There is little chance that aliens from two societies anywhere in the Galaxy will be culturally close enough to really ‘get along.’ This is something to ponder as you watch the famous cantina scene in Star Wars.
…Does this make sense, given the overwhelmingly likely situation that galactic civilizations differ in their level of evolutionary development by thousands or millions of years? Would you share drinks with a trilobite, an ourang-outang, or a saber-toothed tiger? Or would you just arrange to have a few specimens stuffed and carted off to the local museum?
—Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer, SETI
Yes, I would be excited to sit down with an alien species and communicate with them. I think Seth is wrong when he says that different Galactic civilizations are not culturally close enough to ‘get along’.
John
I’m with you; I would love to! I think that our willingness to sit down with people of other cultures mirrors our openness to alien species, should we encounter them. Unfortunately, many people are not very advanced in this regard. Quite a few of these are the types that like the power that comes from “having their finger on the button” and others have curiosity that overrides empathy.
Ha! That image is from the set at Star Wars Celebration Europe!
Good eye! 🙂