Re: starship-design: Battleship galactica?

[TLG.van.der.Linden@tip.nl (Timothy van der Linden)]

Gertchen1@aol.com has been writing:

>Now, a word about "Battlestar Galactica". many people may joke about this,
>but unfortunately it is frighteningly real. If the russians could create a
>warship and actually get it into space, that would make them superior to us.

Who are "us"?
With current Russian economy, they'll be happy if they can afford enough
money to participate in the International Space Station.
If the Russians would start making a 1 mile long starship, there would be
plenty of time for "us" to notice their plans and catch up with them.

>Now, saying that it's common sense to assume that there is other life besides
>us, isn't a wise precaution to assume that there is life out there that is
>hostile? I dunno about you, but I would much rather go into an unknown system
>with guns ready, and lots of armor than to go into a system saying "hi! I
>wanna be your friend!" only to discover this race of being shoot, then shoot
>again, shoot again, and ask no questions later.

If they are an advanced culture, then even with our most advanced weapons,
we are no match for them. If they aren't an advanced culture, then obviously
there's no danger. The chance that they are similarly advanced as we are is
so small that I think it is not worth bothering about. (Besides that, if
they are at a similar technological stage, we would have received radio
signals from them.)

Timothy