Occasionally, I get a letter from someone who is in…
““Occasionally, I get a letter from someone who is in “contact” with extraterrestrials. I am invited to “ask them anything.” And so over the years I’ve prepared a little list of questions. The extraterrestrials are very advanced, remember. So I ask things like, “Please provide a short proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.” Or the Goldbach Conjecture. And then I have to explain what these are, because extraterrestrials will not call it Fermat’s Last Theorem. So I write out the simple equation with the exponents. I never get an answer. On the other hand, if I ask something like “Should we be good?” I almost always get an answer.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
The speaker notes that extraterrestrials respond to moral questions but not to complex mathematical problems, highlighting a gap between ethical and technical communication.
In simple terms: Aliens answer moral queries, not math problems.
Key Takeaway
Focus on ethical dialogue with unknown intelligences.
Themes
communication
ethics
unknown intelligence
science
humor
Mood
curious
playful
thoughtful
Type
anecdotal
philosophical
humorous
When to use this quote
- asking moral questions
- science outreach
- public speaking
- writing speculative fiction
Key Concepts
philosophy of mind
epistemology
SETI
Questions to Reflect On
- What does this suggest about the nature of intelligence?
- How should we frame questions to unknown beings?
A Different Perspective
Extraterrestrials may lack interest or context for human mathematical constructs.