Writer's Block: Can you handle the truth?

[browngirl]

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May I have two questions?
[Either way.] Is there sentient, civilized life on other planets?
[If I got two questions] May I have a World History textbook from each such planet ETA: translated into 2000 CE American English? [Thanks, ceo!] I'll give them one of ours each in exchange (I cannot promise to translate it, though).

(I want to know if their histories are as full of struggles and inequities and violence as ours. I suspect yes, but I only have one planet's history to work from.)

Comments

[dafydd.livejournal.com]

That's a great idea!

[ceo]

That should be "May I have a World History textbook from each such planet, translated into English?" :-)

[berreh.livejournal.com]

Good answer!

[zizi-west.livejournal.com]

Wonderful idea!

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

no one said it had to be a yes/no question :) "how do i create a usable energy source so cheap as to be practically free?", for instance.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of our problems are due to primate dominance hierarchies. It's possible that a species descended from something else wouldn't have so much inequality and violence....

[nightgarden.livejournal.com]

Because I am a giant nerd, I would want copies of multiple textbooks from each planet, did such exist, so that I could compare the narratives. I would cheerfully provide a variety of Earth equivalents for my affiliate alien nerds. :)

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Damn, you're right, but I'd never have thought of that!

Though I think their struggles and inequities and violence wouldn't be the interesting part, as someone said, "Life is the conjugation of the verb 'to eat', in the active and passive voice." But what a trove of knowledge!

What happens if you get a billion (literally) books dumped on your doorstep, though?