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243 Soviet astronomer V.L. Gindilis went even farther out on a limb. He not only insisted that there is absolutely no danger for human society, but also declared that “I believe we can give a full guarantee of this.” Any civiliza- tion that had achieved interstellar travel, argued Oliver, would be so far advanced as not to bother with us.’ We would be safe not because aliens are benign, but because we would not matter. Like Morrison, Albert Harrison argued that SETI is a low-risk activity from a military perspective. He assumed that a member of the Galactic Club (a “preconnected society”) will already have worked through “inse- curities” to establish stable relationships with radically different civiliza- tions. As a member of a supranational system, it will operate within a preexisting framework of supranational law, a framework that we might find acceptable. Harrison admitted that forming an association with a fellow isolated civilization may be more of a security risk than connecting with a Galactic Club. Contacting another “isolate society” could lead to poor communica- tion, terrible misunderstandings, or cascading gaffes that destroy the rela- tionship before it reaches “stability.”* MacGowan and Ordway also saw alternate possibilities. “There could be apprehensions in many quarters as to whether or not it would be prudent to proclaim ourselves to the universe,” they wrote. “Surely an advanced extrasolar society would recognize from our manner of signaling that we have only recently emerged, scientifically speaking.” However, they admitted that if the alien society were “malevolent,” such a revelation on our part might spell doom for terrestrial civilization.’ Asimov suggested another reason why we might feel safe. No invasion has ever taken place in the past—as far as we know.'” Ambiguous Automata MacGowan and Ordway seemed to have some difficulty reconciling their preferences with their realism. They proposed that the individual and organizational competition that exists between biological organ- isms does not occur between automata. Therefore, competition and warfare are probably unknown in interstellar society. Yet, in the same book, they admitted that individual and social competition may exist among superintelligent automata, including warfare, alliances, and spheres of influence. Faced with such a situation, automata would go to great lengths for self-preservation. An “executive automaton” could conceivably alter a planetary environment in such a way as to make it uninhabitable by a biological society. This is not probable, MacGowan and Ordway assured us. As the automaton could easily gain needed supplies of energy and There Are No Dangers