XPost: sci.skeptic, alt.atheism, uk.rec.ufo   
   From: jtem01@gmail.com   
      
   According to physics, time travel is NOT ruled out   
   completely.   
      
   We do not know how to travel through time. The means may   
   actually be entirely theoretical. In fact, right now they   
   ARE entirely theoretical. For us. But...   
      
   This is not at all similar to the case of Faster Than Light   
   travel.   
      
   Our physics rule it out.   
      
   It's not possible, traveling faster than the speed of light,   
   according to everything we know. Which means we are in this   
   ridiculous position of arguing magic, or we rule out Faster   
   Than Light travel.   
      
   So, why would an alien race invest insane amounts of capital   
   into coming here, if one presumes it's beyond a dumb probe,   
   if there is literally zero hope of any return?   
      
   Think about it.   
      
   At the speed of light, AT LEAST 99% of our galaxy is more   
   than a thousand years away. So if they could get here at the   
   speed of light, their first return signal would be reaching   
   them back home after 2,000 years, by which time there would   
   be no guarantee that anyone would even be aware that there   
   is a signal, much less how to read it.   
      
   Of course, grasping this model, 75% of our galaxy would be   
   AT LEAST 25,000 light years away....   
      
   So one you understand that Faster Than Light travel is   
   impossible -- not a mystery, the question has been solved   
   and it's impossible -- sending anything here is either some   
   cheap Voyager type probe or...   
      
   The only reason to come here beyond some dumb probe is...   
      
   The only thing that could make it word their while...   
      
   The only way they might expect a return on their investment   
   is...   
      
   Is if it's a Seek-and-Destroy mission.   
      
   That's it.   
      
   The investment to get here would be so large, and there   
   would be so much time between launching and receiving so   
   much as data in return that the people sending it couldn't   
   even count on having descendants, much less seeing a return   
   on their investment. UNLESS it was a Seek-and-Destroy mission.   
      
   To help you understand this:   
      
   There is no family on earth that can reliably trace it's   
   heritage back even 2,000 years.   
      
   Oh there's claims but no records to back up those claims.   
   If you don't believe in a literally true Old Testament bible,   
   for instance, you can cross one of those families right off   
   the list. And if you scratch out Japanese mythology, there   
   goes another... on & on.   
      
   Like I said, there are families that claim to trace their   
   lineage back 2,000 years or more, but they are on less solid   
   footage than Elizabeth Warren's native roots...   
      
   WHOLE ETHNICITY have vanished in the last few thousand years.   
      
   When was the last time you met a Vandal or a Goth? They were   
   real people. They were a genuine ethnicity, they were an   
   identity just as real as "Mexican" or "Italian" is today.   
      
   "Ancient Egypt lasted 3 thousand years!"   
      
   No it didn't. It collapsed three times BEFORE the 1st century   
   A.D.   
      
   Money itself only goes back about 2,600 years. There was   
   trade, gold was valuable and highly sought after, all   
   true, but money wasn't around until about 600 B.C.   
      
   The time scales we are talking about here, moving across   
   even a small percentage of the galaxy, are off the human   
   charts...   
      
   But, if your objective is to destroy other civilizations,   
   you have an excellent chance at a return on your investment.   
      
   See, even if your civilization collapses, even if you nation   
   state, your ethnicity, your language and religion -- your   
   identity -- is long gone, your planet still benefits if any   
   potential threat is wiped out.   
      
   That's what we're talking about here:  Eliminating threats.   
      
   Another civilization is a potential threat to your   
   civilization, so wipe it out.   
      
   No more threat.   
      
   And if you get there and wipe them out BEFORE they achieve   
   interstellar travel?  So much the better!   
      
   The only "Problem" is if you wipe them out too late. You   
   can wipe them out as early as is convenient.   
      
   So, if you're an alien race and you haven't mistaken Star   
   Trek for a documentary, you know that arriving here would   
   require a massive investment, one that you could not   
   possibly ever see a return on. Unless you kill us. Then if   
   your species still exists, even if it collapsed itself back   
   into a stone age, it still benefits. You still reap the   
   reward:  SAFE from the threat of an alien species!   
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   --   
   https://jtem.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Book%20of%20JTEM/page/5   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)