amarok2005
Ephemeral Spectre
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
- Messages
- 370
Living among us undetected may be creatures (not necessarily alien) with all the outward appearances of human beings. The mimic would of necessity be a ‘lone wolf,’ likely living in a large, bustling city where the eccentric and the odd may flourish unhindered. For it is a curious fact of nature that that which is in plain view is often best hidden.
-- Alex Saunders, Quest Magazine, October 1969
One of my favorite themes in science fiction (and forteana) is the idea that we might share the earth with other intelligent beings. I started off the new millennium (well, the year 2000) by reading Scientific American (Jan. 2000) cover to cover (yep, I'm just the life of any New Year's party). An article therein -- "Once We Were Not Alone," by Ian Tattersall -- points out that our ancestors shared the earth with 15 - 20 other hominid species -- Neandertals, Homo ergaster, Homo rudolfensis, Paranthropus boisei, etc. And now there is only one (known) intelligent species. Why?
"In Levant, the coexistence ceased -- after about 60,000 years or so -- at right about the time that Upper Paleolithic-like tools began to appear." (pp. 61-62) In other words, the minute we created better weapons, we killed the bas---ds.
Maybe the "not noticing/not realizing how strange it is" factor is THEIR survival instinct, imposed psychically on those seven billion furless killer apes infesting the planet.