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When you think about it, humans seem pretty darn obsessed with escaping Earth. We sink billions of dollars into space programs, hoping to find another planet that’s capable of hosting us.
What’s wrong with our home here? Well, if you believe one new theory, it’s because this isn’t so much a home as it is a prison, and that aliens long ago sent humans to Earth jail for misbehaving.
That’s the claim of Ellis Silver in his new book, Humans Are Not From Earth. It’s a pretty straightforward, albeit widely implausible, premise. Humans are naturally violent, he says, which is why an alien society placed us here. To keep us from harming the universe.
Which would explain why escape is so ingrained in our mind. We don’t want to be here.
Does he have unassailable reasoning behind this. Oh. Yea. From an interview with The Metro:
‘Mankind is supposedly the most highly developed species on the planet, yet is surprisingly unsuited and ill-equipped for Earth’s environment: harmed by sunlight, a strong dislike for naturally occurring (raw) foods, ridiculously high rates of chronic disease, and more. Plus there’s a prevailing feeling among many people that they don’t belong here or that something “just isn’t right”.
‘This suggests (to me at least) that mankind may have evolved on a different planet, and we may have been brought here as a highly developed species. One reason for this, discussed in the book, is that the Earth might be a prison planet – since we seem to be a naturally violent species – and we’re here until we learn to behave ourselves. (There’s no sign of that happening.)’
Some naysayers are not convinced, and have used science to explain how this probably isn’t true, but we have neither the time nor the space for reasoned critiques when we’re talking about Earth being space’s Australia.
Hey, we even already have the kangaroos.