R. C. SmithEssays

RC’s Alien Spaceship Gender Disposition Test

You take a walk in a park, or maybe it is in the countryside. You’re on a solitary stretch of path, no other humans are in sight. Nothing moves, and suddenly an eery silence drops. Then, out of a swirl of luminous mist, an Alien spaceship materializes in front of you. An alien steps out, walks up to you, and says you have been chosen to make a decision on behalf of humankind. Galactic law states that no potentially disruptive intelligent species (let’s not split hairs over “intelligent” here) is permitted to exist with two genders. Either all men, or all women, will be eliminated, and you are the one to choose which. It will happen immediately, the process will be swift, the situation will be explained to the remaining half of the population, means for reproduction will be provided, humankind, of a single gender, will live and prosper. And yes, of course, in case you choose your own gender to vanish, you will die with them. You may take one minute to decide. Which one will live?

How hard, or how easy, is it to choose?

(ca. 2018)

Back to “Essays” Index