I wonder if the stresses and pathologies and cruelties and distortions characteristic of humans is a result of our separation from the other animals. What other animal would set sail with its fellows in a wind-powered wooden boat to explore the unknown? And with the development of science and technology, could actually venture outside the earth's atmosphere and to the moon and beyond? How strange.

If we were to find another "intelligent" species in outer space, would the very fact of its having to separate itself from its animal ancestors to such an extent stress it so much that cruelty and all other kinds of disorders would be inevitable companions? Maybe some day we will find more than one such species so we can do comparative studies and answer the question...