The Difference of One Percent
During my lectures on consciousness I am asked, with almost monotonous regularity, about aliens and the UFO phenomena. This week was no exception. Little green men in the white house and conspiracy theory aside, the topic does need exploring. To encourage people to think of off world visitors in a more logical, but if possible, in an even more disturbing way, the following astro-physical slant may prove useful.
The elements we are all composed of: hydrogen, oxygen, helium and carbon, all started life in the centre of an exploding star. Interestingly they are also the most common components of the universe itself. From a pure physics stand point we are, quite literally, all made of “star stuff” as Carl Sagan was wont to say. Given an infinite universe and the fact that the “chemical soup” is the same throughout, as far as we can ascertain with our limited probing, the chances of us being the only life in the cosmos is ludicrously arrogant. Every physicist I have ever spoken to agrees on this point. Trying to contact other life forms however, is a different kettle of fish entirely.
Dr Neil Degrasse, Astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium has a particularly rich analogy which puts the difficulty of contact into perspective. Our nearest relative the Bonobo, a chimp like primate has a DNA which is almost identical to ours – there is only just over one percent of a difference. However small the difference it is responsible for a massive leap in both consciousness and technological achievement. Compare the Bonobos ability to use a stick as a tool with our abilities, from the building of the Sistine Chapel or the Hubble telescope to Space travel and the internet. If any alien life force is even only one percent more evolved than us, and the consensus is that to achieve intergalactic travel they would need to be at least that, their technology and awareness would be so far removed from our ability to comprehend that we would seem as chimps to them; our greatest minds and achievements as a stick tool. It is most probable that we would have no concept of their technology even if it was presented to us. Disturbing maybe, wonderful definitely.
Namaste
Rod Briggs is an International Lecturer in the Mind Sciences. He has taught government departments, universities, Olympians and peak achievers in the corporate and private sectors from all over the world. He spends half the year in Europe and the USA on lecture tours but resides on the Dolphin Coast. Contact the Mindlink Foundation for one on one or group Stress Management Therapy or get Rod Briggs’ new e book Simple as Breathing at www.mindlinkfoundation.com
During my lectures on consciousness I am asked, with almost monotonous regularity, about aliens and the UFO phenomena. This week was no exception. Little green men in the white house and conspiracy theory aside, the topic does need exploring. To encourage people to think of off world visitors in a more logical, but if possible, in an even more disturbing way, the following astro-physical slant may prove useful.
The elements we are all composed of: hydrogen, oxygen, helium and carbon, all started life in the centre of an exploding star. Interestingly they are also the most common components of the universe itself. From a pure physics stand point we are, quite literally, all made of “star stuff” as Carl Sagan was wont to say. Given an infinite universe and the fact that the “chemical soup” is the same throughout, as far as we can ascertain with our limited probing, the chances of us being the only life in the cosmos is ludicrously arrogant. Every physicist I have ever spoken to agrees on this point. Trying to contact other life forms however, is a different kettle of fish entirely.
Dr Neil Degrasse, Astrophysicist and Director of the Hayden Planetarium has a particularly rich analogy which puts the difficulty of contact into perspective. Our nearest relative the Bonobo, a chimp like primate has a DNA which is almost identical to ours – there is only just over one percent of a difference. However small the difference it is responsible for a massive leap in both consciousness and technological achievement. Compare the Bonobos ability to use a stick as a tool with our abilities, from the building of the Sistine Chapel or the Hubble telescope to Space travel and the internet. If any alien life force is even only one percent more evolved than us, and the consensus is that to achieve intergalactic travel they would need to be at least that, their technology and awareness would be so far removed from our ability to comprehend that we would seem as chimps to them; our greatest minds and achievements as a stick tool. It is most probable that we would have no concept of their technology even if it was presented to us. Disturbing maybe, wonderful definitely.
Namaste
Rod Briggs is an International Lecturer in the Mind Sciences. He has taught government departments, universities, Olympians and peak achievers in the corporate and private sectors from all over the world. He spends half the year in Europe and the USA on lecture tours but resides on the Dolphin Coast. Contact the Mindlink Foundation for one on one or group Stress Management Therapy or get Rod Briggs’ new e book Simple as Breathing at www.mindlinkfoundation.com
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