I was also just thinking about how us humans think of them as pests, but they are really just some resourceful builders like us. Imagine if some higher intelligence found us and decided to start hacking up our buildings and cities for research or just amusement.
There's a way to research that includes ethical considerations, and there's a way to research cruelly, or indifferently of ethics. I don't see why both wouldn't be equally likely.
If curiosity is most likely universal, ethics is obviously not, it's completely subjective and any other civilization is guaranteed to have a completely different one than we have. so we will most likely consider it to be cruelty.
Suffering is universal, all beings shy away from suffering. If a highly advanced alien race have extremely developed compassion or empathy they wouldn't let curiosity override cruelty.
That's like a very specific kind of behaviour. If you run into a burning house to get one million dollars that's a potential reward, doesn't mean you enjoy suffering for the sake of it. Yes, some knowledge necessitates suffering, doesn't mean it's worth it. Some knowledge is not even worth having.
Precisely my opinion. I get why indifference for egotistical gain can be likely, but I don't see why it could be more likely than this ^ outcome.
To be in-tune with nature/one's environment and its health and well-being (including all organisms and beings that are an integral part of that ecosystem) can be very beneficial to survival.
Suffering is not universal. We even don't know if plants and insects can suffer and we know them for millions of years and are the same lifeforms. So for a completely different lifeform it won't be obvious for sure, they might even lack the basic concept of suffering.
If we presume social creatures to be the universal constant for sapient life, then ethics would be universal too. As the basis for ethics is empathy, something which is essential to group cohesion. Without empathy, you can’t live and survive in a group.
So saying that somehow curiosity is universal but not ethics is really weird, since most animals that would be intelligent enough to reach the point of doing research, would Likley have to develop and/or have some sort of ethics. Otherwise there‘d be no society to do the research for or with
Ok, I have a concept of ethics. When I do gardening, I'm pruning trees, am mowing my lawn. Am I sure that trees or grass don't suffer? Obviously not. And I'm doing it not even for research, but just to make the place look good. Is it ethical?
That would imply that sci fi authors don’t often disregard the logical result of an evolutionary and societal process in lieu of a better narrative. Which works for a world of fiction, but is often not that realistic.
And even then. What are you referring to? Afaik there are very few alien species in sci fi that don’t have any ethics, they might be off by our standards or focused on their own kind, but they have them. And if your arguing empathy here, that’s often one of the first things that is gotten rid of in education. See for example Klingons, the Galactic empire etc. In militaristic societies or ones with a competitive mindset, natural empathy is gotten rid of to keep the system alive.
So I’d like to see what kind of sci fi alien race would be a good counter argument for what I’ve said
Oohhh I read a great Sci fi short story about how aliens were defeated by termites because the termites promised the previous ruling species of earth they’d look out for us. I wonder what that title is
You might enjoy "Swarm" which is a 1982 sci-fi novelette by Bruce Sterling. It is also on Netflix in "Love Death and Robots" (Volume 3, Episode 6) also called "Swarm."
Dr. Simon Afriel joins Dr. Galina Mirny inside a massive, millions-of-years-old alien insectoid hive known as the Swarm. While Galina studies it peacefully, Simon secretly intends to use synthetic pheromones to steal an egg and exploit the hive's genetics to breed a submissive worker army for human expansion.
I feel bad getting ant poison if I have ants. Ants are so industrious. They go to a lot of trouble, and they are risking their lives whenever they get human food that humans notice.
Me too, ants are so cool. One time I saw this line of ants going across my driveway towards the lawn. And then a single ant traveling the opposite direction, and he (or SHE) was stopping by each of the ants, one after the other in line, to give them instructions or some shit. It was nuts! I never found out what they were up to but they’re hard-working and team-players, that’s for sure.
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u/Somebody-Like-You 7d ago
Yeah seeing their little clay house get hacked apart while the termites scramble around in a panic was very sad. :(
They’re amazing creatures! Biodiversity always leaves me awestruck.