I posed the question,
:: What if the civilizations are not 100 light years apart? What if they
:: are on the same planet?
What I'm getting at is that Vinge may have been using allegories to
write about something that is already happening, right here on earth,
and has been happening for a long time. Television, for example, is a
perversion attack.
Anders writes,
> A perversion war would be *fast* on a planet (and the chilling thing
> is that many nations are gearing up for it - information warfare is
> HOT right now), and probably would be over quickly - leaving
> more normal kinds of conflict.
I don't think so. Memetic warfare is anything but fast. It takes
centuries.
I guess most people haven't been on the list long enough to remember
the "memes (propagationism)" thread. Monotheism has been
attacking other memes for almost 3,000 years. The war isn't over yet.
The outcome is far from clear.
Lyle