I Married a Monster from Outer Space was a hit film of 1958. I often wonder if people who saw the film and got married in 1958—or indeed people who have got married since—realised that the same was true of them.
Well, maybe ‘monster’ is a bit tendentious. But everyone on this planet who has got married, ever, married a creature from Outer Space. Because outer space is where our planet is. It’s not at the centre of anything (as people used to image until Copernicus and Galileo). It’s just a roaming rock in a remote solar system, itself in no particular place.
Thinking sensibly about ourselves starts with this fundamental recognition.
Each one of us is a creature from outer space.