UFO's... What do you think?

[k0ua]

But when looked at from the other side, look how much technology we have developed in wartime. During peacetime we become complacent and barely advance to the bathroom. As mentioned by someone earlier. Peaceful species hardly ever advance.

Agreed, all major tech advances come from war. During WWII so many technologies were discovered and advanced. Nothing like have to fight for your life to give people a big kick in the pants to invent something. After WWII so many of the things pioneered in the war were put to use and further developed. Example the space program. The space program would have never existed if not for WWII and the ****'s. The cold war provided another huge boost.. Talk all you want about resources wasted in war, not so.. LIVES are wasted in wars. Resources are applied in warfare at a much higher rate. I am telling you, anyone that comes here from out space will probably act more like a Klingon than a pacifist.

 

[k0ua]

Interesting how the warriors are lining up on one side and the goat herders/berry pickers are sitting by the campfire singing songs.

 

[bumperm]

Interesting how the warriors are lining up on one side and the goat herders/berry pickers are sitting by the campfire singing songs.

Those two groups have never come together in agreement and worked for long in harmony. However, there was a time when there were masters and slaves - but I don't think that worked out so well either.

 

[k0ua]

Those two groups have never come together in agreement and worked for long in harmony. However, there was a time when there were masters and slaves - but I don't think that worked out so well either.

Yep, and when/if the guys visit us from outer space, guess who we are going to be? I suspect "the hewers of wood and the drawers of water".

Now I could be totally wrong on all of my assertions. But from what I have seen of our own earth's history when a highly advanced civilization comes into contact with a not so highly advanced civilization, well unless the highly advanced civilization exhibits restraint and does not interfere in the affairs of the less advanced civilization and does not exploit them, it will likely not be pretty.

 

[bumperm]

Sometimes the "not so advanced" civilization wins. Happened to the Vikings when they came to the Americas - those darn "scraylings" kept shooting arrows at them! (Scraylings being what the Vikings called the indigenous people of Greenland and N. America.) The scraylings did have an advantage in numbers. Hopefully that will be enough when the ali . . . hey, what's that light outside and the blue beam coming at me . . . ARRRRRRRGH

 

[k0ua]

Sometimes the "not so advanced" civilization wins. Happened to the Vikings when they came to the Americas - those darn "scraylings" kept shooting arrows at them! (Scraylings being what the Vikings called the indigenous people of Greenland and N. America.) The scraylings did have an advantage in numbers. Hopefully that will be enough when the ali . . . hey, what's that light outside and the blue beam coming at me . . . ARRRRRRRGH

True, but keep in mind the vikings were armed with swords, spears and bows/arrows. The Scrayling were armed with spears and bows/arrows.. While the Vikings were more advanced as far as travel goes, their armaments were not really much if any better than the indigenous peoples that opposed them. If the Vikings were armed with M4's and each Viking warrior had Kevlar body armor or even with Winchester lever actions and six gun's who do you think would have prevailed? Not to mention Plasma weapons or phasor pistols or disruptors.

 

[MossRoad]

I'll let you use my Firehill Moss. It's a great spot from which to observe the night heavens. And then the Owl Hoots!

Mighty obliged, Egon.

 

[troutsqueezer]

It isn't rockets per se that are going to get us to intergalactic travel. It's the folding of space-time. We've got a ways to go on that front. Although I do have a few ideas...

 

[k0ua]

It isn't rockets per se that are going to get us to intergalactic travel. It's the folding of space-time. We've got a ways to go on that front. Although I do have a few ideas...

Now, now, don't hold back, spill it.

 

[dave1949]

Agreed, all major tech advances come from war. During WWII so many technologies were discovered and advanced. Nothing like have to fight for your life to give people a big kick in the pants to invent something. After WWII so many of the things pioneered in the war were put to use and further developed. Example the space program. The space program would have never existed if not for WWII and the ****'s. The cold war provided another huge boost.. Talk all you want about resources wasted in war, not so.. LIVES are wasted in wars. Resources are applied in warfare at a much higher rate. I am telling you, anyone that comes here from out space will probably act more like a Klingon than a pacifist.

James, you are aware that the term "shooting star" is not a reference to guns? You cannot kill your way to the heavens. Most of your wartime advancements are related to bigger, badder and faster projectiles aimed with greater accuracy. That isn't the technology that will allow multiple light-years of travel.

The Large Hadron Collider could not be built in wartime and not without international peaceful cooperation. If it were to be destroyed by war, it would represent an enormous loss of invested resources. This is the equipment that builds our understanding of particle physics, perhaps along the path of knowledge required to conquer interstellar space.

Large Hadron Collider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The LHC was built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries, as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories.[3] It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference, as deep as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. It is also the longest machine ever built.