Since this is the last post for the A to Z Challenge, I wanted to keep this post short and sweet.
In the universe of The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha is the name of the
galactic sector in which Earth is located.
This is a designation given by outsiders. The entry in the Guide regarding Earth is also
written by an outsider, and it consists of one word: Harmless. Ford Prefect tries to make Arthur Dent, who
as an Earthling is disgruntled by this lackluster entry, unsuccessfully tries
to comfort him by saying the new edition will have an expanded entry. Earth will soon be described as “mostly
harmless.”
In encountering this interaction, I have a few
thoughts. Douglas Adams, brilliant as he
was, couldn’t provide a true outsider’s perspective. After all, he was a human being, at least
insofar as he could tell. He simply
poked fun at a world of which he was inextricably a part. How might an actual alien species describe
our world and the people in it? Would we
seem impossibly strange to them? Quaint? Disgustingly violent? What other outsider's perspectives have you seen in science fiction? What might be the value in attempting to view
our culture from an outsider’s perspective?
