future fragment- beginnings

Sometime 56 years from now, humans have indisputable evidence of life away from our planet. Stripped of scientific jargon and highly technical data, the implications of the findings are plain and simple- life exists elsewhere. Yet, they have not found us, and we- while having stumbled on their distant, almost unreal, but assured existence- have not found them. Suddenly alien life forms are not super-evolved, super-intelligent. For years, it has been presumed that extra terrestrial beings are highly advanced, with technological prowess far beyond our own. This is based on the premise that they find us, interact with us, monitor us. But since they haven’t, they need only be as advanced or primitive as us.

But this is changing our world like nothing before it. Every aspect of our lives is shaken by a discovery that negates the bases of almost everything except the SETI program. Science and technology suddenly seem the most prepared for this. They are still reeling from the possibilities this offers, but are smiling as they do. Economies are in a tizzy, religions are desperately finding ways to steady a violently rocking boat, philosophers are reworking their outlook on almost everything, children are asking the same questions their parents are grappling with.