First Contact

Today Southern Man had the privilege of hearing a talk by Dr. Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute. Dr. Mountain's subject (illustrated with much NASA and Hubble Space Telescope multimedia goodness) was the possibility of life beyond our own Earth. Afterward, audience members were chatting about the implications of alien visitors and it was clear to Southern Man that their notion of First Contact was drawn more from Hollywood than the harsher world of reality.

Some months ago Southern Man was clearing rocks and bricks from an old fence-line out at The Land when he pulled up a cinderblock and uncovered an advanced society of cooperative city-builders. He watched in amusement as the termites scurried about in panic at this encounter with an entity whose purpose and motives and very nature was far beyond their understanding, then tossed the block into the wheelbarrow and continued with his business.

That is what First Contact will look like, if and when it comes. If we're lucky. Note that Southern Man didn't bother to go out of his way to destroy their world.