Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey has always been one of my favorite films, not only for it’s innovative cinematography, but also for thinking outside the box in general. More specifically, I think the film conveys a neat approach to the classic (and tragically overdone) stereotype of “first contact”.
When you think about it, how would we (humankind, that is) really expect advanced civilizations to communicate to us? Would a race of beings thousands of years more technologically proficient than us utilize simpler means of saying “hi”, like radio communications systems similar to the classic SETI arrays, in anticipation that we may not be as advanced as they are? Or, might they opt for things so far beyond us that, initially, we might not recognize them for what they actually are until much later?
An interesting article by Mac Tonnies describing ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna’s use of drugs like DMT to communicate with what he called “Fractal” or “Machine” Elves takes a closer look at something we may never have considered previously as a conduit for opening a hotline to other dimensions: fungi! Read over the article linked below and see if you were as surprised as I was at how simple organic things like mushrooms could, in theory, actually may be indicative of things far more advanced than we may realize.
http://www.seti.com/blog/terence-mckenna-communication-via-fungi
Could aliens actually be closer to us, dimensionally speaking, than we may realize? How else might we be able to open a channel of communication with sentient beings and learn the secrets of the universe, save becoming real life “star children” like in Kubrick’s film?
“We meet in some of the strangest places…”: Raoul Duke (myself) and The Undertaker (Joshua Warren) rendezvous in a private residence, home to the world’s largest collection of alien memorabilia. Like the green buddies peering at us from every angle in the photo, might real aliens be closer to us than we even realize?
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 am
[...] I’ve discussed Strassman, McKenna, and their work more in-depth in previous Gralien Report articles (not to mention the fact that Greg Bishop elegantly does so in the link above), I won’t delve [...]