by Erik Nilsson

Surely, there is no conclusive evidence of life on other planets, but in our
ancient history there are legends about another, vastly intelligent race
that lived billions of years ago, billions of light years away.
 

Ancient hieroglyphs found on cavern walls throughout the world tell of
triangular or tubular craft that flew into the heavens. These craft were
remarkable. They not only flew, but also would often drop capsules that
would create blinding flashes of light and incinerate everything close to
where they fell.

This species could communicate with all the other members of their species
through the air, even if these other members were on the other side of the
planet. They could put thoughts into little cubes, and the cubes could think
about these thoughts too.

Yes, certainly, this was an unimaginably strange race, not much like us at all.

Not only did this race send their thoughts around their planet through the
air, their thoughts continued to travel in all directions of space forever.
This is how we learned about them. According to the ancient hieroglyphs,
about a billion years ago, our reception devices began picking up these
communications that were unintentionally sent into space.
 

This species sent us many messages they never intended us to receive. They
would "broadcast" everything from their reproductive acts, called "porn," to
their many technological innovations, which they recorded in broadcasts
called "infomercials."
 

But always, from the time the broadcasts began, there were communications
about bands of humans who would do astonishing things to other bands of
humans. They would put holes in each other, or poison each other, or burn
each other, or blow each other up, or dismember each other, or split each
other's atoms.
 

Yes, this was an unimaginably strange race, not much like us at all.

 
These particular broadcasts were called "news" broadcasts, and the bands of
humans who would kill each other called this act "war."

 
Over the years, there was never a time in the broadcasts without war being
on the news, and the devices they used to kill each other became larger and
more efficient. Within 25 human years, there were enough of these devices,
called "weapons," to destroy every member of their species many times over.
 

As time passed, the ancients say, the wars on earth became more frequent.
The human population exploded, and people didn't hold the same reservations
about going to war as they had before.
 

There were many tremendous wars, but one day, the news told about an
enormous war that was to come. The news said the Great War was to begin

the next day. The ancients all huddled around the reception devices, wondering

what this Great War would bring for this remarkable alien race.
 

But then, the broadcasts just stopped.
 

As suddenly as they had begun, these messages that were never intended for
us to see were seen no more. For a billion years now, only silence has come
from Earth.
 

Surely, the writings of these ancients are not evidence for the existence of
an alien race, but only myth. These tales of an earth with humans and wars
are just too absurd, too fantastic to be real.
 

But perhaps our race can learn from these myths, from these proverbs of
creatures whose intelligence surpassed their wisdom, whose technology
surpassed their compassion. Perhaps this proverbial message in a bottle

sent unwittingly from half a universe away, shows us how important it is to
realize that despite our differences, if warlike aliens such as the humans
were to invade tomorrow, we'd realize how much more alike we are than
different on this planet. And it shows us what can happen if we forget that.