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317 The Adjustment of Interests If human history offers any guide, we can expect interstellar politics to be a process in which societies are continually adjusting their relation- ships. Other civilizations will have interests, just as we will. Some inter- ests, such as expansion, cannot be maximized by one civilization without ultimately encroaching on the sensitivities of another. Communicating can be a way of resolving such dilemmas. On the other hand, contact with a much more powerful civilization might give us little with which to negotiate. Although we may wish to be treated as equals, contact is more likely to illustrate the politics of inequality. The intricacies of galactic geopolitics would be most relevant to us if our contacts were with civilizations at a similar level of technological development. Those may be the civilizations that we are most likely to detect. divided the Galaxy into jurisdictions, with each civilization supervising its own area and knowing what is happening in it.’ What if there is more than one “club?” Would they be rivals? We should be prepared for the possibility that our immersion in interstel- lar affairs could occur in an almost instant fashion, warned Harrison.'” How would we relate to multiple alien cultures and political entities? What role could Homo sapiens play? As a newcomer, with limited capabil- ities to affect anything beyond near-Earth space, we might have little cr ee influence. At least at first, we would lack the most significant tool of exerting power beyond our solar system: the technology of interstellar flight. We may be of trifling interest to greater powers as long as our reach is limited to our own solar system. Bracewell proposed that an alien probe in our solar system would avoid exclusive relations with one power and would not act secretly.'*” That may be our preference, but it is an antipolitical view of the relationship. The probe might find it more advantageous to conduct separate, private dia- logues with Earthly powers to extract maximum benefit, which in this case may mean maximum information. The popular science fiction stories of interstellar empires and intrigues become pure fantasies, with no basis in reality.... the whole concept of interstellar administration is seen as an absurdity. —Arthur C. Clarke, 1963"! Interstellar Empires Do Not Exist Interstellar Empires Do Not Exist