On Tue, Dec 29, 2015 at 5:19 AM, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 28, 2015 Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> So you agree with our subjugation if a more advanced civilization >> discovers their way to Earth? >> > > If I had to answer with one word it would be "Yes". If I thought your > scenario was a real > > possibility I'd give a more > nuanced answer > , > but > I don't for 3 reasons: > > 1) My likes or dislikes on this matter would make no difference. > They make no difference in this case, but they allow you to consider what the ethical behavior is when you are the advanced civilization. Your position overall seems to be that power=ethics. It is not so unreasonable (or original), but at the same time it is a view that a lot of people tend to resist, especially after the events of WWII. > 2) ET probably doesn't exist, at least not in the visible universe. > Ok, but this is another discussion. I agree that ETs capable of traveling to Earth probably do not exist. > 3) Even is ET does exist we have nothing he would covet so there would be > no point in concurring us. > That I don't know. They might be interested in expanding their living space to Earth, and change its climate and atmospheric composition so that it became hospitable to their species and inhospitable to ours. They might also reason that it is better to exterminate us so that we are not able to achieve a level of technological advance where we would become a threat. > > > >> I do know that the Spaniards were not exactly goody-two-shoes. >> > > The Spaniards were total bastards, but the Aztecs were n > ot exactly goody-two-shoes > either. > I never said the opposite. I am just saying that the Aztecs were not the invading force. > > > >> Some descriptions of what the Spaniards did to the Aztecs are >> gut-wrenhing. >> > > Yes, but not as gut wrenching as what the Aztecs did to their own people; > This depends on the sources you give credence to. Some sources describe acts of extreme sadism by the Spanish. Also, you have to take the cultural context into account. It is quite different to die in a way that you consider honorable and meaningful within you belief system, or die under an invading force. > but it's all irrelevant now of course, the Aztecs and Spaniards involved > in those controversial activities have been dead for 500 years, so today > the matter is of academic interest only. > Well, the images that the telescopes can observe are also from a much more distant past. The hope in all scientific observations is that one can derive general principles that lead to a greater understanding of reality. This is both true of stars and the lives of our ancestors. Ignoring the lessons of history seems dumb to me. Millions of lives were needlessly destroyed by the war on drugs because the lessons of the prohibition were ignored. Now we seem willing to throw away one of the most impressive achievements of mankind (the Internet) in the name of state surveillance -- while ignoring the lessons of, for example, the Stasi. The same is true of interventionist policies like the ones practiced in the Middle East. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a monster, but western interference provided exactly the outcome that wise people warned about. Where did this warning came from? From studying and understanding History, past human experience. Now we are talking about building walls again. It all seems a bit hopeless, really. Telmo. > > John K Clark > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
