Loftwings and Demons

Sometimes I look at the stars and wonder if we'll ever find anyone else out there. Beings like us, or even other lifeforms nothing like us, but irrefutably and undeniably alive. I have little doubt they're out there, but whether we will ever encounter them or recognize them for what they are is another question entirely. Still, I don't know everything. Maybe somehow Earth is the only planet with life.

But I don't ever wonder if we are alone.

Humanity numbers more than 8 billion now. How can anyone call that alone?

We are not alone.

And we share this world with innumerable alien intelligences: with chimpanzees and whales and dolphins and ravens and crows, with parrots and pigs and octopuses, and dogs and cats and rats and bees, none of which can be said to think like a human, but all of which it can be said that they do, in fact, think, sometimes in ways no human possibly could. All of these, and countless others, share this world with us.

We are not alone.

And I think these beings, which are today being destroyed at a rate and with a callousness that I believe exceeds all others in history that were perpetuated upon them by their fellow beings, by the same engines of suffering unleashed on humanity by certain other humans, need to be given a greater recognition in this world for the wondrous and irreplaceable creatures they are, not just as a faceless and indistinct group to be 'managed' or 'conserved' as species, not just as objects of comfort for humanity, but as individuals and societies who deserve consideration and compassion as much as any human does.

We are not alone.

We are not alone, but we often view our fellow beings, both human and otherwise, with open contempt, as objects, as playthings, as idle amusements, to be used and discarded as we please.

We are not alone.

But still some ask if we are. But is it really comraderie with far-off beings we seek when we ask this question? Or is it simply another form of exoticism? Another way to devalue those of us on this planet with us right now? Sometimes I think about that when I think about my own desire to answer the question of alien life.

We are not alone. We are a part of humanity, we are siblings to the other animals we share this world with, and beyond that even, we are connected to every wondrous lifeform that populates this globe. While we cannot always avoid conflict with one another, we should strive to view others with the compassion that we would want others to extend to ourselves. We should strive to avoid violence and harm against others whenever and wherever we can. We should strive to protect others from harm whenever and wherever we can.

Because we are not alone. But still, life, all life, is precious, unique, and rare. The universe after all is mostly empty space. We are all given such an infintesimal strip of time to eke out our lives in an often hostile universe.

All we have is one another. And a choice: to actively make that universe an even more hostile place, or to care for each other as best we can.

I feel like alien characters are just cooler than human characters, and this is what draws me to space scifi. Like you can get something analogous in fantasy sometimes, and not all space scifi includes this, but its just more common to have nonhuman characters in space scifi. Robots can count too but aliens are usually my favorite. I have a real dislike of the 'just wants to be human' trope that both categories often suffer from, but especially the robot one. Also not a fan of nonhuman characters being considered somehow lesser than human ones. Like don't get me wrong, I *can* enjoy humans, but every 'just want to be human' sentiment, every 'humans are better, more complex, more capable of emotional depth' sentiment gives 'humanity' in the story a greater and greater normative vibe to me, until I start reading 'humanity' as a stand-in for 'normal people'. Quite frankly, it's rather alienating to me.