It is a statistical absurdity to think our life on earth is all there is of consciousness in the universe. As a statistician once demonstrated, there are more suns in the sky than there are grains of sand on earth. And in case you missed it, the new Web Space Telescope just upped that number of suns 10-fold. Trillions of those stars have been around for billions of years longer than our puny, insignificant, unexceptional sun.
Yet here we are, alone, no one reaching out to us or making themselves known, even though so very many other worlds have had incomprehensible amounts of time to advance further than we.
Science suggests several reasons for this, most related to space and time, but perhaps the reason is closer to home, perhaps intelligence is a disease that no matter where it takes root, it inevitably comes with a deadly cancer called arrogance.
All developing intelligent life would naturally, routinely believe themselves exceptional, the chosen ones, superior to all and perhaps even made by a God, in God’s own image and thus all-powerful, God-like themselves.
It could be that arrogance inevitably kills its host and intelligence can never significantly develop enough to discover an antidote to arrogance or even recognize that one is necessary.
Most everyone I know would quarrel with the notion that intelligence is a dangerous thing but if I asked every other species on the planet, not a one, not even the earth herself would disagree. Our intelligence has come with catastrophe for the earth and all those we share it with.
Richard Kimball, Vote Smart Founder
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