Civilisation often describes itself as a story of continuous progress.
Stone tools become bronze.
Bronze becomes steel.
Steel becomes silicon.
Yada yada yada
Each generation imagines itself to be more rational than the last.
Yet the arrival of the unknown often exposes something deeper.
Presented with a phenomenon that challenges existing models of reality, the subject frequently abandons curiosity in favour of ridicule, aggression or certainty. The tool may change, but the impulse remains remarkably familiar.
The final specimen raises a stick toward a flying object, treating one of the greatest unanswered questions as though it were a party game.
Perhaps the joke is not about UFOs.
Perhaps it is about us.
La-Br-At Signal:
Progress without expanded perception is merely better equipment wielded by the same animal.
And when you mix great power with ignorance you usually get nonsense
