RAM9@LEHIGH.BITNET ("Richard Mauren - RAM9") (08/29/88)
The reason for us not having had extraterrestial contact may be simply that it is too dangerous. Assuming that there is no feasible reliable shield against nuclear devices(even if it got most of them the radioactivity would be fierce) no "intelligent" intelligent life would risk it. Say beyond all hope--etc, there is life on mars. They would be stupid to contact us because it would be so easy for us to annihilate the planet with nukes.
dep@cat.cmu.edu (David Pugh) (08/29/88)
In article <Added.0X6Kjdy00Ui306kk9I@andrew.cmu.edu> RAM9@LEHIGH.BITNET ("Richard Mauren - RAM9") writes: > The reason for us not having had extraterrestial contact may be >simply that it is too dangerous. ... They would >be stupid to contact us because it would be so easy for us to >annihilate the planet with nukes. If ETI's are avoiding contact because they are afraid we might nuke them, then they are probably afraid enough to nuke just to be on safe the safe side (after all, we might find them even if they don't contact us). You may be half right, though -- it may be the case that any race "advanced" enough to make contact over interstellar distances always ends up destroying itself (either with nukes or something worse). Suppose, for example, that it is possible to build a weapon that would kill everyone on the planet. Now make it easy enough to build that any country/company/terrorists can build it. Any bets on how long we would survive? Don't laugh -- something like this may happen in the next 20 years (probably a biological weapon, but who knows). -- David Pugh ....!seismo!cmucspt!cat!dep
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (08/30/88)
In article <2826@pt.cs.cmu.edu> dep@cat.cmu.edu (David Pugh) writes: >You may be half right, though -- it may be the case that any race "advanced" >enough to make contact over interstellar distances always ends up destroying >itself (either with nukes or something worse). Suppose, for example, that it >is possible to build a weapon that would kill everyone on the planet... Could be done now, probably, if one of the superpowers wanted to spend enough money and effort on it. >... something like this may happen in the next 20 years ... Don't forget that if things had happened differently, we might already have a small lunar colony. Based on our own experience, it would seem that a species acquires space travel and planetary-sterilization capability at about the same time, so it's anybody's guess which would become a major factor in species survival first. This isn't very satisfactory as a *universal* explanation for the lack of visitors. -- Intel CPUs are not defective, | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology they just act that way. | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu