On Jul 28, 5:56*am, TBerk wrote:

A) There are bunches, er "Billions & Billions!" of these planets, just
ripe for the plucking &

B) How does this affect the question of our uniqueness, aloneness,
inconsequential-ness in the universe.

TBerk

One may hope that there is some advanced race which has vastly more
experience at surviving the countless hurdles between the discovery of
technology and useful space travel. Hopefully they will zap us like
the space invaders we are. Time and distance may bottle up our virus
for long enough for us to fix our ways. Though I seriously doubt it
based on present progress. We are far too dangerous to be allowed off
the planet in any serious numbers. To boldly go and rape and pillage
planet after planet as we have done with our own neighbourhood..
Constantly depleting resources and putting our psychopathic greed and
male aggression above the survival of any other species.

The vicious aliens of our fiction are as nothing to the nightmare view
in every mirror. Raving, backward, obese savages with a Magnum leaking
oil across the drug-littered passenger seats of our billions of Audi
wannabes. As we sit fuming in gridlock traffic queues across the
barely-habitable globe. All going absolutely nowhere. All just wading
through the motions between tormented sleep periods. Until we finally
have so many useless baubles that we have to invade a bigger cave to
show off our haul of faded, plastic beads amongst the decaying bodies
of the former squatters.

No wonder so many dream of a higher race coming to save us from
ourselves. Even Robin Hood turned out to be a corruption of an early
bank robber in a hood. In the meantime a grossly overworked Superman
broke his back falling off Rocinante. Trying to clean up our act would
just strip off the thin veneer of civilisation. We are probably known,
in polite circles of the local galaxy, as the UFU. The Utterly ****ed
Up.