Shared Responsibilty

By Marty Block

Technological civilization is a unique occurrence in our galaxy. It is quite reasonable to believe that even if there have been other such technological civilizations that have arisen on others of the 100 billion planets that it is estimated have existed within solar systems surrounding some of the 100 - 400 billion stars in the Milky Way over the 13.6 billion years since its creation, they are such a rare achievement that there most likely never were any two overlapping technological civilizations on two of the planets in those many solar systems; which is a sound explanation why we have never had an authenticated contact with another technological civilization and quite probably never shall.

That is not the same as saying that there is no other life on the myriad of planets and satellites within the galaxy.  If life was able to be created on the Earth at a time when the environmental conditions were potentially hostile to such an event, there is no reasonable argument that it could not occur elsewhere.

But if indeed the theory of the rarity of technological civilizations coming into existence is correct, then our's may be alone in the Milky Way, which means we, the people of the Earth, the third planet in the solar system surrounding a rather ordinary sun sitting on one of the galaxy's spiral arms, carry a high burden and ethical responsibility to exert every effort to preserve and advance our technological civilization.

The burden and responsibility to preserve and advance our civilization is a shared responsibility belonging to no single nation, institution, or people.  It is an individual and collective responsibility and it carries with it the added burden of all that share this planet to individually and collectively ensure that no individual nation, institution, or people jeopardize the well-being of the others by acts of commission or omission.

Which brings us to the immediate threat to civilization brought about because of the irresponsible and/or deliberate acts of the People's Republic of China resulting from the Corvid-19 epidemic and the actions of  China and the World Health Organization before, during, and following the inauguration of the chain of events.