Your Quote of the Day

“He who knows all the answers has not been asked all the questions.”
― Confucius

“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so ******* what."

[I saw hate in a graveyard -- Stephen Fry, The Guardian, 5 June 2005]”
― Stephen Fry

“No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it”
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

You snipe so steady, you snub so snide, so rip and ready to diminish and deride.
Joni Mitchell

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest

“When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”
― Aldous Huxley

“Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul.”
― Walt whitman

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
― Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke may have not noticed, but there are over 1 and 1/2 million species of organisms other than humans on this Earth. It's merely an anthrocentric attitude that belittles all other living organisms on this planet.

He is focusing on intelligent life on other planets. I think he assumes we already are in contact with Earthly organisms.

That's only counting the ones we discovered so far... There could be millions more yet undiscovered.

Yeah. One and a half million named and many more unnamed, some of which will be destroyed before they're discovered.

That is, perhaps, a presumptuous assumption as it applies to "we". Most Americans have a kindergarten level of knowledge when it comes to Natural History, that is, virtually no knowledge at all about the other organisms with which we share the planet.
The natural history education in this country is nil, and anything taught by a teacher on this subject is extracurricular.

I'm talking about the lack of ability to even identify a few plants, trees, insects, or birds, etc. It's like we're aliens that have just arrived on this planet and have no knowledge or even an interest in gaining knowledge on its natural history.

It's like we're still living with The credo of the Dark Ages, geocentrism and anthropocentrism, where every living thing on this planet is here just for our utility and doesn't have a right to live for its own sake. Virtually nothing has a right to live unless it's threatened or endangered and then gains special protection. I'm not talking about needing laws for protection, I'm talking about an anthropocentric attitude engendered by our archaic religious credo that has to change if the natural world is to survive and we can avoid a "Soylent Green" future.

Indeed... We're pretty good at wiping them off. :-(

In fact, them aliens should probably be more worried about us than us about them.

Clarke had to know all of that. It's not in the scope of his quote's intent.

My folks came to the U.S. as immigrants, aliens, and became citizens.
I was born in Boston, a citizen, went to Hollywood and became an alien.
Leonard Nimoy

“There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

I also think our temperament is carried over from generation to generation.

By the time humans become aware enough to change we may be in the last stage of going extinct.