quote:Originally posted by Animalman: I think that a species possessing the technological advances necessary to conquer intergalactic travel would also possess the social awareness needed to see that survival can be attained mutually.
The problem with the world(and by this I mean our world) is that it's too tightly packed in. Too many clashing cultures and races. Diversity is certainly an admirable thing to strive for, but it has to be contained. If you compare the crime rates in countries like Japan to the crime rate in the United States(or other countries of similar diversity), the difference is astounding. Civilizations need to be more condensed and spread out; something that can be easily achieved when you have an entire galaxy that's acessible(due to aforementioned space-travel advances), rather than just one planet.
Japan is a really bad example, Annie. Low crime rate, sure, but belligerently set out to conquer Far East Asia. Only when they had the crap knocked out of them with nukes and famine did they fall into line as a peaceful world citizen.
Human history shows us that when cultures have met, they've clashed, often until one is annihiliated. See the Mayans, Australian Aborigines, the kingdoms of the sub-Saharan. Marc mentions Pax Romana, and how about Rome and Carthage? Fierce competitors, until Rome finally won and salted the earth of Carthage so nothing would ever grow there again.
Prospects of survival are often enhanced by cooperation, but this is generally within groupings, not between groupings.
