To Serve Man

March 2, 1962: “Respectfully submitted for your perusal — a Kanamit. Height: a little over nine feet. Weight: in the neighborhood of three hundred and fifty pounds. Origin: unknown. Motives? Therein hangs the tale, for in just a moment, we’re going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with a Christopher Columbus from another galaxy and another time. This is the Twilight Zone.” – Rod Serling (1924 – 1975)

63 years ago. I was 9, less than a month from 10. The television screen was barely 18 inches across, black and white, and so was the Twilight Zone. Later that night, after “To Serve Man” aired, nightmares came for me and millions of viewers across the United States.

TV Guide ranked the episode number 11 on its list of the “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. The ending was ranked as the “Greatest Twist of All Time”. Similar accolades were served by Time Magazine and The Rolling Stone.

 Terror did not depend upon color and ultra-realistic gore. It was more effective and more subtle than that. “To Serve Man”. The title held the key. More on that later for those who do not already know.

Yesterday, Christine and I visited the Kansas City Zoo.

The weather was pleasant, unseasonably cool. We expected that we might have the zoo to ourselves. As it turned out it was filled with toddlers in strollers, nursing mothers with babes in arms, and older children who were perhaps being enriched as part of their home school curriculums.

We rode the Miniature Train, the African Tram, and I the Flying Flamingo (sort of a two-way power zip-line). Christine was a big “No” on the Flamingo.

As we wandered the park I also wondered:

I believe that life exists elsewhere in the universe. But what is “life”? Most definitions are biological, but some are philosophical and others legal. Wikipedia notes that there is no consensus on a definition, and that at least 123 definitions have been compiled in scientific literature.

Whatever life is, if we encounter it how will society respond? If it is life in a simple form will those who have held the belief that we are alone in the universe answer, “Yes, but only we are intelligent life.”

If it is life in a complex form will the reply then be, “Yes but only we are self-aware… only we have souls.”

If they are creatures who are clearly self-aware…?

There is perceivable intellect in the eyes of many mammals. At the zoo I looked like food to the cheetahs, the polar bears, and the lions.

I looked into the eyes of a gorilla. Eerily, it contemplated me right back.

In recent years science has determined that self-awareness is present in many primates, in elephants, and in sea mammals. We are captors of all these species and not so long ago we even justified the capture and enslavement (or worse) of our own species solely based on skin color. We still do so based on an individual’s failure to follow certain established legal or religious codes.

If we encounter life that is clearly “intelligent”, will we believe that we have the right to capture it, subjugate it, display it? What life will we deem as sufficiently “intelligent” to warrant a pass on such treatment? Our history shows that equality of ability has not been enough to earn equality of treatment. What treatment should we expect from a civilization more advanced than ours?  

In “To Serve Man” a technologically superior civilization arrives on Earth. Its beings wear white robes and are 9 feet tall. Their apparent societal code of conduct is contained in a large book. The title of the book is translated early in the episode as “To Serve Man”.

The human-centric interpretation that Earth’s experts adopt is that these are benevolent beings who have arrived like angels to serve our needs. The aliens will alleviate poverty, end hunger, and eliminate disease. They even transport humans to their home world. Humans are convinced that they are being led to a heaven-like “Shangri La”.

The episode can still be found online and perhaps in streaming services. I highly recommend it. (Caution! Spoiler Alert!…)

“To Serve Man” is a cookbook.

Peace Everyone. Pete