If they’re anything like us, they’ll still need culture. I’d expect their mythologies and fantasies to be as advanced as their starships. Whatever that would look like!
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Or it will get morphed into some New Age-y mess of borrowed superstitions. Did you know that a cross is an ancient earthling talisman that brings luck? You should try some of these “bread” and “wine” things, it’s a kind of earthling magic that will surely cure your chronic tentacle pain and [alien equivalent of erectile dysfunction].
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does this also apply to humans uploaded into computers, artificial intelligences, uplifted animals, cyborgs and posthumans?
this is kinda related to the question if any of the above also have “human rights”
Mythology and fantasy and culture and tribal dynamics of ingroup/outgroup division are pretty evolutionarily favored, though. If they have technology, and thus specialization, then they probably have something comparable to religion used to compel individuals to work more harmoniously as a group. The question would be, would they see us as part of that group, or as apart from that group. Depending on if we’re the first ET critters they’ve encountered or not, they might have a way of dealing with that already.
I think your number 6 would actually be a disqualification… a single tyrant is easy to communicate with (especially if she rules by whim with absolute power) but kind of represents the opposite of an evolved government. If you’ve eliminated resource allocation disputes (which means eliminating war and poverty) then you don’t need rulers - every man can be his own king, every woman her own queen. To get into the Galactic Overcivilization maybe you’ll have to evolve past any need for masters and mastered. Tribalism might be just the ticket, with tribes determined by interests and compatibilities… Hi, I’m from the Zen Poet tribe! Mickey here is a Drunken Footballer, we like to hang out!
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Resource disputes are the natural order of things–they are how nature self regulates. Without some sort of overarching control they will be inevitable.
Many big problems can only be effectively addressed if all members of the society cooperate and act against their short term individual interest. You will never solve the prisoners dilemma on a global scale without massive cooperation.
Don’t mistake me either, I’m not advocating for a worldwide emperor who rules with an iron fist, but without some sort of worldwide authority you’ll never get climate change under control or even deal with resource disputes. There needs to be disincentive for people acting in their own self interest in ways that hurt society or the planet as a whole.
Well, that’s actually a good example of what I was implying. I believe that if the worldwide authorities weren’t acting very aggressively to prevent it, people would quickly solve the fossil fuel pollution crisis driving so-called “global warming”. Three states have banned direct sales of Teslas, because people want to do something about pollution, and that would harm the status quo that supports the authorities. Oil companies are making record profits, but they are still given corporate welfare which they spend to promote fake grass-roots “drill baby drill” campaigns that propagandize otherwise well-intentioned people in the sticks. Etc… etc… etc… ad nauseum… Authorities will act to preserve their authority, which means retarding progress is their goal. Cinncinatus and Washington were outliers, that’s why they are so famous.
In the absence of distorting forces like political authoritarianism, evolution works. People don’t do things that will wipe out their children unless they haven’t any alternatives or information. Lemming mass suicide is a myth. It’s well-informed post-Reagan plutocracy that’s out of control, the peasantry aren’t creating a tragedy of the commons out of ignorance and greed. The authorities actively work to remove or obscure the very disincentives of which you speak; it’s their means of retaining power.
This discussion has wandered way too far off topic, so this is the last I’m going to say about it, but evolution is too slow to solve our environmental problems. Sure if we destroy the environment then we’ll all die and the cockroaches will take over, it’s evolution in action, but that’s not a desirable outcome for us.
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