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322 Before dismissing that idea, we should recall that none of the imperial administrations of the nineteenth century foresaw that a future technol- ogy—the airplane—would bring all of the Earth’s surface within one day’s reach. Shostak noted another benefit of interstellar empires. They would gener- ate plenty of radio traffic.” Science fiction has accustomed us to the idea that future starships will overcome the light speed barrier through some imagined technique like warping space. This may be wishful thinking. Those scientists and engi- neers who have speculated most aggressively about interstellar flight have not yet devised a way to break the light speed limit with any foresee- able propulsion system. Even among more technologically advanced species, starships may not zip across the Galaxy in a matter of days or months. Although interstellar travel can no longer be considered impossible, declared starflight visionary Robert Forward, it will always be difficult and expensive. Journeys between the stars may never be casual undertak- ings; even for more technologically advanced civilizations, interstellar voyages may be justified only by major purposes. The most basic is survival through migration. Encounters with other civilizations may be next on the list. We cannot and should not endow this animal with human purposes and human ideals. We should not attribute to him kinds of knowledge that belong to human experience and tradition but not to dolphin experience and tradition. rer) Despite the absence of evidence, we imagine that the motives of intelli- gent extraterrestrials are like our own; aliens with minds and feelings like ours richly populate science fiction and science speculation. Yet, extra- terrestrial psychology is, as the Clarks put it, the most conjectural of disciplines.*° Harrison and others have warned that we must confront an almost over- whelming tendency to ascribe our own characteristics to aliens. We should not delude ourselves into believing that a nonhumanoid life-form will show humanlike behaviors; human society and consciousness may be products of humanity’s unique biological constitution.””° Assumptions: After Contact Warp Nine The Biggest Assumption: Alien Intentions —John Lilly, 19617