Thursday 9 December 2021

Hostile Aliens

The Merseian Roidhunate will subordinate or exterminate human beings. The Shenn regard human beings that they have not domesticated as wild humans. SM Stirling's Draka regard other human beings that they have not yet enslaved as feral serfs. HG Wells's Martians extract blood from human beings. Larry Niven's kzinti eat their flesh.

Can there really be high tech civilizations like that waiting out there? I think that it is unlikely but cannot say that it is impossible. We have to be prepared for literally anything.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would be just a bit less optimistic and say "I HOPE that it is unlikely but cannot say that it is impossible." And I think the best way for the human race to prepare whatever might be out there is to go out and find out. Warily, carefully, of course.

I've heard of people who take an interest in such questions who advocate mankind hunkering down and being as quiet and inconspicuous as possible, so that no unfriendly attention would be attracted to us. I disagree because that is too passive, leaving us unprepared for whatever might be out there in the galaxy.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

This is one of the areas where "we just don't know" applies, because we're working from a sample of one.

Until recently, we were acting from a sample of one in terms of planetary systems around stars.

Our guesses turned out to be unimaginative and wildly wrong there.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

Except, of course, for writers like Anderson and similar colleagues, who did hypothesize the existence of other worlds with their own intelligent races.

Ad astra! Sean