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[–] 4 points 1 year ago* (19 children)

I see it like being overtaken on the highway — there are very few reasons for aliens to expend the energy needed to physically interact with us in the first place. And the reasons to do such a thing include:

  1. Halt our expansion into the universe because of our penchant for destruction
  2. Claim our planet for their own after destroying theirs
  3. Extract our resources
  4. ???

After expending the energy and resources to get into Earth’s orbit, it’s probably a lot more efficient to subjugate or destroy the dominant life form than to try and figure out how to communicate with it to achieve the above objectives.

Back to the highway analogy: most aliens wouldn’t want war with us… but we’re unlikely to ever cross paths with such beings in this vast universe, due to either time or distance.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    4: Just talk and learn from us because they're frickin' curious.

    I mean, that would be humanity's motivation.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    After expending the energy and resources to get into Earth’s orbit, it’s probably a lot more efficient to subjugate or destroy the dominant life form than to try and figure out how to communicate with it to achieve the above objectives.

    Why? How so?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    Blowing shit up is always easier than understanding the shit you're going to blow up.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (11 children)
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    I think history would beg to differ.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Um, yes it is. This is a very well known general truism. Destruction is almost always easier than creation. For example which do you think is easier, painting a complex painting, or destroying a complex painting?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Um, yes it is. This is a very well known general truism. Destruction is almost always easier than creation.

    Certainly spilled milk can't be put back in the milk jug, but I don't think that proves destruction is easier than creation rather it underlines that what makes destruction devastating is that it cannot be reversed in the way the construction of something can.

    My point is, why do you narrowly frame the choice as either destroying a complex painting or creating one?

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