Human Nature...*sigh.*

Oh hai gaiz.

Yesterday I was channel surfing before bed (so I could record things on the DVR to watch in moments of boredom. You get it.) and I saw a Nova program about weapons in outer space. I went to watch it today, and even though it was a perfectly high quality production and splendidly informative to boot, I simply couldn't bring myself to finish watching it.

It was about the development and theory of high-efficiency weapons to be used in outer space and on nearby celestial bodies such as the moon once they are colonized.

And it got me to thinking...

We haven't even reached space yet. We have scratched the surface of orbital technology and landed people on the moon, and we're working on landing Mars. With the exception of the International Space Station, we have no way of sustaining human life outside of Earth's atmosphere for any useful length of time. We have no way to transport people or freight out of the atmosphere or through space. We have light-years of growth ahead of us before we can achieve any serious space missions...

... And yet we are working diligently at finding ways to wage bloody warfare in the void.

I really think we need to grow up as a species. Our system of using warfare for achieving ends seems extremely infantile to me, like a squabble between toddlers over who will use the soccer ball first.

This also reminds me of when I saw District 9 this summer. Are humans really as dumb as they seem in that movie? I mean come on.

A sentient, intelligent species comes to earth. They don't hurt anyone. They don't cause trouble. They keep to themselves and achieve their goals quietly and without fuss. They clearly know tons more than us about engineering and space travel given that they traveled from another star system and got here in a year and a half (they have achieved extended space flight and we haven't). All they really did wrong was look like giant shrimp.

And instead of setting up talks with them, allowing them some unused space to camp, and attempting to learn as much from them as possible before they leave, we confine them to squalid concentration camps, place unfair laws on their insectoid heads, and kill them off wherever we can. And get them addicted to cat food.

Really now. Are we really that bad?

I really hope not.

What if WE'RE the Klingons in the Star Trek episode of life??
*sigh*

Peace,
DJ