Aliens are here! At least, that is the conspiracy theory that has become gospel to many worldwide. Governments’ leaking information and whistleblowers telling stories have everyone questioning whether or not aliens have visited us or not. While everyone is googling “Are aliens real?”, I am instead wondering what implications that brings to society. Let me pose some questions that may seem counterintuitive at first. Do aliens have the right to eat us? Can they morally enslave us? Should we allow it? If we are morally consistent, then the answer might be yes.
As it stands, humans culturally believe that we are in some way superior to other animal species (I will henceforth just refer to them as animals). Julia Corbett thinks that humans’ environmental belief system is based on their individual experiences and cultural pressure (Corbett, p. 13). Everyone’s personal experience with nature is different, but the cultural pressure on us to view animals as less than us is immense. Not everyone thinks about why they are morally allowed to eat steak for dinner, but most people and cultures are rooted in this idea. What is it that distinguishes humans from animals? Some say that it is our high intelligence. Well, what an arbitrary line your human brain has set for itself. The way that we measure intelligence is set to measure human intelligence. An octopus is incredibly intelligent, but it is a genius in vastly different ways than humans are. Is their type of intelligence less inherently valuable than the one our brain tells us is superior? Not to mention that, even by human measurement, the least intelligent human (Ie: a baby or someone with a mental handicap) would, therefore, be less morally valuable than many other animals such as monkeys, elephants, and dolphins. So, if aliens are here, they are likely much more intelligent than us. They found us and traveled the galaxy so I would assume they are intellectually superior to humans who can barely make it to our moon. So, if we justify killing animals because they are dumber than us, then we also must realize that aliens can justifiably kill us for their benefit.
Well, perhaps there is a line. A line of intrinsic value. Once meeting a certain threshold, an organism can have intrinsic value if it meets certain requirements. This takes out most of the quantifiability of value. I am not more valuable than a peer because I have one IQ point higher. In the same way, aliens cannot justifiably enslave us because we meet these thresholds. Therefore, we are just as intrinsically valuable as them. If we were below this line, like the pigs we eat, then they could eat us. If an organism is below this line, they don’t have intrinsic value; if they are above it, they do. This theory sounds nice to our brains. We figured out why aliens can’t make a human zoo. They won’t be visiting the savage European male enclosure or coop of wild women from America. I’m not so sold. Where is this line? Who sets the line? We’ve already established that we cannot trust our brains because they are biased. Additionally, we’ve already established that any line we draw would either exclude some humans or include animals that we degrade. So, again, this theory of human superiority fails when met with a higher being. If we are morally consistent we should understand that at least they have the right to put us behind bars. We might even have to allow this if we want to be morally consistent. Animals don’t allow us to eat them, but that is because they don’t understand our superiority. Since we would understand alien superiority, we should bow down and offer ourselves as resources for their enjoyment and health.
While interesting, the goal of this post is not to make you fear the arrival of aliens or make you submissive to our future overlords. Rather, I’d like to challenge your cultural idea of humans’ place in our environment. We take the anthropocentric (human-centered) view that we are at the top of the moral hierarchy. Culturally, this is what we have been taught. Our environmental beliefs strongly derive from our culture, but our culture is wrong. Unless you are willing to be eaten by an alien in the coming years or you are fine with being intellectually and morally dishonest, then our hierarchical view is flawed. Treat animals with the same value as fellow species. Don’t commit crimes against nature such as eating meat or capturing animals.
Corbett, Julia B. “The Formation of Environmental Beliefs.” Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages, Island Press, 2006.