Submission
Had this thought last night as I lay falling asleep. We have all these space-exploration-ensemble shows with a bunch of aliens each of which has some sort of super-human power, more or less. And humans are always given ~leadership~ as their special power. The ability to bring people together, to organize shit, and I always thought, like…what a shitty power. What a shitty colonial “you were a mess until we came in and saved you” power. Drives me nuts. Seems like if an alien species builds a got-damn ship that can fly through got-damn space they probably have their shit together, right? At least somewhat?
So then I figure, what is humanity got to contribute to all these super-beings? We’re just nonsense reckless critters careening through space. Seems like we’d be more trouble than we’re worth.
But what if…I mean, what if that’s us. We’re the universe’s huckleberries. We’ll run headlong into danger, and we’ll *laugh*. And what if…what if we survive and a weirdly abnormally high rate. Like any alien with two bits of math can put together that we should have wiped ourselves out a long time ago with the first set of “hold my beer, and watch this.” So what the shit, how are we still banging around the universe building shit and flying off solar ramps into the sun while doing some spaceship equivalent of an ollie while crushing beer cans on our forehead. Why. Why do we exist.
And then it hits me. We survive. We’re super good at it. Uncannily good at it. So much so that we…I mean, we actually bend probability in our favor. It’s absurd. And it totally falls flat if you actually tell us this (“Never tell me the odds,” said Solo, knowing full well that knowing the odds kills a human’s chances of survival).
So there we are. Careening around the universe. Joining alien crews because they know that with a human on board, especially a cocky human in some kind of leadership position, can warp probability to stretch success in their favor. And they can never ever tell us this. So instead they just pat our heads and tell us we’re just so good at ~leadership~ and that’s what makes humans special
But really…we’re just a bunch of space dinguses.
Bob Eggleton’s Mars hotel is named “Mars Hotel”
i really, really hope that whenever we actually get to space for real, like past mars, the universe turns out to be exactly as goddamn weird as we have all been expecting all this time. like, space whales past jupiter. palaces of methane ice on pluto. old gods lurking around in the asteroid belt. the ghost of ancient vengeful alien sailors crewing their ghost ships in eternal loops through the oort cloud and sirens off alpha centauri. in a hundred years i want one of my great grandkids to unfurl a holographic map, and look at the little notation hovering a hundred light years past vega that says here there be dragons (no really) and smile, and set sail.
Hey kids let’s get meta for a moment.
Let’s say aliens are real, and let’s say we communicate with them, and let’s say they find out about this weird internet thing where humans write little mini stories about future human interactions with aliens.
Can you imagine how fucking confused and concerned they would be? These two-legged assholes who were so enamored with the concept of meeting other intelligent species, even though for the longest time they had NO CONCLUSIVE PROOF that said other species exist, that they wrote stories about those other species, to the point of making up creatures and systems of mood communication and names for their made up aliens?
Which brings me to my Great Theory About The Purpose Of Storytelling: it’s practice. We tell stories about that time we had the flu really bad to practice getting the flu with our friends so we all know how to properly manage the symptoms. We tell stories about our children to practice dealing with their unpredictability. We tell stories about war and famine and pestilence to practice dealing with disaster. And we tell stories about aliens to practice etiquette for dealing with aliens.
We tell stories of our own ferocity and ingenuity to practice for the day we have to either defend our planet or invite ourselves into an alliance. We tell stories of our aggressive pack-bonding to practice bonding with creatures that are literally alien to us. We tell stories about trading chores for passage on space ships to practice Just Because They’re Aliens Doesn’t Mean You Can Be Rude.
And of course, if we can practice bonding and cooperating with creatures that may not even breathe oxygen, we can practice bonding and cooperating with each other.
*slides obama a $5 bill*
so
Could time travel exist? Some people believe so. Look at these images and see what you think.
1. The Chinese Swiss Watch. Back in 2008, a 400 year old tomb was opened. Archaeologists were shocked to discover this small watch among the artifacts. The back of the watch is engraved with the word “Swiss”. They have no explanation of how this modern watch came to be in an unopened 400 year old tomb.
2. Charlie Chaplin Cell Phone. Viewers watching the extras section of the 1928 Charlie Chaplin film “The Circus” noted this person seemed to be talking on a cell phone. Others have claimed it was an ear trumpet, a horned device used to help those who were hard of hearing to hear. If that’s true, skeptics argue, who would she be talking to? Why is she laughing and talking if no one is there to hear but herself?
3. 1940s Hipster. This picture was taken at a small opening event in 1941.Time travel enthusiasts were quick to point out how this man stood out. He appears to be wearing a hooded sweatshirt and printed t-shirt, and holding a modern camera.
4. Rudolph Fentz. Rudolph apparently vanished without a trace in 1876. That alone wouldn’t be enough to constitute time travel, except that he turned up again…in the 1950s. Fentz allegedly materialized in a New York street, where he was struck by a car and died. Police were baffled as to what happened, especially when they found his pockets to only hold currency from the 1800s.
5. The Man in the Book. A couple was perusing an old book store when they happened across a book with this photograph included. It shows a group from 1917, but this man sticks out. His hair is disheveled and his clothing doesn’t fit in with the time period. Also note how the man beside him his staring at him, as though he too is aware of the strangeness.
honestly an experiment i took waay too long to finish
different ufos seen throughout the world
I WOULD RATHER HAVE A MIND OPENED BY WONDER THAN ONE CLOSED BY BELIEF
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