To Bound Us All

Dyson Rings, I’ve never heard of such a thing, but I have heard of Dyson spheres. They are theoretical mega-structures enveloping a star so that an advanced civilization may harness the full potential of that star’s energy output. So, I ran with this idea and created the Dyson Rings for my latest sci-fi short story entitled The Price Tag. Without giving away the plot, the rings were manufactured to save humanity from catastrophe.

The idea is that the Earth itself is encapsulated within the structures. So, this is what I sought to recreate when I generated the illustrations in Stable Diffusion. Many of the pieces did not show the rings around earth but on it or beside it. So while they did not serve my narrative purposes, they are still unique and got my imagination going about their possible functions.

Humanity has built mega-structures in the past, but it isn’t until recently that our engineering projects have gotten gargantuan from a technological perspective. I’m thinking of mega projects such as those found in China or Dubai. It won’t be long before we routinely engineer massive and ambitious structures at such scales, particularly with the aid of AI.

Things do get a bit more unsettling when we begin to talk about alien civilizations. Imagine if an intelligent alien life-form came out of nowhere and started building structures around the planet. Do you think we would act rationally? And in case of conflict, do you believe that humanity is equipped to defend itself against a civilization capable of doing these kinds of mega-projects?

Maybe we would have to test the aliens first to figure out how strong they are. I mean, what choice would we have if some extra-terrestrial beings just came to our neighborhood and started building themselves a little fort? We could try to communicate with them, “hey buddy, would you mind telling us what you’re building there?”

They might answer and say something like, “don’t worry about it. You’ll love it.”

Or…

“Mind your business, partner.”

Or…

…(silence)…

Silence would probably be the worst. Why? Because we’re still a juvenile species that’s quick on the trigger, and if some alien species gives us attitude, we might just pop a cap on its ass.

In the meantime, the structures would still be there, hiding its mysteries. They would be the clear sign that humanity has become a galactic species. The sh!t could hit the fan at any moment too. Bam! It's invasion time, baby. All of a sudden, worries about the price of avocado pale in comparison to an alien species with no easily discernible motives coming at us from all sides.

I think that deep inside, we all hope that our contact with aliens will be peaceful and full of rainbows. But I’ve been long enough in this universe to know that species don’t survive just because they are nice but because they are fit (and sexy) for the moment.

It is still possible that when we reach a certain level of understanding then our willingness to engage in a struggle diminishes. I mean, if I walked into a bar full of bikers, I don’t think I’m going to try to act like a tough guy. Obviously, I would be at a disadvantage. Same with aliens. They might turn out to be a bunch of pissed off bikers, as some wit put it. If so, then what would we do? It would be to our disadvantage to put up a fight, knowing that we would get our butts kicked by the alien bikers. Then peace is attained either through submission to the stronger and unmovable force, or escape to another world with the tail between our legs.

I'm hopeful that the aliens will not be bikers but enlightened hippies building mega-rings of love meant to increase bliss exponentially until we reach a state of ecstasy equals to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared.

That would be so groovy, man. Peace.

Images generated by @litguru using Generative Art software

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