The Interspecies Communication Imperative -The Psychopathology of Inter-Species Communication Deprivation
To gaze at the awesome stardust of the night sky is to realize that the human race is achingly alone in the vastness of the cosmos. Humans abhor the vacuum of isolation. Our nature is to connect with others and to share our inner selves. Think about the sensory deprivation experiments conducted by dolphin researcher John Lily where he and his subjects were immersed in a neutral-buoyancy tank of body-temperature water while wearing opaque eye patches and ear plugs. After a brief period of sensory starvation, Lily discovered that all the subjects experienced auditory and visual hallucinations. Remarkably, the human mind is so conditioned to process information that it needs to generate its own ‘lucid daydreams’ to compensate for the absence of external sensations.
Some have recently conjectured that the realization of our existential isolation weighs mightily upon the collective unconscious of the human race. Our species is all alone in the universe and unable to share a dialogue with any other intelligent species on this planet or from anywhere else in the universe. It’s hypothesized that in a manner similar to the sensory deprivation experiments, the subconscious super-mind of our species likewise delusionally compensates for the absence of interspecies contact. The id manufactures the illusion of contact, which results in various manifestations of paranormal phenomena such as close encounters with spirits and ET’s and even conversations with God.
Humanity therefore needs to be proactive if it is to escape the grip of solitude. There are no more excuses to justify the passivity of the wait-for-the-ET’s-to-contact-us mentality or our self-serving myopic indifference to the fellow creatures that share our planet. Carpe diem. Find the biggest brained creature in the vicinity, see if we can identify and break the codes of their language and initiate a conversation.”
So communication with whales can prepare us for interstellar communication?
More like ‘qualify‘ us to be considered as candidates worthy of first contact.
Think about your last job interview. Didn’t the prospective employer expect you to possess the skills and experience required to execute the requisite tasks with an acceptable level of proficiency? Likewise, the ET representatives of the Federation of Sapient Beings, having performed their due diligence screening of earth’s candidates, would expect minimum standards of intellect, curiosity, and emotional intelligence to be met prior to ‘coming out of the closet.’ Since the concept of intelligence is intimately linked with curiosity, they’d minimally have expected homo-sapiens to have initiated first-contact with other sapients on our own planet. Also, it requires a sophisticated level of intelligence to devise experiments which bridge the obvious linguistic disconnects between two species. Finally, and most important of all, we’d need to demonstrate the capability of our culture to withstand the emotional shock of first-contact with other species. A trial run, i.e. a ‘Cetacean Conversation’ would prepare us for ultimate challenge of first contact with ETs.
Bottom line: I think that if ET’s are in fact studying us, they’re going to wait until we acquire the job skills and experience before they call us in for the first interview.