It feels like it could work in the other direction too. This afternoon I was washing my hands in the sink when I caught out of the corner of my eye a house centipede trapped in it, trying to climb out, to run away from the water and the noise and the giant towering above it. It scurried and scurried and got nowhere, until I let it out by letting it crawl onto a paper towel and then resting said towel on the floor. If you were to ask me, I'd say watching try to run away was a response from fear. But then, does it feel fear the way I do? Does it feel fear at all? It's a creature that is both very simple yet still complex, familiar and foreign, and I don't understand it at all other than I knew it wanted out of the sink (but then again, does it feel want) and was probably relieved to be on the ground (but did it feel relieved). If a form of alien life is as different as me and that centipede, but humans are centipedes in that scenario, chances are they're still not gonna be able to comprehend us.
That's like when people like Hawking say other civilizations might try to destroy us. They might remove us just out not caring (think, Hitchhiker's Guide intergalactic highway) but when it comes down to compassion we're really talking about human values and our philosophy. What is a value system? But who knows? They might be receiving our radio signals right now and see it as nothing worth investigating. Either it appears as randomness to them or we're just too stupid.But then, does it feel fear the way I do? Does it feel fear at all?