[meteorite-list] FW: More on Mitchell's Aliens

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 20:55:36 -0500
Message-ID: <015c01c8f5d5$30b9a0d0$4c25e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi,

    I get 50 pages before they decide I've freeloaded
long enough. If you read ALL the reviews on Amazon,
you discover that all the detailed negative analysis is
way down the line and the glowing gushes are up front
(they are there to sell books, afterall).

    Having read the first fifty pages with the technical
details and equations and their ham-handed "refutation"
of Fermi's Paradox, I lean toward the opinion of the
negative reviewers. Not that great. But, to be fair, I
only read the 50 pages.

    Another recent study of the "problem" of Aliens is
Michaud's "Contact with Alien Civilizations." (Amazon
has reasonably priced used copies.) It's a lot meatier
(466 pages), and Michaud is a career diplomat, which is
bound to give you a different perspective on the Aliens
than the Planetary Defense guys have, but Michaud
dicusses conflict in some detail.

    The truth is that no one person has thought more
about the in's and out's of dealing with Alien Trouble
than a hundred or so science fiction writers have. They've
put in thousands of man-years of thought, chewing this
very problem over. Still, after more than a century, the
intricate possibilities are far from exhausted and maybe
only just begun, as every few years somebody trots
out a totally new and fascinating possibility.

    Here's a recent one.

    How about the advanced benign visitors who are
only passing through, don't want to land on our planet
or any others in the system, are polite, friendly and
considerate, with good manners -- all they want is to
listen to our media, read our books, watch our movies,
observe and record our culture, folklore, thoughts,
beliefs, nursery rhymes, all of it. The Ideal Alien, right?

    And to show us how grateful they are for this
opportinuty to do so, they give everybody on Earth
a little cellphone-like device -- ask for something, anything,
they will give it to you, IF you can give them something
cultural in trade -- in a word, if you can entertain them.

    Want a fusion power plant the size of a toaster with
no radiation hazard? An replicator to duplicate any object
in any number of copies? A really big bomb? You name
it; it arrives within minutes -- no restrictions, everybody
gets what they ask for... exactly what they ask for.

    What could be nicer than that?

    Think the planet would survive a week?


Sterling K. Webb
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Darren Garrison" <cynapse at charter.net>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] FW: More on Mitchell's Aliens


On Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:29:09 -0400, you wrote:

>Looks like the whole book is viewable (but not downloadable as a PDF) on
>Google
>books:
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=vJdgajHfV2gC&dq=%22An+Introduction+to+Planetary+Defense%22&pg=PP1&ots=67HC8RVNcl&sig=mQXO5MZ6mOs9FOGYupEAwCVVqRE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA40,M1

Nope, on further inspection, it is only select chapters available.
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Received on Sun 03 Aug 2008 09:55:36 PM PDT