Human Sovereignty! Part 2

This symposium was chock full of good, clean, nerdy fun. The lectures, especially those by Chris Chyba and Fred Adams, were amazing. I strongly encourage anyone attending the University of Michigan to go and see a talk by Dr. Adams if you have a chance. Or anyone, really, it's just that he teaches there and therefore those in attendance would probably have the most opportunity to do so.

Anyway, yes, the lectures were good, but it's the Q&A that I really want to talk about. You see, J and I ran into an old friend: Mr. Human Sovereignty Guy ! He asked his question right after the old man who just had to tell the panel about his experience of feeling at one with the universe in "every atom of his body" and he is sure we exist so the "universe can feel itself." I'm not kidding you.

Anyway, back to Human Sovereignty Guy. He directed his question to the Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute, Dr. Chris Chyba: Do you believe, he asked, that aliens are visiting us and living among us? And if so, what do you think their intentions are? I'm pretty sure he's still concerned that we just aren't safe, and that it is his duty to seek out all presentations at the University of Colorado at Boulder campus to voice his concerns in order to save us all from the certain desovereignizing of humankind.

I was so stunned (and embarrassed) that I don't even remember what the response was, but I do remember that the moderator of the panel shut down his follow-up (How do you think we should treat the aliens when they get here?) with a curt, "Please check out any of the popular movies such as 'Independence Day' or 'Men In Black' for an answer to your question."

We also made a new friend, Mr. Planet X. His question was about this "new planet" he had "read about" and he was sure it was the "planet that all the pre-Judeo Christian religions believe the gods live on." The panel assured him that they had no information regarding such a planet. Mr. Planet X didn't seem convinced.