Page Content (OCR)
315 Prudence In their novel The Killing Star, Charles Pelligrino and George Zebrowski imagined that the first civilization in the Galaxy to develop high tech- nology will view newly emerging civilizations as potential threats. This might compel the more advanced civilization to wipe out the emerging technological powers, including those in our solar system. These fic- tional aliens are not interested in siezing our land or our resources. They simply believe it prudent to destroy us before we have a chance to destroy them.'” Even if attack is unlikely, a starfaring civilization may wish to confine other technological species to their home systems. That could close off human expansion, setting a final limit to our growth. That brings us to an Earthly concept that does have a territorial dimen- sion: defense in depth, controlling buffer zones around your homeland to keep threats farther away. As more advanced civilizations would not want contact with us on Earth, Ulmschneider proposed, they would not want it on their home planets either. They would use their superior technology to deflect us.'” There are many conceivable ways in which interstellar conflict could begin without territorial motives. One starfaring species might misunder- stand the communications of another. It might overreact to the movements of an alien starship or to the unintentional violation of a buffer zone. A scouting party might be killed by the fearful natives of a visited planet, or its ship might disappear for unknown reasons. Such scenarios would not be confined to first contacts; our own history tells us that societies with prior knowledge of one another, even with a history of negotiation and agreement, can turn to conflict. The most explicit security threat might be the approach of an alien space vehicle without acceptable assurances of peaceful intentions. If a techno- logical species had sufficient leverage, its authorities might try to place its solar system off limits, perhaps setting up a no-ship sphere 1 light-year out from its star; or it could seek acceptable rules of visitation, but with limits on the number of ships that could be in certain sectors of interstellar space. The possibilities are endless, depending on the relative circumstances of the civilizations in contact. We cannot assume that the universe is inherently safe because of the distances between the stars. If a security-conscious culture were capable of reaching us with their machines, our survival might depend on their athinn Ae nee ALI en ad. Territory Is the Issue ethics—or our ability to persuade.