Description: In The Last Humans, Alexander Wendt conducts a novel thought experiment that explores a future scenario in which global authorities conclude that Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) are extraterrestrials (ETs), and what this discovery would mean for both human security and the international state system. Drawing on the 2021 Pentagon UAP Report and international relations scholarship, Wendt contends that this situation would indeed be a national security threat, but not of the traditional, military kind. He argues that ontological shock from the state's impotence in the face of ET power could cause it to lose legitimacy and collapse--even if ETs never intervene in human affairs.
Review Quotes: "Since UFOs were admitted to be real unknowns in the early 2020s, there's been a good deal of handwringing and shouting for more information-a full disclosure of everything the government and its various branches knows about them. The Last Humans should give us all pause to reflect on just what that could mean. Wendt takes the reader through a clear-eyed journey into our possible future if/when the presence of nonhuman intelligence riding around in the UAPs is announced. The sociopolitical ramifications are immense, even in the best-case scenario. We are not in ultimate control of all the possibilities, but Wendt offers us a way to think about and thus perhaps maintain some rational control of our own responses to what will be a turning point in human history." -- Brenda Denzler, author of The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs
"Alexander Wendt has gained fame transgressing the intellectual boundaries of international politics. In his latest book he has crossed the final frontier with a provocative and thought-provoking reflection upon how the possibility that UFOs might actually be 'real' would radically challenge our conceptions of reality. If that turns out to be the case it would certainly blow our collective minds but I want to believe that The Last Humans can also help us grapple with a variety of other 'ontological threats' such as General Artificial Intelligence, another pandemic, or nuclear war." -- Michael C. Desch, Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations, University of Notre Dame, and author of Cult of the Irrelevant: The Waning Influence of Social Science on National Security"In this unique and thought-provoking book, political scientist Alexander Wendt explores in detail the implications of discovering ETs in the vicinity of the Earth. Although he adopts a 'militant agnosticism' toward UFOs, ET, and alien abductions, he argues that these subjects should no longer be taboo, that we should reject anthropocentrism and prepare for a world in which aliens might constitute an ontological security threat, and in which 'the last humans' may no longer claim sovereignty over the Earth. A timely and important book." -- Steven J. Dick, Former NASA Chief Historian, and author of Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact"The Last Humans is the forbidding title of a book that at once addresses the state of humanity and the state of any non-humanity that may be already in our midst or hovering nearby. Wendt's genius lies in dealing with both as two sides of the same coin. The cumulative effect of the careful argument developed in this book is that the impending discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence may provide a long-needed opportunity for resetting the crooked timber of humanity by inspiring us to collectively develop a science and corresponding social relations, which might even ultimately transcend the state-based system that governs our species with increasing difficulty." -- Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Professor of Social Epistemology, University of Warwick, and author of Humanity 2.0"Alexander Wendt takes the core UFO question into territory few scholars have dared explore by examining the deeper political and psychological consequences of acknowledging the presence of a superior, nonhuman intelligence close to Earth. This rigorously argued, thought-provoking, and brilliantly articulated book challenges us to think seriously about the impact on human identity and society if we discover we are not alone. The Last Humans makes a powerful argument that should concern all of us." -- Leslie Kean, author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record"Alexander Wendt is the political scientist I trust most on this question of all questions. His theoretical approach to sovereignty, the nation-state, and the otherwise puzzling taboo around the UFO are clarion: we eye-roll the UFO to protect ourselves and, behind it all, the sovereignty of the nation-state and our own anthropocentrism. Such a fear-response may be understandable, but it is not sustainable. This does not mean that such shocks are not dangerous, or that we should not proceed with caution and care. Hence this very book on both what looks like the last terrestrial human and the new cosmic citizen." -- Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religion, Rice University, and author of How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else"Alexander Wendt's latest book performs an important and increasingly urgent public service, pointing out in bold, rigorous, and unsettling terms how human institutions will be challenged as never before if an ET presence near Earth is confirmed. I urge anyone involved in the UAP disclosure movement to consider these sobering insights." -- Christopher K. Mellon, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and Former Minority Staff Director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence"Rarely does a book in International Relations systematically investigate one of the most existential questions we could ask; are we alone in the world? By daring to break the UFO Taboo, Alexander Wendt, a world-renowned international relations theorist, examines the profound security consequences that the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence could have for those living on planet Earth. The Last Humans has the potential to be one of the most influential books written in the early twenty-first century." -- Brian C. Schmidt, Professor of Political Science, Carleton University, and author of The Political Discourse of Anarchy"With the bold originality and pioneering spirit for which Wendt's work is so well-known, The Last Humans brings International Relations scholarship to bear on a prospect that the discipline has hitherto failed to consider: the discovery of intelligent alien life. Drawing on the concept of ontological security, he provides a compelling and nuanced-if alarming-account of the political implications of our human response, specifically for the fate of the sovereign state. Provocative and important, this volume deserves a wide readership and serious engagement." -- Toni Erskine, Professor of International Politics, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University, and Associate Fellow, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge