XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.sf.written
XPost: alt.humor.puns
From: mwstone@aol.com
"Pelerin Galimatias" wrote in message
news:Sb19m.446$MA3.423@nwrddc02.gnilink.net...
> In article ,
> nemo@naughtylass.wet says...
> >
> >
> >"Tim Bruening" wrote in message
> >news:4A541D02.EFDA9F42@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
> >>
> >>
> >> pullo wrote:
> >>
> >> > "Tim Bruening" wrote in message
> >> > news:468FD4AB.70F3FF63@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
> >> > >
> >> > >
> >> > > cloud dreamer wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > >> Tim Bruening wrote:
> >> > >> >
> >> > >> > Walter Bushell wrote:
> >> > >> >
> >> > >> >> In article ,
> >> > >> >> "Arthur Lipscomb" wrote:
> >> >
> >> > >> >>> That reminds me of an old SNL sketch where a few dumb aliens
come
> >to
> >> > >> >>> Earth
> >> > >> >>> (in a stolen spaceship) and announce they are going to conquer
> >the
> >> > >> >>> planet.
> >> > >> >>> They then show their advance alien weapons which consist of a
> >single
> >> > >> >>> shot
> >> > >> >>> musket. The military then shows them a machine gun in action
and
> >the
> >> > >> >>> aliens
> >> > >> >>> realize they've bit off more than they can chew.
> >> > >> >> Turtledove "The Path Not Taken"
> >> > >> >>
> >> > >> >> The aliens come and attack the earth with black powder weapons.
> >They
> >> > >> >> get
> >> > >> >> basically slaughtered. They have an interstellar drive, but
> >otherwise
> >> > >> >> low tech. At the end one of the few survivors says to another
> >"What
> >> > >> >> have
> >> > >> >> we done."
> >> > >> >
> >> > >> > How did they developed an interstellar drive without also
> >developing
> >> > >> > weapons that
> >> > >> > are more advanced than our weapons?
> >> > >>
> >> > >> They didn't develop a drive. They stole the spaceship.
> >> > >
> >> > > How was it that they had the technical expertise to operate the
> >spaceship,
> >> > > yet have
> >> > > guns less advanced than those of Earth?
> >> >
> >> > It wasn't meant to be taken that seriously. The story was more a bit
of
> >> > whimsy along the lines of: 'What if the technical kludge that
permitted
> >> > space travel was so simple that even a musket era technology could
> >manage
> >> > it.' It was just dumb luck that humans hadn't stumbled on it.
> >> >
> >> > As for the general question from this and the Worldwar series [and
> >others]
> >> > of interstellar species who can't seem to win the land war against
those
> >> > pesky backward earthbound humans.. well.... can anyone else think of
> >> > historic parallels where the high tech favourite lost to the low tech
> >> > underdog?
> >> >
> >> > Sure. I knew you could.
> >>
> >> Right now in Afghanistan?
>
> A better example would be the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
>
> There is a classic SF story about Earth making contact with an
> extraterestical civilization which is run by humans and speak English.
> It seems that the aliens had landed on Earth during the Plantagenet
> period. Argued with the locals and the locals, being skilled in hand to
> hand combat, had overwhelmed the aliens and captured the spaceship.
> Someone pushed a button, the doors closed and returned the ship to
> the far away planet. It took the several hundred years for the
> humans to find their way back.
>
Sounds like Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade". If there isn't an FAQ on
that one, there probably should be.
--
Mike Stone - Peterborough, England
"Freddie experienced the sort of abysmal soul-sadness which afflicts one of
Tolstoy's Russian peasants when, after putting in a heavy day's work
strangling his father, beating his wife, and dropping the baby in the
reservoir, he turns to the cupboard only to find the vodka bottle empty".
P G Wodehouse - Jill the Reckless
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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