Extraterrestrial
IT WAS H. G. Wells, I believe, who wrote a short story about contact with extraterrestrials. It is brought about from a radiohut on an English airfield. After lots of negotiations, and cautionary assurances on all sides, the earthlings finally manage to direct the extraterrestrials down onto the ground. As soon as the guests have landed, there is a thunderous “Hurrah!” in the hut, and they rush out in order to greet the friends from outer space. But these friends and their spaceship are exceedingly tiny, no more than a few millimeters, and they have landed right in front of the door of the hut, between the blades of grass. As the English crew rushes out to greet them, they are immediately crushed.
In this parable, the most daunting question about life elsewhere is asked: Would we even notice each other when they are in our (or we in their) neighborhood?
There are other ways in which this “meeting” can go wrong. In 2017 I read in the newspaper about the Parkes radio telescope in Australia, where mysterious radio waves were registered, possibly emanating from outer space. Intelligent beings?
