Substantive on Eifelheim

It appears that Eifelheim provides us with a situation where hope does exist for human-alein interactions. In many ways this novel reminded me of the alien captain’s reasoning in the Star Trek episode “Darmok,” that desperate situations can help bring two groups together. In the episode, which is the one we watched in class, Captain Picard and his alien counterpart must learn to work together against a dangerous predator despite being unable to communicate with one another. The severity of the situation allows the two captains to bond and set a peaceful precedent from which both of their societies can work together from. In this scenario both the humans and the Krenken are faced with dire and existential threats, compelling them to work together. Although both sides suffer defeats, the two groups are able to connect and make headway in understanding one another, as well as establishing peaceful relations. Desperate situations do not necessarily produce cooperation though. For example, during WWII Japan bombed Pearl Harbor after the US cut off its’ vital oil supply rather than attempt to work with the US. In the min-series V, the aliens which are running low on resources attempt to conquer Earth in order to harvest humans. These aliens take this sinister action without considering working with the humans to secure resources such as bovine or poultry stocks. There are real world examples of desperation leading to groups coming together though. The US and the SU, for example, both collaborated against the threat of fascism during WWII.
One flaw I found with the novel was the aliens’ belief in the coming of Christ. Of course its’ understandable how miscommunication occurred at first, but I am surprised that a post-Einsteinian society wouldn’t recognize that what the villagers were describing were religious or superstitious tales. Especially since the humans in the novel had such a primitive technological level. However, perhaps because they have a mentality based on logic and reasoning, and may have had said mentality for centuries, that concepts such as religion and a lens based on supernatural reasoning might be alien to them. However, it is easy to see how the basic tenants of Christianity might appeal to a species that has overcome the Fermi’s paradox.