Extra Terrestrials, Aliens, Advanced Life Forms, Martians, Klingons, Vulcans, Kriptonians or even Alf: why we are so obsessed with this almost mythical figure?
There have been two very different ways approaching this subject in popular culture, that has polarized the way most people think about this matter.
1 The first one is the futuristic thinking where mankind makes enough achievements in technology that allows us to go out and explore the space, deep enough to get in touch with alien civilizations.
2 The second way of thinking is the immediate scenario, where mankind today gets visitors from outer space, far more advanced than us, often portrayed as violent subjects.
The E.T. as an object
This obsession has a simple root, a simple reason: the unknown. We study and learn about our history, we discover new facts about our past, but this type of knowledge pales in comparison with the futuristic idea of an alien race somewhere in the universe.
That's why popular culture has always used the Alien as a character that complements or instigate our own questions and needs, like our fear of catastrophic death or our impulse to conquer new worlds. The aliens plays all sorts of roles - always mimicking human traits - from the savage conqueror to the poor peace-loving alien.
If you analyze this whole scenario, we face the agenda behind it: it's not about aliens, it is about ourselves, our need for heroes, to emerge triumphant after catastrophes, our moral debates facing new things.
What to expect for real?
With mankind turning its head to space again, it is possible that we can stumble into some life form like bacterias or amoeba-looking animals, but the whole "take me to your leader" type of thing is very unlikely.
The challenges that we will face in next generations will take a lot of our own blood and sweat to survive the imminent lack of fresh water or to overcome the question of the fossil fuel. With this said, I believe we are facing big questions within our atmosphere that will steal the attention from whatever blurry E.T. that is flying over us.
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