Star Wars

'Space Aggressors' Train US Forces for Extraterrestrial Conflict [More]

If "they" have interstellar technology, resistance probably would be futile, and instead of a war, it would be an effortless wipeout. Sorry to sound defeatist for a change, but imagine the D-Day invasion against ancient Rome, or the conflict probably being even more one-sided.

I think it was Arthur C. Clarke who postulated on the mathematical improbability of interstellar war. It went something like imagine two side-by-side stacks of postage stamps 500 feet high, representing the beginning of life on the bottom stamp and the present day on the top, and everything in between representing gradual levels of advancement.

The only possible even-sided conflict would be assuming technological development started and advanced simultaneously in both stacks and that the antagonists meet when both are at the identical level -- a stamp above or below would be the difference between a Civil War army fighting a World War I army. Two stamps difference could be the latter vs. King George's Redcoats.  You start getting three, four or five layers of difference and the technological advantage only widens.

Imagine intelligent beings with star drive hundreds of years ahead of us. Or a thousand. Or a million.

The odds against an even match are astronomical. A more likely outcome would be ants vs. you with a can of Raid.

Prediction: If we ever do avoid killing ourselves off and reaching for the stars, as would have the "space invaders," we will have developed beyond the current popular notion of doing so through a Star Trek-style "space UN." That -- and motivation via coercion --  will seem as antiquated and unrealistic as "A Trip to the Moon."

Note how technology seems to advance more quickly in an environment of more relative freedom. Me, I'd rather continue the climb from where I am than from starting at the bottom again.

[Via Florida Guy]