Defining "Family"
Here's an issue that the books in “The Archives of Varok” address--how should we define a "family" and provide it legal rights and protection? Come join the comment contest until June 20—a set of books going to the most thoughtful ideas about two issues. The first issue is directly related to my blog, the Hen House theme of our responsibility to animals that we adopt, as well as humans to whom we commit.
My reviewer at the Los Alamos Daily Post asked the best question yet--could an extended family including aliens and humans really work? The mixed family of The Archives surely do have their problems, and though they’ve met them head-on in The Webs of Varok, there are more to come in the next volume, Conn: The Alien Effect, to be released early this summer.
I’d like to believe that we humans have matured to the point where we could appreciate the alienness of other beings. We’re doing much better now, since Temple Grandin shared her experiences with us in her book Animals In Translation, New York: Scribner, 2005. I agree that my birds do see things in WISIWIG mode. It takes them some time to learn, then to remember, that the gate is really open and that they need to go around the pen to see that it is. Scientist now are not hooted down when they seek to explore the emotional lives of animals.
The grin on DeeDee’s face expresses unmistakable delight when she greets me at the gate, ready to join us in the living room for the evening. So why not aliens? Surely they can also feel emotions, even if their DNA reflects a different code. Does their evolution have to be so different we can’t relate to it? If we connect, can’t we commit to mutual support and be family?
My experience studying biology suggests that our understanding of chemistry, complex systems and self-organizing selection makes it reasonable to expect that evolution on Earth is a sorting process that could occur anywhere conditions are right. Some elements, like carbon, get together more easily than others, are more stable, more capable of devising interesting strategies for survival.
This is not to say that we are not unique. Even as individuals we are unique, though the details of our existence, the chemistry and physics that define our lives, are universal—and downright awe inspiring in their complexity and precision. Makes one very thankful to be alive.
Join the conversation and win a set of books. Place a comment here.
My reviewer at the Los Alamos Daily Post asked the best question yet--could an extended family including aliens and humans really work? The mixed family of The Archives surely do have their problems, and though they’ve met them head-on in The Webs of Varok, there are more to come in the next volume, Conn: The Alien Effect, to be released early this summer.
I’d like to believe that we humans have matured to the point where we could appreciate the alienness of other beings. We’re doing much better now, since Temple Grandin shared her experiences with us in her book Animals In Translation, New York: Scribner, 2005. I agree that my birds do see things in WISIWIG mode. It takes them some time to learn, then to remember, that the gate is really open and that they need to go around the pen to see that it is. Scientist now are not hooted down when they seek to explore the emotional lives of animals.
The grin on DeeDee’s face expresses unmistakable delight when she greets me at the gate, ready to join us in the living room for the evening. So why not aliens? Surely they can also feel emotions, even if their DNA reflects a different code. Does their evolution have to be so different we can’t relate to it? If we connect, can’t we commit to mutual support and be family?
My experience studying biology suggests that our understanding of chemistry, complex systems and self-organizing selection makes it reasonable to expect that evolution on Earth is a sorting process that could occur anywhere conditions are right. Some elements, like carbon, get together more easily than others, are more stable, more capable of devising interesting strategies for survival.
This is not to say that we are not unique. Even as individuals we are unique, though the details of our existence, the chemistry and physics that define our lives, are universal—and downright awe inspiring in their complexity and precision. Makes one very thankful to be alive.
Join the conversation and win a set of books. Place a comment here.
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Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction
Expanding on the ideas portrayed in The Archives of Varok books for securing the future.
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