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Many speculations rest on the assumption that more advanced civilizations would be interested in us. The first rule of alien lore, Achenbach observed, is that the main job of any alien is to comment upon, lecture, warn, study, and otherwise obsess over the human race.! Long ago, Charles Fort questioned the persistent notion that we would be interesting to more intelligent beings. “Would we, if we could, educate and sophisticate pigs, geese, cattle? Would we establish diplomatic rela- tions with the hen that is satisfied with its sense of achievement?”? Jill Tarter noted the fundamental asymmetry in our situation: We are a 100-year-old technological civilization in a 10 billion-year-old galaxy. Older civilizations with far greater powers might see us as a minor phenomenon. Burke-Ward suggested that an alien probe might conclude that humans are not even sentient by its standards.* Only those civilizations close to our own level may find us relevant. The Unseen The course of human events often seems inexplicable, as if some unseen but intelligently directed hand were manipulating our affairs. This angst may have reached new levels of intensity during a twentieth century marked by massive violence, extreme ideologies, and declining confi- dence in religious explanations. We have seen a heightened readiness to believe in conspiracies, powerful minorities or hidden networks, or puppet masters operating behind the scenes. Although most of these imaginary cabals are believed to be run by humans, there have been recurrent suggestions that non-human outsid- ers are among us, reporting to an alien power and subtly influencing the direction of our history. They may be disguised in human form, or they may reside in hidden places, under the ground or under the sea, working their will through intermediaries. These imaginings leave unanswered a major question. Why would they bother? 260 Before Contact Our Own Importance