Ten commandments for extra-planetary travellers

Nicholas Albery

What an unsavoury character Christopher Columbus was, at least as described by Kirkpatrick Sale in 'The Conquest of Paradise'. And the Europe from which he came was itself 'petty, racist, morbid, disillusioned, violent and arrogant.'

Columbus landed on an island in the Antilles inhabited by the Taino people, and proceeded to enslave them, with 'unchecked Spanish ruffians embarking on daily raids of rape, pillage, robbery and murder.' In 1500 a second expedition arrived and, seeing the ravages Columbus had allowed, sent him home in chains. The devastation continued however: within a generation the Taino were driven from their islands; and within a century they were extinct.

'There is in my opinion no better people and no better land in the world. They love their neighbours as themselves, and their way of speaking is the sweetest in the world, always gentle and smiling'

And yet these were the people Columbus had described on his first landfall as 'so affectionate, they have so little greed .. and there is in my opinion no better people and no better land in the world. They love their neighbours as themselves, and their way of speaking is the sweetest in the world, always gentle and smiling. Both men and women go naked as their mothers bore them; but ... their behaviour to one another is very good and their king keeps marvellous state, yet with a certain kind of modesty that is a pleasure to behold, as is everything else here.'

During the next century the Spanish from the Old World were responsible for the deaths of upwards of 15 million of the New Worlders. Paradise had been expelled.

This tragic incursion set me thinking. One day our race, if it survives, may feel its destiny is to leave the solar system before our sun expires, and to go in search of other habitable solar systems. What lessons can be learnt from Columbus' errors? For the crew setting off for Alpha Centauri, what Ten Commandments would be appropriate? Here is my version.

'For the crew setting off for Alpha Centauri, what Ten Commandments would be appropriate?'

(1) Thou shalt not travel beyond thine own solar system without first studying the history of previous explorers and of their tragic impact on the beings they encountered.

(2) Thou shalt not assume that human culture is superior or treat intelligent beings from other solar systems as less than human, for that way lies genocide.

(3) Thou shalt eat as low down the IQ chain as possible, in case thou ever needst a moral argument to persuade more intelligent beings from other planets not to eat thyself.

(3) Thou shalt approach other species as if thou wert a mass of infections and a bearer of plagues.

(4) Thou shalt have ecologists who respect ecological diversity in charge of thine explorations.

(5) Thou shalt simply observe on arrival, and take minimal action, until thou art fully in tune with the ways and rituals of the inhabitants.

(6) Thou shalt have no sexual intercourse with other species.

(7) Thou shalt stay hidden and make minimal direct contact with the inhabitants of other planets, if there is any danger of thy culture overwhelming theirs.

'Thou shalt leave any planet visited in at least as good a condition as when thou hast arrived'

(8) Thou shalt leave any planet visited in at least as good a condition as when thou hast arrived.

(9) Thou shalt take up as small and unobtrusive a space as possible on any planet where thou stayst long-term, and thou shalt go away if not made welcome, whether at the outset or at any time thereafter.

(10) Thou shalt not take advantage of the innocence or naivety of any extra-terrestrial beings.

- Nicholas Albery, 20 Heber Road, London NW2 6AA (tel 081 208 853; fax 081 452 6434).
- 'The Conquest of Paradise - Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy', by Kirkpatrick Sale, published by Hodder and Stoughton (47 Bedford Sq, London WC1B 3DP), hardback, 1991, L17-95, ISBN 0 340 53383 8.

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