the DKonversation: Something to talk about
Today’s questions:
- If extraterrestrials landed tomorrow and you were designated to pick one person to represent all of humanity, whom would you choose?
- What if you were allowed to send a team of three? Or five?
- What if your selection only had to represent the United States?
This is a thought experiment I saw on social media, brought here for DK members to discuss.
The day of First Contact is here! The aliens have landed.
They are asking to meet with one person who is representative of all humanity.
After this meeting, they will decide the future of the other eight billion people on earth: Are we worth a partnership, or are we of no value and therefore should be destroyed?
For some reason, you have been chosen to select the person who will meet the extraterrestrials.
You might go for a “take me to your leader” interpretation, where a political figure is one obvious choice; or choose someone with diplomatic skills in the hope of negotiating the best deal for the world; or pick an aggressive, militaristic type in a show of strength. (Any species advanced enough to get here before we get there probably is more powerful than we are in terms of weapons, so that last one might not be the best idea.)
Most of the people playing this game elsewhere tried to put our best foot forward and pick a person who contains the positive characteristics that best represent humankind as a whole.
But what do you think those characteristics are?
Compassion? Creativity? Intelligence? Honesty? Kindness? Logic? Beauty? Bravery? Wisdom?
Do you choose a multiracial person? A nonbinary person? A child? A centenarian?
A famous person? Someone you know? Someone at random?
An English speaker? A polyglot? Someone who communicates without spoken language?
Obviously there is no such thing as one single person with all the necessary characteristics. Just the process of thinking about which qualities you include and which you leave out is an interesting mental exercise.
My biases being what they are, all the people who came to mind for me first were folks involved in music, inclusive justice work, and comedy. In some ways, it’s harder to pick five because with five you can try too hard to cover all the bases. With one choice, you know you’re leaving out a lot and can’t be perfect, so you just have to go with your gut.
After thinking about it for a while, my pick is Yo Yo Ma: big-hearted, very smart, affable, disciplined, with a good balance of maturity and childlike playfulness, and an ability to “speak volumes” without using words.
But mostly I’d be hoping no one would ask me to be the one to make the choice!
Here are today’s questions one more time—answer one or more or none as you prefer:
- If extraterrestrials landed tomorrow, and you were designated to pick one person to represent all of humanity, whom would you choose?
- What if you were allowed to send a team of three? Or five?
- What if your selection only had to represent the United States? (Or whatever country you live in.)
The DKonversation: Something to talk about is an open thread to hang out, enjoy a virtual beverage, look around, vent, rant, ask questions, whatever. We all need lots of online places to gather like this until we meet again in person.
You can comment on the topic above, or start a conversation about something completely different.
This is also a good place to ask general questions you have about politics, Democrats, Daily Kos, or anything else on your mind.
Now go to the comment section and get the word started!
Last but not least:
If you’re enjoying the conversation, PLEASE RECOMMEND THE DIARY
(not the Tip Jar)
so others can find it on the Trending List!
Yes, I picked this for the variety of people and places and cultures, and because Yo Yo Ma appears in it!