NATS1525 assignment 2 final
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NATS1525
Extraterrestrial Life Debate
Assignment No.2
October 24th, 2023
By: Amen Mirza
1 Excerpts from Voltaire’s
Micromegas
In this homework, we will take a closer look at the novel Micromegas (1752) and see
how Voltaire employed his pluralistic contentions to criticize some of the religious beliefs or the
socio-political climate of his time. The novel begins with a depiction of the early life of
Micromegas, an inhabitant of a planet orbiting the star Sirius, and describes how he embarked on
his voyage to our planet.
1. Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the above introduction is the huge sizes of the
extraterrestrial protagonist and his friend. By referring to the huge size of Sirians and
Saturanians Voltaire is mocking one of the individuals we discussed in this course so far.
Refer to your notes and find out who this individual is.
Voltaire is mocking Fontenelle and the theologian because of their different views ans
beliefs regarding extraterrestrial attributes.
2. In your opinion, how our modern perception of the size and anatomy of extraterrestrials
differs from that of Micromegas? You might want to do a quick search on the net before
responding to this question (your answer should be about 200 words here).
The media portrays extraterrestrials either as monsters that are much more advanced than
humans which is usually for shock value; or usually society sees aliens with bigger heads, green
and thin limbs, resembling humans by size and stature. In the story Micromegas the
extraterrestrials are shown as giant god-like creatures that go up to 120,000 feet tall and can live
up to 400 years which is very different from our portrayal of ETs. The reason behind this may be
due to the lack of knowledge around extraterrestrials and space itself compared to now, for
example, now looking into space there can be a clear distinction that it is hard to find a planet
with the size of 21,600,000 ft. There is also more technology during this time to be able to
explore that ETs can be in other forms other than humanoid, with us finding microbial life now
our perception has also changed. The 18th century also still had a fantasy and fictional view on
extraterrestrials which shaped a much more unrealistic view.
3. In the above passage, discuss how Voltaire’s description of extraterrestrials and their
senses differs from that of Huygens (you might want to refer to your notes).
As mentioned previously in Voltaire’s story the extraterrestrials seem to have a multitude
of senses which can go up to 1,000 and seem god-like with their great size and the amount of
time they can live whereas Huygens depiction of extraterrestrials was much more based on us
humans and that there are many similarities between humans and extraterrestrials, he argued that
extraterrestrials need sight and hearing to find food and be aware of danger, and that smell, touch
and taste are enough for survival. He also stated that earth would have too much of an advantage
of ETs.
4. How does our modern perception of extraterrestrials compare to the views of Voltaire?
More specifically, do we believe that extraterrestrials have evolved similar senses to us or
do we believe that they might possess additional senses (again, you might want to do a
quick search before responding to this question. Don’t forget your references)?
The modern perception of extraterrestrials is much more realistic now compared to
Voltaire, because there was a lot of unknown regarding planets and space in the 18th century the
concept of life on other planets was wildly dramatized, now we may imagine extraterrestrials as
more human like with similar senses with added senses possibly to survive harsh the harsh
environments of other planets. Research shows that ETs could be potentially made by similar
processes and mechanisms that humans also evolve from. For example, natural selection is one
thing ETs may also experience, they may have to evolve certain attributes or senses due to harsh
climate or other environments.
5. The above quote is another interesting passage from the book where Voltaire describes
the two moons of Mars. The two moons of Mars were only discovered in 1877, while
Micromeags was published 125 years earlier. On what grounds does Voltaire predict the
existence of the two moons of Mars. What are the two lines of reasoning which he uses in
concluding that Mars must have two moons (hint: you might want to go back to Kepler and
his discussion of the moons of Jupiter)?
The story justifies Mars having 2 satellites due to the proximity to the Sun, and Kepler
assisted in this theory due to his laws of planetary motion and suggested that Jupiter could also
have multiple moons; Kepler’s laws of planetary motion assisted in setting a foundation to create
a better understanding of the dynamics of celestial bodies which includes the satellites of Jupiter.
6. In the sentence, appearing in bold, which one of the following concepts is Micromegas
referring to? Discuss your response in a short paragraph.
(a) Anthropocentrism
(b) Copernican principle
(c) Doctrine of Atonement
(d) Principle of Plenitude
The sentence in bold aligns the most with Principle of plenitude due to the Sirian and
Saturnian beings visiting Earth and seeing the size of the inhabitants and their insignificance due
to their size and comparing it to the vastness of space that they witnessed and that the universe
can contain all possible forms of existence. The bolded sentence shows the Sirian and Saturnian
beings expressing wonder and amazement for the humans due to viewing them as such useless
beings due to the difference in size, which is ironic because us humans believe as though we are
the most intellectually and physically evolved in the universe and that our inventions and
technologies are the most advanced. The Principle of plenitude is depicted in this excerpt due to
the vast difference of Earth and how different the Micromegas view themselves.
7. In the above quote, what is Micromegas’s initial impression of the sociopolitical
conditions of the planet Earth? How does Micromegas’s initial impression compare to our
modern speculations about extraterrestrial societies? Do we speculate advanced
extraterrestrial societies to be peaceful Utopias free of war and violence? Discuss your
answer.
Micromega’s initial impression of Earth is that they view humans as very positive
because they are saying even though the humans themselves are small in size they still possess
the intellectual, emotional and spiritual capacity. They admired humans for living a life that has
“thinking and love” which enriches the human spirit. Micromega’s view on humans seems to be
congruent with our view on extraterrestrial societies as well, we assume ETs to be a peaceful
society being far more technologically advanced. There are also researchers assuming they may
be more like us than we think since they experience the same universe as us possibly. There are
many claims that there is a possibility that ETs have already viewed Earth’s war and world issues
and decided themselves to not be involved in the violence. Overall, many people view ET
societies to be more advanced technologically and societally.
8. In the above passage, what concept is the theologian referring to? Is Voltaire’s position
favourable to that of Micromegas or that of theologian’s? Based on the lecture for this
week, why do you think Voltaire is criticizing the theologian and his views?
In the passage the Saturnian and Sirian have an encounter with a creature that is narrow
minded and represents a parody of the narrow minded philosophers who have a more
anthropocentric view on the universe, and the creature is adamant on the fact that everything was
only made for mankind which the Saturnian and Sirian find humorous. Voltaire’s position lies
more with the Micromegas that is why the passage is depicting the narrow minded creature as
humorous. Voltaire always believed in pluralism and the idea of life outside Earth, he was a
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philosopher of enlightenment afterall, the story Micromegas itself was based on his belief of
pluralism while being satire and criticizing institutional religion and politics.
Work cited
“Aliens May Be More like Us than We Think.”
University of Oxford
, 31 Oct. 2017,
www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-10-31-aliens-may-be-more-us-we-think.
Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence
,
www.nsa.gov/portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/cryptologic-spe
ctrum/communications_with_extraterrestrial.pdf. Accessed 3 Nov. 2023.