Tal, a conversation with an alien Read Online Free

nature is subjective, many cultures believed you should not manipulate nature at all, but live in a symbiotic relationship with it. Granted, most of those cultures have been destroyed by the cultures that do manipulate nature, especially for their military benefit.
    Well i s not that survival advantage then, desirous? Does it not show science as superior to other modes of thought?  Evolutionally superior?
    Again , you opinion is very temporal. If one were to look at another time, say the 1940's, science had led to great discoveries like the theory of relativity, quantum theory, and inventions like cars, airplanes and rockets. This period also encompassed the rise of purely scientific and rational thought in Europe, Russia and America. Yet, the destruction and pain caused by the rational scientific people of that time, manipulating scientific theories like evolution to justify genocide and using scientifically derived weapons to carry it out, was destruction on a scale unimaginable by people of the past.
    I suppose that is true.
    S cience did not lead to a fantastic world then, and who knows, fifty years from now, you may not be singing its praises. As far as a survival advantage goes, the advances of science are a double-edged sword. Yes, the life expectancy for an average human is higher now than in most cultures in history. However, people from other cultures would question the quality of that long life. And as far as pure species survivability goes, your scientific culture is only a few hundred years old, and has already been just a few unfortunate steps from complete destruction. Since the 1950's due to your ability to manipulate the atom, your culture is closer to complete annihilation than at any time in recent human history. Now your scientists have learned to artificially create anti-matter, which is many times more powerful than fusion or fission. And those are just the dramatic blow up the world threats that scientific advances have created. Manipulating the vast energy of the universe is a dangerous game when life is such a delicate thing. Thanks to science, the entire existence of the human race is always hanging on the edge of a precipice, something that has not happened in a very, very long time.
    -- At this point, perhaps he read something in my expression, which you can imagine was not a very pleasant one. He took another large gulp of juice and continued.
    L et us stop the direction of this conversation now, this tasty juice will soon run short, and it is not my point to, in your eyes, belittle the very foundation of your beliefs. I love science. It is exactly through the magnificent discoveries of science and mathematics that I will be able to describe myself to you in a way that pleases me greatly. I will be able to reveal aspects of the universe in a way that I have not been able to reveal to humans before. Even fifty years ago, the progress of science would make it difficult for me to describe my way of observing the world in much detail. Your culture's ability to manipulate mathematics and the very building blocks of matter and energy has led you to a very fortunate position of potential understanding. However, I also want you to understand that many humans, from many cultures and many religions over thousands of years of existence have thought, discovered, and felt deep truths about the universe, following their unique path, and using their own building blocks. So you should not feel superior.
    I suppose it is in our nature to want to feel better than those before us. 
    Yes, that is indeed human nature. Hence the famous quote by George Orwell that "Each generation imagines itself more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it."
    -- I felt somewhat relieved. It was as if I was having an argument with one of those liberal philosophy students fresh out of college. But having a stranger in my house was still making me uncomfortable and my mind began to wander