SOMETHING strange is lurking in our neighborhood. The only problem is we cannot recognize it. We can only recognize things that we already know – which are from the past. Anything, whether visual, audio, or from our other senses, can only be recognized when a corresponding image is dug out of the egos library that was created from times past, and referenced against that new experience.

When any new event occurs that is not recognized or understood – either the senses will not register it so it is ignored – or the ego will immediately grab hold of it, create an image of it, label it (with maybe a question mark) and store it away in the library. Then it will dig up that image later and mull over it.

With the event now being in the past, the ego feels safe to analyze and classify it. The image is then updated and relabeled, but by now, it is old and stale. This may only take a short amount of time, but that is enough for that experience to become part of the past.

The ego cannot exist in the present but only in the past, so that is where it works. Once an event is recognized and stored in the library, its re-occurrence enables the ego to immediately dig up that corresponding image because it is then known. It becomes familiar, ‘Old Hat.’

MARS
Mankind is about to embark on a journey to Mars. It will be an exciting adventure for both them and all us as an evolving species. Our Astronauts are going to look for extraterrestrial life. But how will they recognize anything that is alien to what we understand as a life form – if it does not resemble in some way, the life forms that we already know about, gathered from our collective library of the past?

If that alien life form is completely different to what we have ever seen before, how will we recognize it? We won’t! As an example, when the British settlers famously sailed into Jamestown, Virginia, in the New World of America in the seventeenth century, the Native Indians had never seen a sailing ship before.

When they heard the sounds of the ships approaching, they did not see those ships on the horizon because they were so alien to what the natives had ever seen before. It was only after the natives had numerous encounters with the ships crew, did they finally see and recognize those large canoes with flapping white wings for what they were.

SPACE NOISE
Scientists have been pointing radio telescopes towards the heavens for years, listening for any sounds or messages from an alien intelligence. The rebuilt Greenbank radio telescope in West Virginia, USA, is the latest to search the heavens for ET, but what if ET has a completely different way of communicating than we have?

Will the scientists be able to detect, recognize or understand the alien noise as an intelligent form of communication? Scientists may say, ‘A sound is a sound is a sound.’ But they can only form this hypothesis on what they and we know of sound here on this planet- which may be starkly different to the sounds or the way communication is transmitted elsewhere in the universe.

VOYAGER 2
What if the gold disc, containing music and greetings in 55 Earth languages that went into space with Voyager 2 in 1977 comes across an intelligence that is completely alien in its makeup to what we can ever understand, will they even recognize the space craft for what it is far less a little colored disc with scribbles and static on it?

There is speculation amongst scientists about what type of life forms might be found on Mars. They expect to find only microbial life, if any, but even that microbial life will have to resemble in some way, the bacteria we already know about. If it doesn’t, it will not be recognized at the time, as life.

A thought arises here – if there are intelligent life forms on Mars, (Martians) who say, are as technologically advanced as we are, or around about, but are completely different in shape and form to what we are able to understand, in other words, really, really alien, would we recognize them?

What if there are rocks on Mars that are actually living entities? They may not move just because we do. They may be content to remain stationary, but still have intelligence and be aware of their surroundings – and live a full and reproductive life.

Would we recognize them as a living entity or think them only rocks, deciding in our earthly wisdom that Mars is lifeless? I’m not suggesting that this is possible. I am talking about ‘What Ifs?’ Life forms may be far more bazaar than that!

Hence, the inability to imagine or describe life forms that are completely out of our range of understanding, the fact is, even using a rock as an example – a rock is a known thing with a known shape.

If the life forms on Mars (or anywhere else in the universe) were unrecognizable to our limited, earthly understanding, Martian life forms could be there right beside our astronauts and no one would see them for what they were. Astronauts and scientists included.

And if those Martians were around the same level of intelligence as we are, they would probably not know the astronauts were there either, for we would be just as alien in shape and form to them as they would be to us.

Only when scientists later study those images back on Earth – images that by now have also been copied into the collective egos library of the past – would it then be possible for those scientists to spot an anomaly and do the research to enable recognition of a new alien species – which, by now, is old.

Being now a part of the past, these ‘new’ life forms from Mars can, from then on, be easily recognized as there is now an image labeled ‘Martian life’ stored in the collective memory for reference next time.

CREEPY CRAWLIES
All of the monsters ever depicted in horror movies, all of the creatures of science fiction, resemble in some way, life as we know it, whether animal, vegetable, mineral, insect or microscopic bacteria and viruses.

They might have their mouth in their bum or their reproductive organs on the end of their big left toe – but all in all, the basic design format is recognizable, gathered from our past knowledge of what life forms should look like – which naturally are all earthly.

Any life form that does not fit the basic pattern of design as we understand it – will not be recognized. We could very well have alien life forms living here amongst us on earth right now and we would be oblivious of their existence.

Until one of us gets a hint that something strange is lurking in our neighborhood – creates an image of it, tags it and stores it in memory – then digs it up and examines it – have we any hope of discovering a completely new alien species living with us and sharing our planet.

Dan’s Quote: “Babies have big heads and big eyes…
____________ and tiny little bodies with tiny little arms and legs.
____________So did the aliens at Roswell! I rest my case.”- William Shatner

I wrote  ‘Is Mankind caught in a Time Warp’ in March 2010, another story about mans impending journey to Mars that you might be interested in reading.

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