From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat Aug 02 2003 - 19:32:48 MDT
On Sat, 2 Aug 2003, Mark Walker wrote:
Ok, this thread is complex so I may get some sources mixed up...
> From: "Lee Corbin"
>
> > So the big mystery to me is, why do we always assume the
> > aliens to be such mean dudes?
You don't have to assume they are "mean". You might just
assume convergent evolution -- "join the galactic club or else".
Why? Because anyone with a long term view (i.e. a species that
has trumped the galactic hazard function) is going to take the
viewpoint that "its either my hydrogen or its your hydrogen --
and I would prefer it be mine".
> > YES! For sure there would be WARNING SIGNS in huge capital
> > letters from the galactic club saying "STAY HOME". But all
> > we hear is total silence.
Caca. The cost of eliminating a species that attempts to step
"over the line" is *zero*. They made the investment in nanorobots
years ago, they sent them out, they are possibly here and the
minute we go "over the edge" they will take us out. They are
not going to send us "warning messages". We have to figure it
out for ourselves (otherwise -- from a "galactic club" perspective
we are better off dead).
Re: "Invasion of the meme snatchers".
Entirely possible. More work should be done on its possible
abilities and limits. And more thought should be given to how
we might detect this (e.g. you can fool some of the people some
of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.)
Robert
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