing that all valid communication should be based on, common wants, needs, and
mutually beneficial goals.
In fact, these are actually the safest subjects to
discuss when meeting a fellow human for the first time, outside casual social
encounters or gatherings. (Sorry, pleasantries fall distinctly into the realm
of human interactions, and hence,
would have no use for this experiment.)
Such communications will be, by
their nature, extremely ‘narrow’ of subject and focus, because, for now, we can
assume (until proved otherwise) that such animal communications don’t include idle
socializing or random ‘chit chat’. Although they may lack the range and random
creativity of human patois, these animal communication systems are no less valid
in their particular sphere of use.
We, as human beings, know enough
about the ways and behaviors of the previously listed species to, if we wanted,
craft a list of subjects to engage with each, and, taking what we know about
their preferred mode of communication, begin a ‘dialogue’ (or, more precisely
‘data exchange’) with them.
Specifically, one can assume that
all animal communication can be categorized and based on only four topics:
1. Where
food is
2. The
location of potential mates and rivals for those mates
3. The
location of predators
4. The
location of gathering and migration territories and watering holes
These simple topics,
survival-based, illustrate why animal communication, by its very nature, would
be extremely narrow of range, insofar as topics are concerned, and, of course, completely
devoid of idle ‘chit chat’.
Although it may be amusing for Disney to imagine
animals talking as if they were furry versions of people, with all the varied
ranges of human style communication such as humor, wisecracks, complaints, and
witty asides, the actual case is much more simple: animal communication is about
one thing and one thing only: survival.
Doctors Dolittle (Eddie Murphy and Rex Harrison) shall not be required this time around.
Therefore, the human side of this
‘inter-species’ communication and discourse would be that of data miner, collecting
important information beneficial to each species.Still, if the idea of actually 'talking' to animals is too much to contemplate, consider it an "upload/download of data between two mutually beneficial systems (human and animal) using protocols that each understands, and from which each can benefit."
For instance, knowing how to
communicate with dolphins would make it possible to share information on
weather, locations of large schools of fish, and unknown masses above and below
the surface of the water.
Learning how to communicate with
bees (by their ‘waggle’ dance) might be helpful in preventing their extinction,
and restoring them to their previous numbers.
Communication with elephants, also
currently endangered, could help in tracking their movements, and the dangers
they encounter on their long cross-continental treks, including known poacher
hideouts.
One final consideration: It’s very probable that if a non-human species
is capable of interstellar travel, that species may well be of a higher intelligence
than we humans are currently used to. (After all, we are, at this point in our history,
the only sentient species we know.) All the more reason to prepare a protocol, and
at least begin to get ‘used’ to the idea of communication with something other than
ourselves, something which we are still trying
to get right between adverse nations, peoples, and cultures right here on our
own planet.
