Part 9: The Consequences of Alien-to-Alien Telepathic Communication
 

The evidence suggests at least two possible scenarios for the character of alien society. The first is based on the idea of total telepathy: all aliens can monitor all other aliens’ thoughts. There are no barriers or limitations. Multileveled communication could take place and the aliens can choose the level or levels he wishes to participate in.

The second is based on limited telepathy: aliens can either select the thoughts they wish to convey or they can monitor selected thoughts to the exclusion of others. The second scenario suggests that the aliens have a choice about whether or not they desire to have all thoughts open to transmission. This method of communication is more linear with single threads of thought. The two scenarios reflect societies that might differ in the degree of personal privacy allowed, but are nonetheless extremely dissimilar to human cultures.

The totally telepathic society, while having logic, and rationality in common with human societies would, by necessity, be profoundly different. Although an uncontrollable full exposure of all thoughts would be considered horrifying in most human societies, it could be the norm for a totally telepathic society and its consequences would be vast. In effect, one would be forced to share one's innermost private life with all others and therefore individual freedom of thought would be diminished or even nonexistent.

In this type of society uniqueness and individuality could be significantly curtailed. Special characteristics of physiology, clothes, affect, and expression, which can be important for human expression of individuality, would have little, if any, use in a society where individual identity is severely mitigated or altogether unnecessary. The inhabitants would be born into a “public,” or even “corporate,” rather than private culture. The aliens' identity would be reflective primarily of that society’s needs and of the specific function that they must perform within it. Individuality would not be a functional operative within this system.

Abductee reports appear to bear out the diminution of individual alien identity. The gray aliens seem to have no names or personality characteristics that separate them from the others. Outwardly, they look alike, dress alike, act alike and most likely think alike. They appear to have few activities that would give them personal satisfaction -- they do not joke with abductees, engage in dialogue about themselves, ask personal questions for their own satisfaction, and so forth. All personality and individual activity is directed toward the abduction goal in a clinical and dispassionate way.

Because personal uniqueness, individuality, and one's sense of self would be significantly lessened, a hive mentality would ensue as function and performance become more important than creativity and initiative. The group rather than the individual becomes the most important social unit. In effect, the “government” or the hierarchy of authority becomes paramount as the individual is subordinated to group needs. In this atmosphere, harboring thoughts opposed to the group's prevailing norms and viewpoints might be undesirable and perhaps even unthinkable. The beings would have little or no ability to become "rebels" or to struggle significantly against the societal grain. Conformity and rigid truth would be the norm eliminating the need for nuance or for the “little white lies” of normal discourse that allow for human society to proceed smoothly and humanely without injury to others' feelings. In this society, good or evil does not exist, only function and compliance.

The second scenario suggests that alien society might be based on mitigated, or partial, telepathy. In a mitigated telepathic society the aliens would have more control in their ability to transmit thoughts telepathically. Allowing for the capacity to filter out what is not wanted, or to have a mechanism to turn aspects of telepathy on or off, one's ability to perform tasks accurately and efficiently might be increased. In this form of telepathy, the aliens might employ a form of telepathy limited to purposeful communication.

Even with this filtering mechanism, the ability to tap into another being's thoughts on any level would significantly diminish the concept of privacy. Although the aliens would have a more private inner life, their sense of self and their ability to express individuality would be severely compromised. The salient factor would still be the inner, rather than the outer, mode of expression and that might have almost as severe a set of consequences on group versus individual life as total telepathy would have, and it would still be consistent with abductee descriptions of their interactions.

Whatever the degree of telepathy, the chances are that it actively contributes to a society that is more communal than private, more conforming than individual. It is unknown to what degree the aliens can employ and manipulate telepathy, but regardless of the degree of this method of communication, it suggests even more profound differences between alien and human society.

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