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TheOtherDave comments on Open thread, Oct. 6 - Oct. 12, 2014 - Less Wrong
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How would you feel about aliens who explain to you that, while they currently endorse all the same values that you endorse, it took their species twice as long to arrive at those values as it took humanity?
I know better than to hold myself as the moral paragon of humanity, and I'm in many ways atypical, so I would feel strongly suspicious of an alien civilization telling me their cultural history led them to hold values exactly identical to mine.
Also, are we talking twice as many Planck times? Twice as many biological generations? Twice as many imperial ages? Twice as many technological transitions? The difficulties they had to face may mean many possible things depending on the exact nature of the discrepancy in time.
So -- and I take it this is TheOtherDave's point -- why would you expect the aliens to be any less understanding about how long it took humanity to decide to think of not using domestic violence routinely?
You take it correctly.
I would not feel embarrased in reference to any expectations of alien history, but in reference to the facts about my species I would have liked to brag about.