Potentially The Most Serious Military Threat Of All

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I seem to recall reading that there were a significant number of Americans who felt the same way about Hitler in the late 30's. I wonder how different the hue and cry would have been had we invaded Germany in 1938? I wonder what the last 67 years of history would look like?

[AngryCola]

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I seem to recall reading that there were a significant number of Americans who felt the same way about Hitler in the late 30's. I wonder how different the hue and cry would have been had we invaded Germany in 1938? I wonder what the last 67 years of history would look like?

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Comparing Saddam to Hitler is quite a stretch, but your point about people's attitudes being similar back then is a valid one, IMO.

[Peter666]

It just proves my theory that anything involving the former government of Pierre Trudeau is inherently flawed and crazy.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Comparing Saddam to Hitler is quite a stretch

At no point do I compare the two. I compare public opinion about how dangerous to the US each was perceived at given points in time.

However, in 1938, there was no hard evidence available that Hitler was murdering German citizens because of their ethnicity (he was, of course). On the other hand, 60 Minutes ran the video of the Kurd villages on which Saddam had used nerve in the early 90's long before we attacked Iraq.

My point was that proactive military action often leaves doubt as to whether that action was necessary. Had we attack Germany in 1938, we'd still be debating whether or not we were justified in doing so from a national defense perspective.

[AngryCola]

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My point was that proactive military action often leaves doubt as to whether that action was necessary.

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Agreed.

[andyfox]

One thing to consider is that terrestrial scare tactics are often caused by politics. That is, while it's possible Saddam was a credible threat to us, we should consider that politicians always lie when taking their country into a war.

All extraterrestrials have thus far been imaginary. When considering the threat from real ones, we should remember that, whenever a meteor appears in the sky, media outlets receive numerous phone calls from "witnesses" who report having seen heads peering out of the portholes.

[AngryCola]

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All extraterrestrials have thus far been imaginary..

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I really don't want to get into an extended argument about this. Still, I have to say that there is absolutely no way you can know this to be true.

[BluffTHIS!]

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Still, I have to say that there is absolutely no way you can know this to be true.

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1) Physics of space travel - physical barrier of the speed of light (unless you think they can put enough military hardware on enough ships that requires cryogenic sleep to traverse the long distances) makes travel over large disances virtually impossible.

2) Physics of time travel - time's arrow.

3) Physics of cute sci-fi methods - wormholes would be so small and unstable that they would collapse very fast and not be suitable for use even if they exist.

4) Chronology of galactic civilizations - since observational evidence has thus far shown no other evidence for life, it is possible that such life has existed and died, just as our own solar system will billions of years from now.

You need to check out The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene and google for Stephen Hawking's lectures on space and time travel. Otherwise you'll just be another UFO kook who put more emphasis on the "fiction" part of science fiction.

[AngryCola]

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Still, I have to say that there is absolutely no way you can know this to be true.

[/ QUOTE ]


1) Physics of space travel - physical barrier of the speed of light (unless you think they can put enough military hardware on enough ships that requires cryogenic sleep to traverse the long distances) makes travel over large disances virtually impossible.

2) Physics of time travel - time's arrow.

3) Physics of cute sci-fi methods - wormholes would be so small and unstable that they would collapse very fast and not be suitable for use even if they exist.

4) Chronology of galactic civilizations - since observational evidence has thus far shown no other evidence for life, it is possible that such life has existed and died, just as our own solar system will billions of years from now.



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Thank you for explaining things I already understood. It changes nothing about what I said to andy. I'm certainly no expert in these areas, but I'm hardly ignorant of anything you mentioned. Frankly, it's quite insulting that you would assume I'm uninformed about these subjects.

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Otherwise you'll just be another UFO kook

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Ah, of course! I have an open mind, so that clearly means I am a kook. You misundertand me, sir. I'm actually very skeptical. But I'm smart enough to know that I shouldn't dismiss people as crazy simply because they bring up this subject. I'm also smart enough to know that andy can't actually know what he claims to know.

Lastly, I've followed physics, and Hawking in particular, since I was eleven years old.

[BluffTHIS!]

Doubtless you would find it admirable that someone having studied arithmetic and learned that 2+2=4, nonetheless kept an open mind if someone claimed 2+2=3 in the same base number system.