But wait. Those people (or whatever they are)

out there may not have had technology a mere few decades like us, but many hundreds or thousands of years, which means that we’re way behind. Strike one. They may have long made peace with themselves, but hate outsiders. Strike two. But before we strike out in our brave new world, let’s reconsider the formula. For better or worse, they beg a few questions along the way, foremost of which is the assumption that our experience is typical. Given the literally billions of species that have come and gone on our own earth within as many years, it’s nothing short of a miracle that we’re here at all. Let’s not consider that typical, given the low number of species that make a comeback after going extinct, which is exactly none. This is even more precious given the amount that our DNA differs from that of chimps, which is almost none, compared with the degree of technological advancement of their civilization, which is to say NOT. The Green Bank scientists are guilty of the worst kind of anthropocentrism, i.e. silly-eyed optimism. What they may have intended as a moral sign-post to ‘do the right thing’, since the universe might be watching and nevertheless, the equation depends on it, has been taken as an assumption that they are millions more of us out there, so fuck it, party on! Once more this begs the question of how we’d ever know even if they were out there or what we’d do if we did know.

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