Along the way, the science fiction stories I'd been writing since I was 13 began to grow more believable. With my BS in biology and a fascination with genetics, I started to use more science in my fiction.
After reading hard SF for the past 50 years, and writing hard SF successfully for the past 20, I've started to dig deeper into what it takes to create realistic alien life forms. In the following series, I'll be sharing some of what I've learned. I've had some of those stories published, some not...I teach a class to GT young people every summer called ALIEN WORLDS. I've learned a lot preparing for that class for the past 25 years...so...I have the opportunity to share with you what I've learned thus far. Take what you can use, leave the rest. Let me know what YOU'VE learned. Without further ado...
I did a Google search with the question ‘What does it mean to be Human?’. I skimmed several rather superficial answers, then ran across this site: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Public responses to the question “What Does It Mean To Be Human?”
Try it and you’ll find that there are THOUSANDS of responses. Obviously, some people will repeat what others wrote far, far above them. But the VARIETY of answers to the question is STARTLING!
These quotes below aren’t even representative (nor do they make great sense – but I get the drift!):
Russia: “I think we change all the time and that we are ourselves as long as we remember who we were and are and we are conscious of ourselves.” Too convoluted for my simple mind…
Florida: “To be able to understand Quantum Physics...” I’m obviously not totally Human…
Australia: “The ability to show compassion, love and determination and interconnection, however, the admittance that we are inherently flawed, but working to overcome and accept our flaws and understand the world together.” I’m not sure I can “show…interconnection”? I’m married and have three kids, three kids-in-law, and four grand kids…Am I interconnected? I have a friend who is single, parentless, and suffers from depression. Is HE interconnected? How do YOU “show…love”? After I was a child, my dad never showed any physical form of love. He provided for all of us. Did he LOVE us? Hmmm…until recently, I wasn’t sure. I admit I am flawed – can a brown bear admit it is flawed? What would a “flawed brown bear” look like? A grizzly? An orca?
Jordan: “To be human is to have a soul. Our soul is what guides us make decisions and think logically about a situation. Our soul can also be safe in the freedom that comes from Christ or be lost to the sin of this world.” While I happen to agree with their faith statement, I’m pretty sure proving I have a soul that guides my decisions and think logically would be difficult to impossible. Some chimpanzees have shown some ability of making decisions after thinking logically. Are they Human?
What does this have to do with the subject of family in space? The authors commented: “Within just the past 12,000 years, our species, Homo sapiens, made the transition to producing food and changing our surroundings. We have been so successful that we have inadvertently created a turning point in the history of life on Earth.”
Wow. Just WOW! The authors have laid on a single species (not even the most abundant species on Earth! That moniker goes to “the sheer number of tailed phages, [is] estimated at (10^{31) particles, makes them the most numerous life form on the planet.” Humanity doesn’t even come close to that…
“But we’re Intell-junt!” Hmmm…define “intelligence”.
“We’ve taken over the world! We ARE the most powerful force on the planet Earth!”
I’d argue that: “Throughout human history, four infectious diseases have dominated as the leading killers: tuberculosis, smallpox, plague, and malaria. While tuberculosis claims the highest death toll across history, with an estimated 1 billion lives lost, smallpox follows closely behind, killing approximately 300-500 million people in the 20th century alone before its eradication in 1980.”
So, what IS the impact of Human families on Earth?
In their multiple varieties, Human families have caused both planetary disasters and ushered in bright presents. For example, Adolph Hitler worked hard to HIDE his past. Winston Churchill wrote, “(Hitler) was a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma.” Largely due to his own deliberate and extensive efforts to obscure his origins. the article linked below is a review of a book written by Ron Rosenbaum and lays out some of the roots of a man almost universally hated. As a school counselor, the “discovery in Germany of a journal written by Adolf Hitler's sister…offers remarkable insights into the dysfunctional nature of the Führer's family.”
Of the “10 Best Humans In The World”, author Aastha Arya (Senior Content Writer @ iSchoolConnect) suggests that the number ONE best person was Charles Darwin (of the paper then book, “On the Origin of Species”; 1859) – and lots is known about his family as he was born wealthy, but instead of sitting around basking in inherited wealth, he poured his money into an exploration of the world.
Family SHAPES Humans. Even among other species, family dynamics drive behaviors, viewpoints, methods of thinking, ways of acting, and any number of things. “Altering” creative “reimaging” of Human families won’t make any monumental change in Humanity. In fact, authors who think that they’re predicting GIGANTIC changes in the Human institution of family don’t appear to me to be offering anything either new or strange. It’s the same-old, same-old. There are a plethora of family constellations already on Earth ranging from single parent homes to entire villages (hence the aphorism, “It takes a village”) expected to nurture a child. Even In vitro fertilization (or IVF) doesn’t change a family’s dynamics in any “startling” or “futuristic” way…family is family, no matter how it’s structured; and families living under the shell of an asteroid will not be markedly different from families growing children on a planet where they have to be genetically modified to survive acid rain or submerged cities! Families will be families; just as they have been since the first family was created!
Sources: https://humanorigins.si.edu/about/become-involved/submit-your-response-what-does-it-mean-be-human#:~:text=Being%20a%20human%20is%20being,others%20and%20caring%20about%20them.&text=To%20be%20human%20is%20to,a%20human%20is%20having%20freedom. ; https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/which-infectious-disease-biggest-killer-all-time ; https://www.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/ajp.155.12.1788 ; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/aug/04/research.secondworldwar#:~:text=Other%20insights%20include%20the%20revelation,cultivated%20in%20Hitler's%20own%20home.%22 Image: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/images/attachement/jpg/site1/20141016/0023ae9885da15a9c10a5c.jpg
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