Chapter 1

From the Indigenous Cultures Preservation Commission

Final report regarding Planet M-7900005-gxl.

Background: Earth is populated by a single intelligent species, humans. After a gradual development covering thousands of years (their year is 1.7 galactic planetary orbital standards), development became rapid. They used fossil carbon to fuel rapid economic development, This unrestrained use of fossil carbon together with rampant deforestation threatens climate catastrophe and massive species extinction.

Natural selection of course favors what worked in the past, not what is needed in the present. The past strongly selected for loyalty to family, band, tribe or nation -- whichever size of in-group was dominant at any stage of development. There was no benefit to working for the well-being of other groups. This made it psychologically impossible for them to give up individual or group advantage for the overall planetary good. Without intervention, the vast majority of biodiversity and habit diversity will soon disappear, along with the thriving human culture. The remaining small bands of humans will preserve only a pale imitation of their past complexity and interest. In-groups will continue to compete with each other to the point of deadly violence.

This is known in the Civilization Taxonomy as Type A, which is nearly universal on planets with large and accessible stores of fossil carbon.

Intervention: The goal of the intervention is to make a small genetic change to encourage thinking of the good of the entire planet as superseding the dominance of any individual or in-group. We understand the human genetic code well enough to confidently change a dozen genes to accomplish this task. However, we cannot do this without making our presence known.

Societies never react kindly to the appearance of an alien civilization, let alone to the sort of intervention we propose, so the first step will be to infect the entire human population with an RNA vector that makes all individuals docile. This will allow us to make our presence known without severe violent resistance.

The long-term changes we seek in the genome cannot be accomplished by way of some simple RNA vector. They must be spread the old-fashioned way, through egg and sperm. Naturally sperm is the more efficient way, as a single male can fertilize hundreds of females. We calculate that we need one modified male for each unit of 5,000 people. Through repeated matings with the fertile females, this unit of 5,000 will within a few decades be transformed into a unit of perhaps 2,000, each person with the proper genetic code. This male’s modification must include a strong desire to impregnate. The docile men can continue to have sex with women, but the initial RNA vector will also make all such men sterile. (Ideally this aggressive desire to impregnate would not be heritable, but our scientists believe the best they can do is make genes that are only turned on when a particular RNA vector is present. We will treat these men at the time of their modification with this RNA molecule, and as it will never be present again, the high sex-drive genes will never be activated again.)

The earth’s population is roughly 10 billion. Our plan will require 2 million modified men. Bio-factories to modify 2 million men are quite an investment, but well within the resources we have.

A final target population of 100 million is what we would recommend, but a sudden reduction would cause great and unjustifiable suffering. We will have to leave it to the new, cooperative people to collectively decide on an appropriate final population. As much as possible, no group should perceive itself as destined for extinction. Thus these 2 million men must be drawn from racial and ethnic groups in line with current distributions and released back into the population in the corresponding geographic locations.

The crucial heritable gene modification package is putting the good of all above the good of the tribe or individual. The package will also in females be configured to kill competing eggs that do not carry the gene package, allowing it to propagate universally within two generations.

The vast majority of the population will be docile, and for the most part the world economy works just fine with people who continue in their daily routines as they always have. But the 2 million men will also have assignments to keep track of various segments of the economy in different regions, and intervene to set things right when those who are docile lack the initiative or creativity to do so. Despite their substantial reproductive duties, these men will still have time to perform such management tasks. Cognitively, the 2 million men will understand that spreading their genes is in the best interests of all in the long term, even if individual women will not always think that getting impregnated by the modified man at the moment is what she actually desires.

All of this together should then produce the gene pool we desire. The children who result from the initial matings will not be docile and peaceful by nature -- something we desire only in the generation of women who must accept repeated inseminations by unfamiliar men. They will have the usual human initiative and energy, but now constrained by the need to seek the common good.

Ideally, of course, we highly value self-determination. Any species or culture should approve any changes to their society before we implement them. In this case the situation is just too dire. We are taking on ourselves the responsibility for saving this planet by modifying a species without their consent. We hope that the vast majority of what makes humans distinctive and interesting will survive this genetic manipulation. Once they are modified to think of the common good above all else, they will see that this modification was critical for the health of the planet. Without the modification, they would be just as unable to see this as they are to act in the common good given their current genetic make up.

Follow-up: We should revisit this planet roughly 200 of their “years” from now to evaluate the results of our intervention and perhaps intervene further if warranted.

Derek Renaud, ID 1,409,555, knocked on the door.

Mr. David Jones answered.

“Hello, sir. I am here to investigate whether there are any fertile females on the premises.”

“Oh, you must be one of those guys from outer space!”

“No, I’m from earth, but the guys from outer space did tweak me so I’m different.”

“Well, pleased to meet you ... So, here’s my wife Janice. She and I, you know, do it pretty often so hardly likely she’d be fertile ... Just last night we did it, in fact.” He smiled.

Derek knew that this man was sterile, but saw no benefit in mentioning the fact.

“Could you please expose your vagina area to me, Janice?”

“Oh, OK, sure, if that’s what you want.”

“That’s kind of unusual,” said Mr. Jones, a hint of discontent in his voice.

“Oh, I assure you, it is absolutely essential. It must be done.”

Janice exposed herself, and Derek opened her vaginal lips and with a deft finger dipped into the vaginal mucus. She was not fertile.

“Any other females?”

“Well, there’s Cathy, but she’s just 14.”

“Please show me Cathy.”

Janice led him down the hall, “Hey, Cathy, you’ve got a visitor.” To Derek she said, “She’s not even married, though.”

“Cathy, pleased to meet you. Please expose your vaginal area.”

“Really?”

“Yes, please.”

“Well, if that’s what you really want...”

When Derek dipped his finger into her vagina, his finger came away with fine strands of mucus. She was likely fertile.

He turned to the two parents. “We have some business to attend to here, in private,” he said.

“Oh, OK,” said Janice, gently nudging David out in front of her and closing it behind her.

“Time to get pregnant,” he said to Cathy.

“Really? I’m a virgin. I don’t have a boyfriend.”