Extraterrestrials can offer valuable advice to Earthlings.
But not in the case of Neil Z. Miller, a prominent antivax author who’s churned out numerous books on the subject, when he’s not communicating with aliens (or helping his daughter to do so).
Miller has also authored “Gadzooks! Extraterrestrial Guide to Love, Wisdom and Happiness”.
I’d bet however that extraterrestrials who risk the journey to Earth are heavily vaccinated against our dangerous diseases*, not to mention human stupidity.
Aliens, no, but yes to time travelers. I used to do this when I was a kid. Also, I’d imagine that Laura Ingalls showed up in my time (mid to late 70s), and I’d have to explain things to her.
Believe it or not, I replay “proofs from the book”. Especially elegant proofs of mathematical theorems. Paul Erdös imagined that God had a book of all the most elegant proofs.
That’s funny, I’ve done this myself. Usually I’m not talking to Aliens, but someone from the past, as many here have done.
There’s a book by Greg Bear, “Songs of Earth and Power,” where he imagines meeting and collaborating with a lot of famous dead people, imagining death as another dimension where they exist for all eternity pretty much as they were when they died. He meets Mozart and Gustav Mahler, among other people. I’ve always wanted to meet them, so this book stuck in my mind.
I’ve done the time traveling thing. Except I’m the one that goes back in time and tell famous scientists their own theories before they actually come up with them.
I will give lectures/classes on topics that people probably wouldn’t care about. For example, my NFL power ratings spreadsheet, including the history, logic and how to set it up in excel. (the results do end up to be very close to a professional power ratings results - Jeff Sagarin). Or, a lesson on basic economics to ____ to show how illogical his facebook posts are.
I posted upthread, but I thought of something else. Sometimes, at an uneventful moment, I’ll think to myself, “I wonder what [random famous person] is doing at this very second.”
Me, brushing teeth while getting ready for work: “I wonder what the Pope is doing at this very moment? It’s in the afternoon there, I suppose. It’d be funny if he was peeing, and had his dick in his hand at this very second.”
