The
Civilization Factor
The Civilization Factor is a standard that all civilization must abide by if they wish to stand the test of time. The three most important elements are Weapons Technology, Population and Exploration. Below I have listed a general overview of these points, many of which I will elaborate on later. I could give you the full jest of it now, but the purpose of this article like any other that dwells into the unexplained realm of speculation, it is not necessary to give a written in stone answer, but a persuasive argument for a new train of thought. Sometimes it is the thought process that leads to a new direction. And with these new directions comes new discovery.
Weapons Technology is not only need to defend your civilization from attack, but to conquer new lands. These new lands create a large buffer zone from your Capital or central point of government. Giving you time to mount a counter attack or staunch defense. They also provide new resources and enlarge your sphere of influence and culture. History has shown that going to war against somebody who has a technological edge on you has proven to be a disastrous affair. The Aztec had weapons made out of obsidian glass compared to the Spanish soldiers steel. The Spanish traveled on horseback, the Aztec on foot. The Aztec had dart throwers that launched obsidian glass pointed darts. The Spanish had muskets and cannons. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec's is perfect example of what happens when two civilization of different technological advancement collide. The less advanced one gets assimilated.
Population Size initially serves two purposes specialization and attrition. Specialization occurs when a civilization food production creates an excess supply of manpower to endeavor in non-agriculture tasks. Specialization is needed to advance a civilization culturally and technologically. The easier it is for a civilization to procure food the faster it will flourish and begin specialization. This free-time is need for a civilization to develop its' own culture, a form of creative tinkering in the arts, religion and science.
Attrition is simply the death rate of your society from war and disease. When the European Cultures collided with the Native Indian population of the Americas', it was the disease that decimated there Native Indian ranks more than their warfare with the Europeans. The First World War was said to be a battle of attrition with Germany surrendering and signing the Treaty of Versigh. But little has been told of the Global outbreak of influenza that decimated both ranks during the war. At one point in time during the First World War the US military was losing more new recruits in boot camp then the front lines. If your Civilization population is not large enough to maintain itself then your society will either die out or be absorbed by another.
Exploration is needed to expand your civilization, find new stream of resources and meet other civilization. Adventuring out into the unknown has both its benefits and danger. The benefits are finding new lands to settle so you can expand your empire. The acquisition of new resources can be used for trade, upgrading your military or new construction projects. The danger is First Contact. Along your travels you may encounter a new civilization. Civilizations are territorial. Your presence may be considered unwelcome. You may find they possess a greater empire then yours, much more technologically advanced. Then again, they could just be a tribe of wandering nomads that your empire can easily crush. Either way, you now have to deal with a new problem. Another Civilization!
One thing that has never been talked about before in all this speculation of the existence of extraterrestrial and UFOs' is the civilization factor. Any extraterrestrial beings that would visit us would come from some form of civilization. If we could visit their world, at first it might appear totally alien to us. They themselves would look different, the life on their planet would have evolved differently due to such factors as gravity, geological activity, weather, orbit and atmosphere just to name a few. Their architecture, clothing, common modes of travel, culture and government may not be like anything we have ever seen or thought of before.
Yet here we are observing their world. But just how are we observing their world. Do we land in one of their major cities, step out of our space craft and say "Take me to your Leader?" There are many reasons not to do this. Since we initiated first contact more than likely we would have the technological advantage. Our mere presence could cause fear and panic amongst their population. Overnight it could change their society. Orson Wells broadcast of "War of Worlds" is perfect illustration of that. It may also be the reason why our government is tight lip denier of the UFO phenomena. Fear of the unknown is a deadly conquers. The Aztecs never saw a horse before until the Spanish arrived on their land. The early description of the Spanish was that of a powerful Half-Man Half-Beast demon. Image what they would think if we rolled out of our craft in a Hummer or SUV.
Obviously the best first strategy to observing a planet is not landing on the planet’s surface, but observing it from orbit. Man observed the moon for centuries. When the technology came available and man embarked on its endeavor to first landed on the moon, he did it in phases or baby step if you prefer. But then again this was no means a voyage of the caliber of the USS Enterprise of Star Trek fame "Boldly going where no man had gone before."
Space Voyagers: Having the ability to maintain a rigorous voyage through space with a piloted crew. By Space I am referring through space, time or dimension.
So to fully understand this we would have to visualize ourselves as Space Voyagers not Space Shuttlers. To fully comprehend how an advance civilization of space travelers would act you have to place yourself in the mind set of FutureTechnologies.
Futuristic Advances: Are those not-yet-imagined by a civilization these advances are collectively known as "Future Technologies."
This is first done by accepting the fact that someday this planet would achieve the Futuristic Advance of space travel. Science Fiction Writers and Filmmaker have been creating a visualization of this in are mind for years. Some of what they predict will become true while others creative outputs are for entertainment only. So for most people this should be fairly easy to conceptualize, remember "Resistance is Futile."
Now that you come to the realization that any extraterrestrial life form visiting our planet is also a Space Voyager. You must also conceptualize then they have developed technology to survive the elements of space like the bombardment of cosmic rays and micro meteor showers. We must also consider ourselves to have the same ability. One does not merely voyage out into the unknown without first gathering information. In "Sun Tzu's Art of War" the gathering information upon your enemy is most vital to the success in battle. When visiting a solar system one must be cautious in their approach of things.
Our exploration mission is to find intelligent life. Before we begin, we would send out unmanned probe to retrieve vital information of the solar system we plan to explore. Probes enable you to gather information from a distance and out of harm’s way. It better that your probe is met with hostility than your ship. Now lets' say we have gotten to the point where we have gather enough information about this solar system.
Now here is little known secret that has never been noted before with extraterrestrial, it's called "Territorial Borders." Territorial Borders are consider another Civilization "Eminent Domain." First contact with another advanced civilization will more than likely happen two ways. It will either happen in space or on a planet. You must remember it will not be like we are meeting fellow Homo Sapiens. They are not going to let us walk up to them and shake their hand. More than like we are not going to have a universal translator handy to communicate with them in space or from our planet. And neither party would want the other to board the other craft while in space. So First Contact maybe nothing more than a revelation that the other Civilization exits.
We have found a planet that shows possible signs of intelligent life. The next question is "How do we proceed?"
The answer is "Covertly!" There is great danger in colliding head on with another civilization. The best approach is stealthy observation. Your initial approach should be a cautious one. You are looking for a "la-grange" point" in space. This is point in space that you can observe another celestial body without much movement from your point of observation.
Your observation method would more than likely be passive. Once enough information is gathered, you would embark on an information gathering mission or recon. At this point you would act in a more militaristic manner than scientific until you can maintain a safe orbit. Initially you would probably orbit a moon of the planet. The first thing you are looking for is technological advances. Are they fellow space voyagers? Can you monitor any form of communication? Do they have anything in orbit around there planet? These are all signs of a more advance civilization.
The process of gathering information on these new intelligent life forms could be a long and rigorous affair. But it's better to be safe than sorry. Remember you studying a completely new civilization there are great unknowns that go along with process. If your technology is more advanced you have a tremendous upper hand, especially if you are able to move in and out of their territory at will. There is not a really a whole lot they can do about it.
Technological Passive Civilization: One that is not easily monitored by your current technology or possessing technology that is un-amplified or altered as to conceal itself. The dreaded Klingon "Bird of Prey."
The fear is running into a technological passive civilization. I imagine Earth is a very noise planet. We stick out like a sore thumb in the universe. We can be easily monitored from mars by other Extraterrestrial Civilizations. And not have the foggiest idea that they are observing us. Despite having a superior technological edge over us they will notice a few obstacles. Our planet is orbited by space debris, satellites, space shuttles and space stations. None of which are deployed for offensive or defensive capabilities as far as we know. However they would not know that. Their first thought might be "Who does that space junk belong to, the planet residents or other less advanced visitors." I image to a space voyager it might look like a kill zone.
A technological passive civilization is one who has already had a few encounter with other space voyaging races and survived. They learned the lessons of first contact, which is very similar to a submarine, submerge in the ocean, "Run Silent." There first contact technology would be based on stealth and speed. When a submarine uses it sonar it makes a ping. This helps it find other ships and subs, but it also reveals its position. Not a wise decision to make against a flotilla of destroyers.
Our planet is like a big ping in the space. We are telling everyone out there where we are. We are like a radio phonic billboard in space. "Hi, this is earth we are a backwards planet. Come visit us." Hopefully those that would visit us would show us more benevolence than we have shown each other.
One of the problems with Passive Technology, in most cases, is that you have to get extremely close to be accurately observant. This is why your defense system is based on speed. So you can blink out at the first sight of danger. It also gives you a tremendous offensive advantage. The ability to strike without warning.
"Beware of the Hun coming out of the Sun."
Article by Ray Leiden copyright 2009
