Xenosociology
10 Aug 2022Lily Flemmon
I remember Professor Stromlad. Everyone calls him Prof Lad, and it's long since grown on him. At NLAU, Prof Lad teaches xenosociology, which has always been a very fascinating subject. Sure, I took that course series up to 201, but he's definitely the person to ask about current events... which is why I was so surprised when he asked me.He was up watching coverage of the Proteus activation when it all went down. I was asleep at the time, which is surprising- I didn't think I'd be able to. So I wasn't available to talk, and he left a voice message, and when I listened to it, I could tell he'd been crying.
"Lily, if anyone can give me a shred of hope, I know it's you. I knew this was coming, that the Thargoids would counter the superweapon, but to see how brutal it was, how ruthlessly they fought back... I've theorized hat Thargoids have a social phenomenon somewhat analogous to forgiveness, and that it's rational and has to be earned. but what... what the fuck are we supposed to do now? How could we possibly atone as a race? What do we have that could possibly make up for what we've done to them? What...."
I heard him sob for a few more seconds, before he ended the message.
It felt like he wasn't himself, that the overwhelming despair he was feeling was tearing him apart. Making him forget anything that would help. So I had to reply. And... for the first time, I called him by his first name.
"Lucian... Remember the project where I collected evidence that Thargoids understand and respect human individuality? I know you're seeing some counter-evidence to that, but that alien roar heard throughout the system... that was to communicate with humans. As if the Thargoids wanted us to understand how furious they were. And that... That's a first. Never before have they so clearly communicated in human terms. It's unlikely that they don't understand humanity far better than we know. but I... haven't told you about... a friend of mine, who used to know Ram Tah personally. I can't say much with how secret their existence is, but they give an interesting perspective on the human-Thargoid conflict, and I think you need to hear it, so... this friend told me that there's only one thing that gives humanity the right to exist, to take up space and resources. Sure, we've nuked our own planet, subjugated our own people, created artificial scarcity when natural scarcity was diminished, but through it all, we show capacity for empathy. Not only for other humans, but for our surroundings, and yes, that includes the Thargoids. And if the Thargoids went out of their way to express a very human anger that they do not experience, it would be foolish to assume that they do not also understand human empathy."
As I ended the message and sent it, I realized that saying all of it out loud made me feel... Something. Hope of my own. I felt like it's actually possible to end that war. And of course, I started looking into this feeling, and it became an idea, and now... Now it's a research essay.
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Trauma is a survival instinct that humans evolved as a survival tactic. Humans evolve slowly compared to other known life, and although it's unknown and difficult to speculate how quickly Thargoids evolve and adapt, given how their biology and technology are indistinguishable, it is almost completely implausible that they have devolved tendency for war.
War is not a rational course of action when resource scarcity is present, unless it is fought to combat the scarcity itself. Despite that, Thargoid internal conflicts- analogous to civil war- have been witnessed by humans within the last decade. Internal conflict is unique in that it almost requires trauma in order to happen, so it is a likely possibility that Thargoids experience trauma and can develop PTSD in a similar way to humans.
And that begs the question, what other related human traits are somewhat shared with Thargoids? Thargoids have been a sentient, interstellar, and technological race for far longer than humans, which necessitates that they have a respect for natural resources, and their surroundings in general. Combined with their recognition of human individuality and empathy, this would imply that Thargoids, in their own way, care about humans, that they want us to survive as much as we want to survive, and that, like many of us, they recognize our militarism as a threat to our own survival.
The Far God cult is definitely a cult, but that doesn't mean their ideas are always wrong. Like any spiritual movement, they seek to experience and feel things humanity as a whole does not know. They seek to become emotionally acquainted with the same things that we should seek to understand.
And so, we should dare to explore whether or not the Thargoids are so alien to us after all.