Grasping at Straws

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The other day, I learned of an admission of philosophical bankruptcy that was particularly amusing because of its resemblance to the plot of a B-grade science fiction movie:

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control -- and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.
Or -- because a civilization doesn't become "advanced" on the basis of making broad, knee-jerk conclusions based on single data points taken "from afar" -- they might dig slightly deeper, and learn that the scientists we revere endorse suicidal political prescriptions and create bogeymen out of whole cloth to scare the rest of us into accepting their orders. On such a basis, the aliens might conclude that, with such wannabe witch doctors in charge, we'll revert to savagery within a few generations, and settle here when there are fewer troublesome natives around. Or, maybe a truly advanced civilization would not automatically regard the success of another civilization as a threat. Or...

We could play this silly game until the cows come home.

It astounds me without fail when I see something like this coming from people who have achieved success in a discipline (e.g., science), presumably because they are rigorous about what they regard as evidence and how they draw conclusions from such evidence. To ask a partially rhetorical question: Why on earth do such people turn around and treat another discipline (e.g., philosophy) as if whatever they happen to imagine might or ought to be true should be treated like a sound conclusion based on actual evidence?

-- CAV

11 comments:

Richard said...

Staring into the cultural vacuum of ideas. Time to replace them with better ones.

Gus Van Horn said...

Quick! Before the aliens show up and slaughter us -- as if bad ideas had no consequences.

Dismuke said...

Speaking of cataclysms, did you feel the earthquake yesterday? I have never been felt one before and think it would be interesting to experience one strong enough to be felt but mild enough not to cause damage.

The rather funny joke making its rounds on the Internet is that Obama has announced that the quake near DC was centered along something running through DC known as "Bush's Fault." Perhaps it was instead caused by space aliens as a warning of our sinful, evil ways. Maybe if we offer them some sort of big time sacrifice we will appease them

Gus Van Horn said...

Hah! We didn't feel it, but Mrs. Van Horn told me that she heard that people at the seaport were able to notice it.

Anonymous said...

I was talking to a fellow at the post office whose family lives in DC and are staunch religious democrats. He said that they told him the topic of the sermon, come sunday, was that the earthquake was a sign from god that the Republicans had displeased HIM.

c. andrew

kelleyn said...

These scaremongers think that a civilization can avoid growing and consuming natural resources yet at the same time advance to the point where space travel is possible. They even fantasized about a juvenile ET clique that would tantalize humans with inclusion in some "Galactic Club" only to then spurn us with red tape. They have no idea what a fully successful civilization would be like, do they?

Jennifer Snow said...

Space aliens are the new gods apparently.

Gus Van Horn said...

Combining the observations of Kelleyn and Jennifer: Isn't it funny how the gods are always childish, and yet powerful.

And yes, as C. points out, the religious right is using the same playbook.

Snedcat said...

Yo, Gus, you write: "Combining the observations of Kelleyn and Jennifer: Isn't it funny how the gods are always childish, and yet powerful." Worth pointing out a good SF story (novella, actually) about an alien invasion, Lester Del Rey's "For I am a Jealous People" (1954)...

SPOILERS:
...in which the invading race was a bunch of religious fanatics with whom Jehovah had made a new covenant and sent to occupy the Earth after humanity no longer suited him. (A review by a critic interested in religion in SF is here.)
END SPOILERS.

But if aliens did show up and had dealings with the Earth, I suspect the vision presented in James Tiptree Jr./Alice Sheldon's "And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side" of unrequited adoration on the part of many humans would be all too common. (But especially on the part of SF fans.) Sheldon (she wrote under a pseudonym partly because she was a CIA intelligence analyst, and partly because it gave her a persona that inspired her muse) was a powerful writer with a very dark view of things, and she did not meet a happy end; it's likely she suffered from clinical depression.

In any case, what happens when a more advanced civilization meets a less advanced one? Cargo cults sometimes. Now imagine that situation with us as the cargo cultists. It's an interesting idea explored well, and above all it shows how much SF stories about interstellar contact reflect other considerations than likelihood of the situation itself and its results--or in short, to be a bit caustic, reality. And it shows how shallow and piteous the vision of the world and humanity possessed by the scientists quoted.

Gus Van Horn said...

We don't have to imagine the situation with us as cargo cultists. Just look at the ritual self-sacrifice being advocated!

That said, thanks for pointing out what sounds like interesting reads.

Snedcat said...

"We don't have to imagine the situation with us as cargo cultists. Just look at the ritual self-sacrifice being advocated!"

Indeed.

"That said, thanks for pointing out what sounds like interesting reads."

The funny thing about the Del Rey novella is that when I reread what I'd written, it sounded like a rickety gimmick stretched out to absurd lengths, but in fact it's an exciting, effective story.

Me: "it shows how much SF stories about interstellar contact reflect other considerations than likelihood of the situation itself and its results--or in short, to be a bit caustic, reality."

Which is not a reproach, unless you're one of those Golden Age boosters who believed SF had to predict the future. I started thinking today about some of the more enjoyable interstellar invasion stories along these lines--sure, there's great scope for adventure, drama, and verbal pyrotechnics, but many of them have not-so-subtle broader themes. It's an effective filter, now that I've thought about it: Tell me what else the author's aiming at and I'll know whether I'll like it.

For instance, with Christopher Anvil, who wrote a lot of such stories (and more generally about interstellar contacts, usually starting out poorly planned and swiftly degenerating into utterly hilarious fiascos), it's his abiding love of satirizing bureaucratism, military mindlessness, and a general attachment to unthinking routine.

Then with James Schmitz, you get stories like his novel The Demon Breed, in which his broad view of human nature and his deep interest in ecology (as a science that has to be understood to untangle the threats and promises of planets you colonize, not an anti-human ideology) are combined with a wonderfully plotted story of a small feint-like invasion of a frontier planet that's defeated by one of his delightful heroines, Nile Etland. (Schmitz had a great talent for writing memorable, realistic, not at all pandering or "girly-girl" heroines.)

There are other examples I could think of, but those are the best examples that came immediately to mind, and they're worth writing about because both authors have sadly been largely forgotten; fortunately, Baen Books has reprinted all of their novels and stories.