enthusiasm, an intoxicating combination.
"In every way," Sarah said. "In everything we'd assumed about SETI. What a ridiculous notion, that beings would send messages across the light-years to talk about math !" She shook her head, her brown hair bouncing as she did so. "Math and physics are the same everywhere in the universe. There's no need to contact an alien race to find out if they agree that one plus three equals four, that seven is a prime number, that the value of pi is 3.14159, et cetera . None of those things are matters of local circumstance, or of opinion. No, the things worth discussing are moral issues—things that are debatable, things that an alien race might have a radically different perspective on."
"And that's what the message from Sigma Draconis is about?" prodded Shelagh.
"Exactly! Ethics, morality—the big questions. And that's the other thing, the other way in which we were totally wrong about what to expect from SETI. Carl Sagan used to talk about us receiving an Encyclopaedia Galactica . But no one would bother sending a message across the light-years to tell you things. Rather, they'd send a message to ask you things."
"And so this message from the stars is ... what? A questionnaire?"
"Yes, that's right. A series of questions, most of which are multiple choice, laid out like a three-dimensional spreadsheet, with space for a thousand different people to provide their answers to each question. The aliens clearly want a cross section of our views, and they went to great pains to establish a vocabulary for conveying value judgments and dealing with matters of opinion, with sliding scales for precisely quantifying responses."
"How many questions are there?"
"Eighty-four," said Sarah. "And they're all over the map."
"For instance?"
Sarah took a sip from the bottle of water she'd been provided with. " 'Is it acceptable to prevent pregnancy when the population is low?' 'Is it acceptable to terminate pregnancy when the population is high?' 'Is it all right for the state to execute bad people?' "
"Birth control, abortion, capital punishment," said Shelagh, sounding amazed. "I guess those are posers even for extraterrestrials."
"So it seems," said Sarah. "And there are lots more, all in one way or another about ethics and acceptable behavior. 'Should systems be set up to thwart cheaters at all costs?' 'If an identifiable population is disproportionately bad, is it permissible to restrict the entire population?' These are just preliminary translations, of course. I'm sure there'll be a lot of quibbling over the exact meaning of some of them."
"I'm sure there will be," said Shelagh, affably.
"But I wonder if the aliens aren't a bit naive, at least by our standards," said Sarah. "I mean, basically, we're a race of hypocrites. We believe societal norms should be followed by others, and that there are always good reasons for ourselves to be exempt. So, yeah, asking about our morals is interesting, but if they actually expect our espoused beliefs to have any strong relationship to our actual behavior, they could be in for a big surprise. The fact that we even need a platitude 'practice what you preach' underscores just how natural it is for us to do exactly the opposite."
Shelagh made her trademark throaty laugh. "Do as I say, not as I do."
"Exactly," said Sarah. "Still, it's amazing, really, the sociological concepts the aliens were able to get to from talking about math. For instance, building on some discussion of set theory, several of their questions deal with in-groups and out-groups. William Sumner, who coined the term 'ethnocentrism,' noted that what he called 'primitive peoples' had very different ideas about morality for in-group versus out-group members. The aliens seem to want to know if we've risen above that."
"I'd like to think we have," said Shelagh.
"For sure," agreed Sarah. "One might also expect them to wonder whether we'd outgrown religion." She looked through the glass at Don.
"In every way," Sarah said. "In everything we'd assumed about SETI. What a ridiculous notion, that beings would send messages across the light-years to talk about math !" She shook her head, her brown hair bouncing as she did so. "Math and physics are the same everywhere in the universe. There's no need to contact an alien race to find out if they agree that one plus three equals four, that seven is a prime number, that the value of pi is 3.14159, et cetera . None of those things are matters of local circumstance, or of opinion. No, the things worth discussing are moral issues—things that are debatable, things that an alien race might have a radically different perspective on."
"And that's what the message from Sigma Draconis is about?" prodded Shelagh.
"Exactly! Ethics, morality—the big questions. And that's the other thing, the other way in which we were totally wrong about what to expect from SETI. Carl Sagan used to talk about us receiving an Encyclopaedia Galactica . But no one would bother sending a message across the light-years to tell you things. Rather, they'd send a message to ask you things."
"And so this message from the stars is ... what? A questionnaire?"
"Yes, that's right. A series of questions, most of which are multiple choice, laid out like a three-dimensional spreadsheet, with space for a thousand different people to provide their answers to each question. The aliens clearly want a cross section of our views, and they went to great pains to establish a vocabulary for conveying value judgments and dealing with matters of opinion, with sliding scales for precisely quantifying responses."
"How many questions are there?"
"Eighty-four," said Sarah. "And they're all over the map."
"For instance?"
Sarah took a sip from the bottle of water she'd been provided with. " 'Is it acceptable to prevent pregnancy when the population is low?' 'Is it acceptable to terminate pregnancy when the population is high?' 'Is it all right for the state to execute bad people?' "
"Birth control, abortion, capital punishment," said Shelagh, sounding amazed. "I guess those are posers even for extraterrestrials."
"So it seems," said Sarah. "And there are lots more, all in one way or another about ethics and acceptable behavior. 'Should systems be set up to thwart cheaters at all costs?' 'If an identifiable population is disproportionately bad, is it permissible to restrict the entire population?' These are just preliminary translations, of course. I'm sure there'll be a lot of quibbling over the exact meaning of some of them."
"I'm sure there will be," said Shelagh, affably.
"But I wonder if the aliens aren't a bit naive, at least by our standards," said Sarah. "I mean, basically, we're a race of hypocrites. We believe societal norms should be followed by others, and that there are always good reasons for ourselves to be exempt. So, yeah, asking about our morals is interesting, but if they actually expect our espoused beliefs to have any strong relationship to our actual behavior, they could be in for a big surprise. The fact that we even need a platitude 'practice what you preach' underscores just how natural it is for us to do exactly the opposite."
Shelagh made her trademark throaty laugh. "Do as I say, not as I do."
"Exactly," said Sarah. "Still, it's amazing, really, the sociological concepts the aliens were able to get to from talking about math. For instance, building on some discussion of set theory, several of their questions deal with in-groups and out-groups. William Sumner, who coined the term 'ethnocentrism,' noted that what he called 'primitive peoples' had very different ideas about morality for in-group versus out-group members. The aliens seem to want to know if we've risen above that."
"I'd like to think we have," said Shelagh.
"For sure," agreed Sarah. "One might also expect them to wonder whether we'd outgrown religion." She looked through the glass at Don.
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