Galactic conquest?

[Tag_Ross]

Alright fuckers I've got a question that won't be important for probably thousands of years after we're dead.

but first a little background on why I'm asking.

Spoiler: You can skip these 4 quotes if you want.

So it started with an ask Reddit question "What true facts sound fake?"

Someone responded with the following:

Astronomer here! The coldest place in the universe that we know of is... on Earth!
To explain- outer space can get cold for sure, but never as cold as the temperatures we have achieved in laboratories. Specifically, even in the middle of dust clouds you wouldn't get colder than 10-20 degrees above absolute zero, and even if you were drifting far away form everything you'd still never get colder than 2.7 degrees above absolute zero, due to the Cosmic Microwave Background, ie relic radiation left over from the Big Bang.
So, the coldest spot in the known universe is, in fact, in a laboratory at the National Institutes for Standards and Technology in Colorado. A few months back, a team there managed to lower the temperature in their experiment to just 360 microKelvin, or a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero. This is thousands of times colder than what's possible in space.
Cool, eh?

The following was an exchange between a person who wanted to add to that and someone who was skeptical:

And the hottest (since the Big Bang, at least)! The temperatures inside of the LHC have exceeded 7 *trillion* degrees!
Our planet is home of both the hottest *and coldest* temperatures in the known universe! Pretty neat!

I'm sure supernovas must be hotter? Or are we talking fractions of a second here? I mean, we can't even reach fusion temperatures like in the sun

Nope, supernova measure in at about 100 billion K! Now, to be clear, YES, this is for fractions of a second.
That all said, we achieved hydrogen fusion in 1952 with Ivy Mike (the first "H-bomb")! The weapon itself is the same hydrogen fusion process seen on and in the Sun. As a matter of fact, the temperature of the h-bombs in existence today can reach 100,000,000K where as the core of the Sun is ~15,000,000K. Humanity is pretty amazing and quite terrifying!

This is when I finally chimed in with what I thought would be an off hand comment

me: I really hope that when we encounter aliens we're both on equivalent tech levels. I don't want my descendants manifest destinying the universe.

Next another user asks a somewhat reasonable question

him: Why not? I firmly believe it is our destiny to dominate Milky Way.

The following is where we see the meat of this discussion.

me: I'd rather we Domination by alliances and integration than continue the genocides and rapes that humanity is inclined to when meeting other peoples with a lower technological age.

him: Not me. We don't need to extend the same symphaty we should show fellow humans to any potential aliens we could meet.

me: That's probably exactly what the Spanish conquistadors thought.

him: And? We know Conquistadors destroyed human civilizations, our own kind, any other aliens species are not one of us.

me: Do you really think they thought of the mesoamericans as "our own kind" sure they were human just like them, but that were "others" and that sense of otherness is why the conquistadors massacred them.

Yeah, I would love humanity to be the universal leaders, but I don't want it at the expense of another spacefaring society. As long as we aren't forced into a position where war is inevitable then I say we must do our best to avoid it without giving up our values, morals, and freedoms.

him: But in this scenerio, the aliens ARE literally others. Big difference. Spaniards thought South American civilizations were "other" while they were the same. You say aliens shouldn't be treated as "other" while they are.

me: Why are they others?

Because they're not from the same system as us? The same planet? The same country? Because we're a different species? Because we don't share an evolutionary ancestor? Because we don't share a racial ancestor? Because we don't share a country? Because we don't share a culture?

What reason do you have to want to subjugate another person? That's probably what they are, people like you and me and everyone you've ever met; they might not be humans but they're people, with their own morals and their own history and society, their own art and culture. What reason do you have to want to destroy all that?

So, my question is simple:

Do you believe we as humans have the right to dominate sentient alien species just to conquer the Galaxy?

 

[Chickenspleen]

Fuck no. Have you seen the size of the Milky Way? There's way more room there than any one sapient species can occupy.

I've actually been thinking about this a lot recently. I've been doing a run of the Nass Effect trilogy and the idea of unity between all the species of a galaxy intrigues me beyond belief.

To think that we, some species from some planet in the middle of nowhere, are entitled to an entire fucking galaxy is absolutely preposterous. Also, I feel like conquering is a lot more costly than cooperation to achieve essentially the same result.

But then again, this is all hypothetical. Who knows if there's actually any other sapient species in the galaxy.

 

[Steal Thy Kill]

I think the guy you're arguing with just wants some alien poon and hasn't ruled out space rape as a way to get it.

 

[Tirin]

If it's free for the taking, we should take what we can; there's nothing immoral about settling unclaimed territory for the benefit of humanity. If it's populated, we should try to negotiate with who we find and integrate, trade, or ally (or any combination of those) with them, so long as they aren't hostile or ridiculously evil. If they fight us, we should fight back with tooth, nail, fire, sword, and every other thing we can think of until they give up or die. If they're some sorta evil alien overlords, then fuck 'em - they deserve to be brought down, and there's theoretically no reason we can't do it.

So, no, we don't have the right to conquer the Milky Way, but we certainly have the right to spread throughout it so long as we're responsible in how we do so. Anyone who would deny us that is our enemy.

 

[Jeroth]

If it's free for the taking, we should take what we can; there's nothing immoral about settling unclaimed territory for the benefit of humanity. If it's populated, we should try to negotiate with who we find and integrate, trade, or ally (or any combination of those) with them, so long as they aren't hostile or ridiculously evil. If they fight us, we should fight back with tooth, nail, fire, sword, and every other thing we can think of until they give up or die. If they're some sorta evil alien overlords, then fuck 'em - they deserve to be brought down, and there's theoretically no reason we can't do it.

So, no, we don't have the right to conquer the Milky Way, but we certainly have the right to spread throughout it so long as we're responsible in how we do so. Anyone who would deny us that is our enemy.

I concur with Tirin. Grab what we can, expand the possible resources that we could use to further our species and survival.

I'm hoping the future generation is capable of manifesting their destiny.

I think the overall precarious situation is that human beings would need to put aside their cultural differences and all of the issues with that.

I see lots of Sci-Fi with a Galactic Federation, but honestly? I'd be interested in seeing Space Russia, Space America, Space France, Space Poland. Each having their own colonies and dealing with the aliens.

 

[Lumpy]

Only the bug aliens. Gotta do your part.

 

[Tag_Ross]

I see lots of Sci-Fi with a Galactic Federation, but honestly? I'd be interested in seeing Space Russia, Space America, Space France, Space Poland. Each having their own colonies and dealing with the aliens

I'm sure that's most likely what would happen, though I'm also sure if any wars do break out between humans and aliens then the other "countries" would instantly back up the humans.