Communing Across Dimensions

Are Aliens Intelligent?

In times past, many have posited that beings not of this Earth might surpass human intellect to such a degree that discourse between our kinds would be unattainable. Such conjectures do not sway my belief. Others have suggested that perhaps these otherworldly entities inhabit a realm of four dimensions, eluding our perception owing to this extra spatial quality. These assertions strike me as nonsensical. For consider: humans engage in meaningful exchanges with the canine species, who despite their lesser complexity, manage to communicate desires such as hunger, and comply with commands to sit. This faculty of understanding transcends species, extending to the study of other creatures whose signals are often conveyed through subtle physical gestures. From these observations, humans have even taught dolphins to construct and comprehend rudimentary sentences visually.

Why then should we assume celestial beings of purported higher intelligence incapable of bridging communicative divides with us? Take, for instance, the hypothetical of a two-dimensional species: these beings would perceive us only as fleeting outlines, akin to sheets of parchment viewed edge-on. Yet even if limited to their planar existence, unable to perceive depth, the presence of an object in their realm would be unmistakable. This sudden manifestation of material could prompt curiosity and study, establishing a rudimentary form of interaction through the appearance and disappearance of objects—essentially, a binary system of communication.

Extending this analogy to four-dimensional beings attempting to communicate with us, one might expect to observe fragments of their presence, akin to apparitions, as they intersect with our three-dimensional space. If such beings exist and have not yet mastered such a basic system as binary, which underpins even the simplest dimensional understanding by signifying presence and absence, can we truly deem them superior in intellect? The existence of anything at all may be considered a fundamental signal, a 'one' in the binary code of the cosmos. Thus, if these higher-dimensional beings grasp the concept of existence, they ought, in time, to deduce boolean logic.