Aliens land and target US, UK nuke sites

[Captain_Slick]

because we can't get our nukes outside of orbit.

they're no threat to any space based force.

Who says they can attack us from space? Maybe they need to be within our atmosphere to use their equivalent or advanced technology?

Stop making assumptions.

 

[OriginalJonty]

If it is true then it's no surprise that aliens would examine nuclear missiles. They are the most destructive things humanity has created ever.

If these claims are fabricated then either all of these guys have something against their old forces or there's something in the water.

 

[Tefal]

Who says they can attack us from space? Maybe they need to be within our atmosphere to use their equivalent or advanced technology?

Stop making assumptions.

Why would they need to enter the atmosphere?


Mass drivers and pretty much anything other than some form of sonic or jet based weapon works fine travelling through a vacuum.



If you've perfected interstellar warfare would you really want to have to rely on ground warfare where your enemy is at his strongest?

 

[Captain_Slick]

Because whatever way you look at physics, the release of nuclear energy is a very real phenomenon which occurs throughout the Universe (hydrogen-> helium fusion within stars, being the most obvious answer).

You can approach physics from an infinitely advanced perspective, but it does not change the broad effect of what is physically realisable. For example... We know (now) that Newtonian physics is merely an approximation which is valid within a fairly limited range of mass, energy and length-scales. BUT, even when you understand quantum mechanics, relativity and (say) quantum mavity, it does not alter the fact that when you apply a force to an object, it moves relative to an inertial frame with a quantifiable acceleration (a ~ F/m).

You can supersede a technology, and understand more thoroughly where it comes from, and why it works the way it does, but that does not change the fact that it exists and is observable.

So? That doesn't mean that their knowledge of space flight would mean that they wouldn't be interested in our application of nuclear fusion in the form of ICBMs/SSBMs.

Maybe they'd never thought of using nuclear energy to destroy things.

 

[Captain_Slick]

Why would they need to enter the atmosphere?


Mass drivers and pretty much anything other than some form of sonic or jet based weapon works fine travelling through.

Maybe they only have an equivalent of our guns? They could be an entirely peaceful race with no means of launching an attack from space upon Earth.

 

[Duff-Man]

Maybe they'd never thought of using nuclear energy to destroy things.

Which is exactly the point I made earlier. Twice, in fact

That we would consider making a device which would release fission energy in an uncontrolled manner - a device with very little practical benefit - could well be of interest to an advanced species for any number of reasons.

 

[Captain_Slick]

If you've perfected interstellar warfare would you really want to have to rely on ground warfare where your enemy is at his strongest?

Who says they've perfected interstellar warfare?

 

[Captain_Slick]

Which is exactly the point I made earlier. Twice, in fact

That we would consider making a device which would release fission energy in an uncontrolled manner - a device with very little practical benefit - could well be of interest to an advanced species for any number of reasons.

Why the ?

We're in agreement...

 

[TipTop]

If these claims are fabricated then either all of these guys have something against their old forces or there's something in the water.

That's what I was thinking about. I've always believed the universe is full of different life-forms, but I've never believed aliens were visiting our planet.

The conference has me confused.

 

[starfighter]

Some people are underestimating the difficulty of interstellar travel. Nukes are nothing compared. like literally nothing.

 

[Duff-Man]

He didn't exactly make them in his shed on his own but I believe but he worked on the Manhatten project no?

No...

It was his 1939 letter to Roosevelt that is considered by historians to be a major reason why the Manhattan project was ordered (by Roosevelt), but Einstein did not work on it directly.

The lead scientist on the Manhattan project was Robert Oppenheimer. The physical work was based on theoretical physics that had been around for a long time at that point (from 1905 onwards), which was developed by many scientists. Einstein among them.

 

[Tefal]

Maybe they only have an equivalent of our guns?

that would be a mass driver style weapon works fine in space.

Find large chunk of matter, attach some form of propulsion and slam it into a planet to make a huge explosion and kill most of the "higher" life forms.

They could be an entirely peaceful race with no means of launching an attack from space upon Earth.

Then frankly they're one of the weirdest species ever to evolve, to create interstellar travel which during it's development with have caused numerous accidents which will have shown how easily all that civilian tech can be weapons tech with minor changes.


You tell me not to make assumptions which are for the most part very plausible, yet you keep making more and more ludicrous examples of why an incredibly intelligent race couldn't make a weapon.

- a device with very little practical benefit

Very useful if you want to make a big spaceship though.


And will have most likely been encountered during the development of any civilian nuclear power facility.

You'd have to be the dumbest intelligent race to make nuclear power and not notice along the way that it can destroy huge areas.

 

[Cosimo]

Why would they need to enter the atmosphere?

They might want a bit of hand to hand combat.

 

[Captain_Slick]

Some people are underestimating the difficulty of interstellar travel. Nukes are nothing compared. like literally nothing.

Again, you're making the assumption that the application of nuclear fusion in spaceflight would automatically also mean the application of nuclear fusion as a means of destruction. That is not the case.

Military research and development is a primary driver of technology in our civilisation. That may not be the case in another.

 

[Tefal]

Who says they've perfected interstellar warfare?

You're the one whose been mentioning them attacking us as the reason for examining them.

 

[Cosimo]

Ignore, aliens got my post edit.

 

[Captain_Slick]

Then frankly they're one of the weirdest species ever to evolve, to create interstellar travel which during it's development with have caused numerous accidents which will have shown how easily all that civilian tech can be weapons tech with minor changes.

They're from the other side of the universe. Who's to say that they would have the same instinct to kill and destroy and conquer as we do?

 

[Duff-Man]

Very useful if you want to make a big spaceship though.

And will have most likely been encountered during the development of any civilian nuclear power facility.

You'd have to be the dumbest intelligent race to make nuclear power and not notice along the way that it can destroy huge areas.

Controlled nuclear fission / fusion in general, yes; very useful.

Rapid and uncontrolled release of nuclear energy; not so useful.

I agree that it is inconceivably unlikely that an advanced intelligence would not have considered the possibility that rapid release of nuclear energy could be harnessed to destroy large areas. That is not the same as actually going ahead and building such a device, or even considering doing so. Seeing that we had gone ahead and built so many could well be a curiosity.

 

[Captain_Slick]

You're the one whose been mentioning them attacking us as the reason for examining them.

I say it could be one of the reasons. Or if they were a perfectly peaceful society, they may simply have stumbled upon them... realised what they are (because they've already discovered nuclear fusion) and then decided that the best action is to deactivate them for our own good.

Applying human logic and reason and our own nature to discussions of alien civilisations is a bit silly.

 

[Tefal]

Again, you're making the assumption that the application of nuclear fusion in spaceflight would automatically also mean the application of nuclear fusion as a means of destruction. That is not the case.

Nearly every part of civilian nuclear or space programs can result in destruction either though direct thought and alteration of the tech or by accident which would make it's destructive properties very obvious.

Remember the most powerful nuclear weapon ever made was designed, built and tested in only 16 weeks from relativity slap dash calculations.

And that was by us comparatively dim people, even if they'd never thought of making a nuke it wouldn't take them long to do it.