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350 If we come into contact with an extraterrestrial society, we may receive knowledge that could advance our prospects as a species, or we may gain little of practical importance. We might enter into a productive relationship with another civilization, or we might fall before it. If our search fails—or if we abandon it—none of this may come to pass. There will be no extraterrestrial source of knowledge and inspiration; we ore ee will be on our own. We can spread our bets by investing both in a long-term, patient search for evidence of other minds, and in the slow but determined expansion of human presence and influence into the Galaxy. We can look for help while helping ourselves. Led by our investigating machines, we can explore, colonize, and estab- lish independent human communities, ultimately beyond our solar system. This expansion would help to assure the long-term survival of our species and its descendants. If we do find other technological civilizations, expan- sion will place us in a stronger position to deal with them—and to make a contribution to the shared tasks of intelligence. A dark, illimitable ocean, without bound, without dimension, where length, breadth and height, and time and place, are lost, the universe is mystifying and terrifying. ... No one knows the terrors of the journey upon which man is about to embark; no one can know until the journey has been on es made. Not long ago, space was beyond our familiar world, like the seas of the ancients. The oceanic deep once was a blank slate for the expression of our subconscious fears.'? So was space until very recent times; we could imagine exotic lands and grotesque monsters, and fear to journey beyond the Pillars of Hercules in our minds. Now we are measuring and demy- thologizing our larger environment, incorporating its realities into our worldview. The search for life is one of the forces that draw us outward. Within that broader context lies a special search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We are slowly absorbing the idea that sentient aliens might influence our future, through their transmitted ideas or more direct means. This is part of a larger paradigm shift: accepting the vast realm beyond the Earth as rele- vant to our future.” Astronomy and solar system exploration have revealed that the external universe is not a neutral background, but an active arena that can affect our lives, our history, and our prospects. The evolution of life on Earth has been influenced by the distant explosions of massive suns; the human body The Human Role An Extraterrestrial Paradigm —Kenneth Heuer, 1951'*