Alien Psychology

by Roderick R. MacDonald

  Mining Helium 3 involves processing tons of lunar soil just to collect a small quantity but you don't need much and with a huge price tag, corporations will be queuing up to get their hands on the profits. A lunar base will require a lot of investment before returns are realized but the potential is there for long term planning to succeed. In becoming a mining world, a new Klondike, the moon's population will grow from hundreds to thousands. Energy on the moon is abundant: solar power will be replaced by Helium 3 nuclear fusion. A massive power network over the surface may utilize ultra efficient superconductors, kept cold by placing them in deep trenches, away from sunlight. There's going to be a lot of digging on the future moon. There's going be a lot of dust. Despite all this, the moon, rather than the earth, will become the starting point for interplanetary exploration and colonization.

  Fusion powered spacecraft will take machines to Mercury where there's a lot more Helium 3. And so it will proceed, our need for energy, materials and profit being the impetus to go into space. Eventually Mars and the asteroids will be populated. All human eggs, so to speak, won't be in the same basket, and, if disaster strikes on earth, humanity will go on. It may be the case that potential collisions with asteroids and comets can be effectively managed from space but massive volcanic activity on earth could even then be beyond our technical means to avert.

  Should something catastrophic threaten earth within the next ten years, then we're doomed. Within fifty years, a slight chance of escape is possible but, beyond that, with the resources described above, humans will survive. It seems that we have a century or so more to last out, hoping in the meantime that nothing goes wrong before passing the extinction barrier, a barrier where many species, trilobites and dinosaurs for example, have faltered before.

  Who would go into space? The logistics of mass emigration from earth are too complex to imagine. Even if we wish to move a billion people, one sixth of the present population, the number of fights required, the amount of energy and the pollution caused to earth in the process makes this exercise impossible. Do a calculation on how many 747 fights are required to carry a billion people then multiply this by ten or a hundred because people going into space don't carry just a case or two, they need to carry absolutely everything, including accommodation, food and air, in order to survive at their destination. Mass movement of people off earth will never happen!

  At the most, thousands will go into space. Children will be born on the moon and other bases: they'll make up the future population of space humans. Except for a brief tourist flight to weightlessness in a space station, most reading this magazine won't go into space, and sadly, those selected in the far future will require special qualifications to enable them to live in the new space environment. I'm sounding a bit like Dr. Strangelove but conceivably the film ‘Gattaca’ gives a better representation.

  What will happen to people going into space? The Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who completed a 438-day tour of duty aboard Mir, holds the current time record for a single mission. We know from him and other astronauts and cosmonauts that in prolonged weightless conditions, bones waste away, muscles deteriorate, kidney stones form and, generally, the effects aren't good, especially when returning to earth. As a consequence, Space Station tours are going to be restricted to three months. For humans, at least for the time being, gravity is essential. There may be enough gravity on the moon and Mars to avoid these problems. Additionally, artificial gravity can be created by imparting a spin to asteroids.

  As humanity ventures into space and increases its dimensionality, so too will it probably increase its span in the fourth dimension. Already steps are being taken to increase our time on earth. For curious reasons, probably of diet, psychology and environment, some people in specific areas on earth seem to live long lives, the Caucasian Mountains being an example. If this lifestyle can be transferred to the rest of us, we may be able to live up to one hundred and twenty. Of course, in these cases it may not be the environment alone but a gene responsible for the longevity. Genetic research will eventually identify these genes and though this will become a reality for most of us, life will not be extended greatly beyond this limit.

  The problem can be tackled from another angle. It seems to be the case that our cells replicate approximately fifty times and after that, kaput, we're dead! Why should cells be limited to this number? While admitting that this appears to be an over-simplification of the science, if the problem is successfully cracked, then the lifespan of a human could be extended to thousands of years. Would this be a good idea? At first consideration, the answer seems to be an obvious yes but there are many and varied problems if this happens to our current society. This will be discussed later.

  Elsewhere in the universe, other beings may have already reached this stage of evolution and, travelling throughout the galaxy, they will have visited many other worlds—including earth perhaps. For argument sake, and this is a very big argument, we will consider it likely that there is sufficient evidence for visits from extraterrestrials to this planet. We'll also deem it likely that they have been here for a very long time. Why are they here and what do they want from us?

  Some years ago a science fiction series called V appeared on our television screens. The aliens were lizards with the plastic skin to make them resemble humans and one of their goals was to transport all the water from earth to their own world. This was accomplished by means of huge pipes leading up to their flying saucers. Others stories had aliens visiting our world to steal minerals and biological resources to supplement the their own civilisation. The basic idea behind such plots is absolutely ridiculous. Water is very abundant in our solar system. Well beyond the planet Pluto there exists something called the Oort cloud where millions of frozen comets slowly orbit the Sun. They are made mainly from water ice and there are enough of them to satisfy the demands of any thirsty aliens that pass by. Mounting an invasion would be a pointless exercise! Similarly, asteroids and planetary satellites have abundant sources of minerals which could be mined, gathered and processed in a gravity much lower than Earth's. Why go to all the bother and risk of stealing our resources?

  When all of these arguments are considered it seems likely that if aliens were to visit earth, at a considerable danger to themselves, they wouldn't be here for resources that could be obtained a lot easier elsewhere. No, they are here for something else and that something, by the process of elimination, must be us! Later in the book we'll discuss the reasons for this incursion into our space.

  * * *

  Phase 2

  What's Possible and What Isn't

  One of the aims of this book is to look inside the mind of the alien, a sort of alien psychology if you like, so that we may be able to understand how they think. OK, so you've picked yourself up from the floor after five minutes of outrageous laughter, checked the text again to see if you got it right and resisted throwing the book out of the window. I know the idea of alien psychology sounds absolutely ridiculous. I mean, how could we possibly know what goes on in their minds? We know nothing about them! Perhaps yes and perhaps no. If aliens are visiting our planet, somehow they have got to get here and if interstellar travel of this sort is possible, then we can infer something about them.

  Before continuing further, it would be a good idea to discuss what's possible and what isn't. The laws of science that operate here seem to be the same laws that operate in interstellar space. There is no reason to assume that gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear forces are any different from what they are on earth. In fact, should any of these forces be different, then it's likely that other stars and planets wouldn't exist. Therefore, if you were on a planet orbiting the star Tau Ceti, the same force of gravity would be keeping you fixed to the surface. It may be a greater or smaller force, depending on the mass of the planet compared to earth, but it would still be the same force. Similarly, light from the star would behave exactly as light from the sun.

  Looking at double stars of which there are ple
nty in the galaxy, the stars orbit each other with predictable paths. When light from other stars is examined spectroscopically, the elements in the stars’ atmospheres behave as elements do here. There is no reason to believe that physical and chemical properties fundamentally differ over the galaxy. The laws of motion as described by Newton and Einstein's special and general theories of relativity should apply here, there and everywhere.

  We also have quantum theory and nuclear power. Most stars are, like the sun, basically huge hydrogen bombs in the process of exploding but, unlike the small affairs that have been set off on this planet, the hydrogen bombs in stars last from ten million to twenty billion years. Surprisingly, it's the larger stars that have the shortest lives. Huge, massive affairs, many times the sun's mass, will burn out in a few million years because the pressure inside them is so vast that the nuclear “fire” proceeds with excessive vigour. Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan is one such star: it burns with a luminosity 50, 000 times that of the sun and it will end its days in a massive supernova explosion. Although Deneb is a reasonably bright star, it is by no means the brightest in the night sky because its light is dimmed by over three thousand light years distance.

  Concerning nuclear power, we presently use nuclear fission possesses in reactors to produce electricity whereby large unstable atoms like uranium are broken down into more stable elements. Nuclear fusion, which has immeasurably more power than fission, has, as mentioned, been used for bombs but despite over fifty years of research at considerable expense, it has not been possible to make a fusion reactor to provide electricity. The major problem in making a fusion reactor is that of containment; hydrogen which fuses to produce helium and energy has to be contained in a vessel for the reaction to occur but because this reaction takes place at over one million degrees centigrade, any conventional vessel would be useless and electromagnetic fields have to be used instead. This is a problem of technology and some scientists working in this area are confident that success will eventually come.

  The most abundant source of nuclear energy is matter / antimatter. In this, matter and antimatter meet, annihilate each other and produce enormous energy. The famous equation, E = mc2 where the energy produced by annihilation is equal to the mass times the speed of light squared was developed by Einstein. Antimatter exists as negative protons and positive electrons, opposite in charge to conventional matter we are familiar with. It can be produced in extremely small quantities in accelerometers (such as CERN) but it is very short lived and containment is even more of a problem than with nuclear fusion. The technology doesn't exist to make a reactor but the process isn't impossible and time may allow for one in the distant future. Should a matter / antimatter reactor ever be developed, it would be an ideal propulsion source for travelling to the stars.

  The process of evolution, if life exists elsewhere, will probably take place by the same mechanisms that exist here. That doesn't mean to say that the same lifeforms will be produced—it merely means that the gene survival steps will be the same. The end product, of course, could be vastly different in appearance from anything that exists here. (see appendix chapter on evolution)

  The science of genetics? The human genome has already been mapped and many possibilities, ethical or otherwise, exist. Certain diseases like muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer's disease and some cancers may become a thing of the past. This would be a good thing but it may eventually be possible to tamper with our physical and mental makeup. Imagine a society where virtually everyone has been programmed to be meek, mild and subservient? This would be a dictator's dream. Also, longevity for hundreds or thousands of years could become reality, but whose? It would be a nightmarish impossibility for everyone on earth to become virtually immortal—there are insufficient resources for this to happen and, if reproduction took place at the same rate, the world would quickly become swamped with people. On the other hand, should longevity become restricted to the rich and powerful while others, like ourselves, had to scrape about with normal allotments of years, a very unequal and unfair society would materialise. Undoubtedly, conflict would result. Nonetheless, the quest for longevity is a real one and it is perfectly feasible to implement. This is an area of research that awaits better technology and, who knows, results could be around within fifty or one hundred years. It would be a pity if we were the last lot, more or less, to be stuck with our normal lifespan.

  Living in space is already a reality. This is a new environment but those living in it will probably change, as a result of weightlessness, to make it impossible for them to return to earth. New beings will arrive. They will be our descendants but they will then be forever separated from us. Later chapters will discuss what happens when mankind, or alien species, move to a space environment. It's the latter—the alien from space—that we are concerned with in this book. It sounds rather 50's science fiction B movie but there is no other way to describe the situation.

  Another very real possibility for the future is the dominance of machine technology. We are already at the stage where many homes possess computers that would be considered miracles only twenty years ago. Computer chips, electronics and machine technology has taken over our lives to such an extent that it would be difficult to go back. But, this process hasn't been difficult. People around the world have generally adapted well to the new technology to such an extent that they are hardly aware that the changes have happened. Devices have become user friendly.

  Years ago, the idea of voice recognition technology was only a pipe dream. While crudely possible with huge computers filling cavernous rooms, the notion that it would be available in the future for only a few pounds or dollars was considered ridiculous. The computing power required was astronomical. Now it is here, available for use on any household computer. In fact, I use voice controlled software for writing, including this book, and find it easier and quicker than typing. For the first time in human history, the process of writing has changed. From writing with sticks in sand to quills and ink, from the typewriter to the computer keyboard, writing has always come from the mind to the page via the hands. Now this process has been short-circuited: hands—free writing is a possibility. In years to come, the keyboard will be a museum piece or there only for cases of laryngitis.

  This is merely a first stage. Perhaps we will become machine people, our physical bodies reinforced by artificial means and our minds amplified and augmented with computer technology. With brain implants it will be possible to influence the world merely by thought. Writing will go straight from the mind to the screen or page simply by thinking. Telepathy would even be possible by a mechanical means whereby our thoughts could be sent to a machine, probably contained within our bodies, and then be transmitted to others with similar devices.

  This then is a brief résumé of things that may be possible. It's now time to weed out the impossible things in science fiction. I would qualify the term impossible by not only what can be understood today but what is likely to be feasible tomorrow and thereafter. It's all very well to say that the future can bring many possibilities so anything we think of could actually happen. Perhaps so, but all the above mentioned things occur now or could occur in the future and there are no obvious scientific barriers that could prevent them from happening. The following subjects do seem impossible and anything to suggest the contrary would require a scientific change of huge proportions together with the use of energy sources beyond our means, or beyond the envisaged means of any being we could contemplate.

  The first impossible to mention is faster than light travel. Now, light travels very fast -186, 000 miles per second. That's about seven times around the world every second. Distances travelled by light are usually so large that it's best to measure them by time. For instance, the moon is about one and a quarter seconds away and the sun, going on for nine minutes. Further afield in the solar system, light times to the planets depend on where they are in their orbits but generally, they vary from a few minutes in the case of Mars at its closest
approach to over five hours for Pluto.

  Stars are much further away. The nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, is over four light years distant. Each light year is 6, 000, 000, 000, 000 miles. Spacecraft in the solar system, like Cassini the Saturn probe, travel very fast but it still takes years to complete their journeys. At this rate, reaching the nearest star would take fifty to sixty thousand years. The Pioneer and Voyager probes that sent back the amazing pictures of the planets during the seventies and eighties are still travelling out of the solar system: their journeys have just begun but because their radioactive energy supplies are running down, contact will be lost within a few years. Their ultimate fate is really impossible to predict.

  What about travelling faster? Several years ago the British Interplanetary Society developed plans for an interstellar spaceship. Called project Daedalus, the nuclear pulse ship was predicted to be able to reach speeds in excess of one tenth that of light. Allowing time to speed up and then slow down on reaching the target, a journey time to a star about six light years distant was calculated to be seventy years. The program would also be very costly.

  Imagine the people involved in constructing Daedalus? They would never see the end result of their efforts. Nonetheless, there is a precedent for this if you consider the builders of the great European cathedrals—likewise they couldn't enjoy the fruit of their toil. Once the probe reached the target star, all investigations would have to be totally automated and it would be several more years before the signals came back to earth. A normal human lifespan isn't long enough to see a project like Daedalus through from start to finish, and only exceptionally long-lived people would gain anything from it in a personal sense. However, should an individual be able to live for one thousand years, a journey like this would be a dawdle in comparison.