Entry 33 - Alien Fish and Back-Talking Nonexistent Squares

Why is it that when we try to communicate with outer-space life-forms, we usually attempt to demonstrate similarity to, or comparison with our basic mathematical concepts? What if 1) our way was only one way of understanding math and the symbols were so utterly incomprehensible to understanding the true principle that there’s no way they could share it with us. I mean, the use of numbers as symbols to represent cosmic constants is difficult for us to understand. What if other life-forms use a different philosophy. Or what if they don’t need to engineer anything? What if they have a more intuition-based understanding/manipulation of their environments. You know, like magic. Quantum mechanics done with emotion/sensory interactions. After all, a square is only a square when everyone believes it is a square and has agreed that a square has constant properties. And if numbers are only symbols representing a reality we all have to agree on through belief and can’t actually prove the exact connection between the symbol and the reality (ie to observe some reality is to interpret it, but it is no longer truth when interpreted, only an image/perception of that truth), that again sounds like philosophy. What if we are locked in some glass bowl sitting somewhere in time like the goldfish we secretly envy and are being observed. I think we would rather be goldfish. It seems like such an uncomplicated life. Our own obsession with symbolic representation and endless arguments about what we all should believe is very stressful. We can’t see what reality is, so we make up what we want the fish to be…and then wait for it to fulfill our expectations of its non-existent purpose. A lot like what we do with humans.

Is it wrong to hope that alien species are not so cruel and sadistic to each other as we are?