A letter to the Galactic Federation.

What the Galactic Federation is.

The Galactic Federation is an idea, not an institution anyone has shown to exist. In science fiction it is the council of civilizations that keeps the peace between the stars. In parts of the New Age movement it is believed to be a real alliance of benevolent beings watching over Earth. There is no evidence for either, and I make no claim that it exists.

I like the idea anyway, for one reason: it imagines that the natural state of minds in the universe might be cooperation rather than conquest. If that is wrong, a petition costs nothing. If it is right, it would be rude not to ask.

The full text.

Petition for readmission to the Galactic Federation

Personal petition, not an official document. Filed on 5 October 2026 as part of the open letter Pax Ego Sum.

• Petitioner: Humanity (represented by one individual, no power of attorney on file).
• Request (a): Disclosure: who you are, where you are, what you want.
• Request (b): Readmission of Earth. If we were ever members of something larger, we have forgotten. If we never were, please treat this as a first petition.
• Request (c): Conversation and exchange, calm, without deadlines, at whatever pace suits you.
• Offered: Attention, curiosity, music, bread, and an honest account of who we are.
• Reasoning: We would like to know who you are, where you are and what you want. Not as a demand, but as a question asked with respect. We believe that humanity, despite everything, deserves to be told, and deserves to be asked to come home, if there is a home to come back to. Take the time you need. We are not going anywhere.
• Fee: None. Exchange is welcome.

Grounds for the petition.

1. We know our faults. We wage wars and call them necessity. We poison the ground and water that feed us. We say so openly, which is where improvement begins.
2. We also know our better side. We care for the sick and the old, we make music for no reason except to make it, and strangers stop to help strangers.
3. We keep asking. Where we come from, whether we are alone, what a mind is. A species that keeps asking is a species that can learn.
4. We have started to listen. For more than sixty years, radio telescopes have searched the sky for a sign of someone else.

An earlier note.

Before this petition I wrote short notes to whoever might be reading, on X. One of them:

Dear Extraterrestrial Friends, We're a peculiar species on Earth. We love. We hate. We create. We destroy. What's life like where you are?

Posted 2024-11-28 on X, @cosmicpeacecncl

More of them are collected on the quotes page.

Status of the petition.

Filed. No reply so far. Reviewed by no one, as far as I know. The petition stays open, without a deadline.

If you would like to add your name, you do not need to sign anything here. Write your own short letter, and if you publish it, keep it kind. That is all I would ever ask.