Yet again the media is humming with expectation over the possibility of life in outer space. After all it makes for great headlines! :)
But really I ask you, is it really such epic surprising news. We are after all part of a universe that's possibly endless, with endless stars. so does it not follow that their could be possibly endless planets which just like earth could be life sustaining?
Is it not possible we live in a Universe that rather than being this black void or vacuum, is actually teeming with life?
After all we live in a world where we have still only discovered the tip of the iceberg, so far as life on our own planet is concerned, despite our proximity and accesss to it,. Despite our resources, our science, our tools.
We still live in a world where we have little true understanding of, or compassion for our co inhabitants. Perhaps because we cannot understand them, we don't value them.
We have our limitations, which often come from our expectations about how things should be. We are often blind to other possibilities that might challenge our prevailing logic.
We are all born into a world where we assume (because we are taught So) that we are the dominant species. That logic is ingrained into some, if not most of our religions in some way. The idea of man inheriting the earth, to use it and dominate it as he will.
The idea that God expects us to do that. That he gave us this wonderful world , and all that lives on it, expressly that we could use it all. The idea that we are the dominant species of right. The idea that is at the basis of our legal systems and societies.
Our god given right to dominate and exploit the world around us, is at the foundation of our modern understanding of our existence and our role in it. ANYTHING that flies in the face of that wisdom, is especially challenging to our notions of us having a special place in the order of things.
IT is really a bit pompous that we should assume this special role for ourselves. Why should we? Are we not really just a sophisticated sort of ape?
In a World where we increasingly celebrate the notion of "Human Rights", is it not strange that we deny any notion of rights to our fellow co-inhabitants (the other species which share this planet, OF OURS).
This cultural arrogance is something that concerns me, and it has become prevalent in our modern society. Arguably we Europeans started this process in earnest when we started to export it around the world in our quest to colonise it.
We started to explore, conquer dominate and colonise.wherever we saw fit to lay claim. The notion that nature was to be dominated, exploited, in some way defeated, arose in part from this process.
We did not just restrict that abuse to the natural world. We also saw the indigenous people we encountered as inferior, an obstacle, or something to be exploited, moved or in some cases annihilated. They were regarded as savages, somehow less than us.
You can see the process occurring in the colonisation of the Americas. For example In what is now the united states, where apparently the first settlors were helped by friendly Indians. That good naturedness was as history shows poorly repaid.
Or what about Australia where not so long ago the native aboriginals were still being hunted down and killed..
As the European nations colonised the New World, we displaced and disenfranchised the old. This same process to some extent is continuing. After all just look at the news over the Sioux tribes efforts to protect their land in North Dakota from oil pipelines.
What has this all got to do with the NASA announcement , you may well be asking? EVERYTHING!
For it seems that we are being prepared for the Dawn of a new age, in which our perception of our planet as an isolated jewel of life is about to be challenged, and along with it at some point possibly the concept that we are MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.
Already you can see the push to explore further, the desire to colonise further. The desire to reach out and make ä claim somewhere else. After all we are beginning to run out of possibilities here on Earth.
Judging by how we have collectively behaved to date, without wisdom, foresight, compassion or a sense of justice, I would put forward here the concept that we are not currently sufficiently EVOLVED enough to expand our influence further.
We have proved to be unsuitable guardians of our own World. We are therefore currently not fit to explore and expand our reach further, because to date, whatever we have come into contact with, we have set about destroying.
A harsh Judgement, that I can imagine will be extremely unpopular, and ultimately a sad indictment of our species. We failed, because we were not fit for power.
You could well ask why we invest so much in space exploration, and massive defence budgets, when our world right now faces so many challenges. Would it not be better to first rise to the challenges we have here at home?
This is one perspective. What do you think?