Mario Hein

Crossing the Rubicon

Some common assumptions
on certain types of communication
- Civilised, well-educated citizens cannot communicate with “the spirit world”
- We have been unable to communicate with “aliens”
- We can barely communicate with animals
- We often misunderstand each other resulting in conflict and suffering

Typically we explain these “facts” in the following manner which is probably a far cry from the truth:

- There is no such thing as a “spirit world”. It’s a hallucination or a figment of our imagination to console us from our fear of death
- There are no “aliens” or intelligent life forms among the billions of galaxies in the known universe (Fermi paradox etc.)
- Animals are dumb
- Other people can be almost as stupid as animals

An alternative explanation, closer to the truth, could be:

- Our brain filters out that which has minimal physical survival value and is primarily wired to deal with a world of physical objects, hence our exponential technological progress, the scientific method etc. In this, we excel
- Intelligent life forms out there are too intelligent to have dealings with us. They might be accessible, but we have not yet achieved the ability to perceive them let alone communicate with them
- Animals are stoics and have long since given up on trying to inform us, apex predators, about the interdependence and balance of life on Earth. Dogs still try
- Humans are self-conceited and overestimate their understanding of the world. We constantly underestimate the intelligence of our ancestors and other species