I like to make this analogy every now and then. Imagine that there are space aliens who know we're here. They don't make first contact with us because they believe intervention at this point in our history is dangerous for us and them. Instead, they observe us. What do you think this Star-Aged culture thinks of us? Do they think we're horrible or noble or somewhere in between?
The way I see it, they will not pass such judgement at all. They understand that we are a young species with a primitive culture. In fact, they even draw parallels between our history and theirs. They'll be using their own history to chart our development and they even have an accurate prediction of when we will be able to join them. They're waiting for the day when we, their cosmic neighbors, will finally be sophisticated enough to greet. In the meantime, they are also studying us as a way of observing their own history in action.
These ETs are so advanced that they have an interesting new social science called The Study of Planetary Development or perhaps The Development of Intelligent Culture where they study how intelligent life goes from fire and stone tools to star ships and immortality. I believe there are constants in how every intelligent society develops. I believe we are a planet that does not stray far from the established norm given our resources and the size of our brains.
This is how I put the the world into perspective. This is how I am able to overlook the flaws of our society and forgive the flaws of people. I am able recognize that relatively speaking, we as a world culture are still juvenile and therefore our societal evils should be forgiven because we're not evil, we simply don't know better. I don't believe in evil. Humans, like all species, are inherently ignorant.
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