Exopolitics and Culture Collapse.

An area of exopolitics which has received little attention is the impact on society and culture do to disclosure. Richard Dolan and others have "touched" on these issues; but, not nearly to the degree that is warranted. Disclosure and its corresponding affects on society / culture could* lead to the dissolution of the social fabric; which despite all of its apparent ills, does keep the world plodding along in a somewhat civilized manner.

As an analogy to the seriousness of the disclosure issue and the real need for open dialog and planning; let us take the Cultural Collapse of the Hawaiian islands.

In 1778 Captain James Cook made first contact with the indigenous islanders. The affects of first contact were not immediate in a cultural context though the introduction of non-native disease did have its immediate consequences for the population.

By 1804 however, the first signs of social / cultural collapse became apparent largely due to the devastation caused by disease, but also the beginnings of labor displacement caused by the introduction of western technology into a pre-industrial society.

In 1819 the fist signs of dis-adherence of native religious world views, governing structures and obedience to pre-existing authority structures further destabilizes Hawaiian society.

In 1893 the Hawaiian Monarchy is overthrown.

Granted the above is an over simplification of what transpired; actual Polynesian history is much more detailed and subtle. However, the notion European explorers facilitated this collapse is unquestionable tho to what extent is open for debate. The function of the above analog is to serve as an illustration of what happens to society and culture when confronted with a world view changing event. In this instance, the western culture was perhaps a hundred years more advanced* (which may be an over statement) yet, a short 115 years after first contact the total collapse of the Hawaiian monarchy and the social contract which supported it was apparent- ultimately paving the way for annexation by the United States.

There are a few social-cultural points that should be contrasted from the above analog and that of true disclosure.

About the ramifications of disclosure.

In 1778 when James Cook landed at Kauaʻi, western society and culture were in the early stages of mechanization. Steam power and musket were state of the art; hot air balloon flight a few years into the future. The society Cook came from had just fought a war in part over inalienable rights* of man.

The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was indeed primitive in relation to Europe at the time: but, not so primitive as to be unrecognizable. Agriculturally based with a fairly sophisticated network of trade distributed amongst the various islands; the kingdom a monarchical cast system was perhaps stratified, but definitely not dysfunctional. Yet, the kingdom fell in little over a century from first contact.

If full or even partial disclosure occurred tomorrow, what would be the outcome: Culturally? Socially? Economically? How would the world react let alone the current dominate culture of the west? This is an area which few within and outside of the community are really discussing: regardless of the obvious seriousness of the issue. The indigenous peoples of the Hawaiian islands met with a technologically superior culture of human origin; what would be our fate if/when coming into contact of a technologically superior alien species? This is something which needs to be considered much more in depth when talking about disclosure and exopolitics.

As conscious beings with agency, our greatest strengths are our ability of forethought and adaptation. Now is the time of forethought.


Notes:
*As with every encounter with the new, Humanity as a whole may take an approach to disclosure as a challenge to reinvent itself ushering in a new renaissance.

**To say one civilization is more advanced than another is to open a can of subjective worms. The approximation of 100 hundred years "more" is a very crude measurement of the social-technological-cultural disparity between Europe and the Polynesian islands at that time. Suffice it to say Cook had firearms and the natives had spears.

***The age of reason: written by Thomas Paine was published in 1794. The arguments he put forward in his book had been long since established in the educated elite prior to publication. Further, concepts like equality and the questioning of the divine right of Kings had had also long been established. These "foreign" concepts would have radically altered local belief systems which were heavily predicated on casts and the divinity of the Hawaiian King / Leaders.