Founding Myths. We've all seen the 4chan post about how the Post-...
Isaac Young@HariSel57511397
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Sep 16, 2024
~2 min read
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Founding Myths. We've all seen the 4chan post about how the Post-WW2 Consensus is the basis for modern society.
But what about the Founding Myths of the future? More specifically, what about first contact is so tantalizing for the Left? A thread on our posthuman future 1/🧵
But what about the Founding Myths of the future? More specifically, what about first contact is so tantalizing for the Left? A thread on our posthuman future 1/🧵
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Up until fairly recently, first contact has been the wet dream of atheists and rationalists everywhere. The idea of finding evidence for alien (sentient) life is another psuedo-religious impulse, a search for meaning in the cosmos. /2
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And it just so happens that (they thought) it would justify a lot of their ideological premises. We've all seen the meme of atheists dunking on Christians with how first contact would disprove religion (it wouldn't). /3
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But the real kicker, the thing that makes first contact so attractive, is that atheists instinctively knew the Post-WW2 consensus wasn't enough to engineer the liberal utopia. You needed a real revolutionary frame, something more solid than a political order. A new religion. /4
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But the flaw in their premise is that the failings of humanity do not stem from a sociological lens. No matter how powerful the frame or founding myth, it's not going to change human nature. Realistically, humanity meets the Vulcans, and absolutely nothing changes. /5
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But the real hilarious thing, is that first contact only works in the lib's favor if the Vulcans step out of the spacecraft. Anyone else in the Star Trek setting and it becomes a farce. Can you imagine if Picard put in all that work, and it's this guy who makes first contact? /6
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First contact is essentially atheists rolling the mother of all dices and praying that alien life justifies their ideology. It's a complete shot in the dark, and if anything, if we do meet alien life, our future is probably going to look a lot more like Warhammer 40k. /7
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TLDR: Starship Troopers (the novel) is the more serious and nuanced read of first contact than Star Trek. It fundamentally understands that violence is the fundamental arbitrator of disputes, not perpetual mutual cooperation (which is impossible) /end
