On Tue, 22 Nov 2016 12:52:59 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 21 Nov 2016 22:20:36 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
news On Mon, 21 Nov 2016 16:24:53 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
om...

Want to bet that (some) aliens are as warlike as we are?

On Earth the land predators have their eyes in front for depth
perception when they pounce, and the prey more on the sides to
keep
watch all around.

What about 3-legged aliens with eyes on stalks?
Or those with gripping hands?

Authors Niven and Pournelle.

I specified land predators. Marine invertebrates are -very-
different.

Whoza fish? Pierson's Puppeteers certainly weren't. Did we catch
you
before your first cuppa this morning, Jim?

Oh, I had forgotten that the moties had no spine. But critters with
lungs, arms, and legs aren't marine invertebrates in my book.

You do realize that the Mote and Ringworld are fiction, right?

Many people think aliens are, too. We'll know soon enough.


Although the imaginary creatures do have some basis in Earth biology:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilobozoa

Pournelle and Niven are real scientists who contributed to US space
policy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_Advisory_Council_on_National_Space_Polic y

" Years later I heard straight from a senior Soviet advisor that the
U.S. SDI had been the straw that broke the back of the military's hold
on foreign policy. That seems to be the consensus now among the
diplomatic community, though politically SDI is a common whipping boy,
its funding cut."

I've heard the same privately from Russian sources after they were
freed from parroting the Party Line.

IIRC Pournelle credited these members as being the most influential:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Thomas_Possony
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Hunter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_X._Kane
"The book "Strategy of Technology" (1970) sets forth the doctrine
flowing from the early plans developed by Project Forecast and the
development and deployment of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
(ICBM) system. Initially, Kane was unnamed in the 1970 publication of
the book. Stefan T. Possony and Jerry Pournelle were able to later add
Colonel Kane's attribution in 1972 after he retired (1970)."

I'll check those out.

--
I have never understood why it is "greed" to want to keep the money you
have earned, but it is not greed to want take someone else's money.
--Thomas Sowell