odin1
That's a very desolate scenario. Home planet uninhabitable. No interest in learning, but compelled to learn in order to survive. I think they could quite easily manage without a concept of a universal governing power. But...no joy; no sense of mystery, awe and wonder. I can think of no reason why these beings would wish to exist. I'm surprised that they bother. I would feel sympathy for these creatures, but it seems to me that they are nothing more than von Neumann automatons, devoid of any function resembling emotion, and therefore dead to any sense of purpose.
- - -
Rose: "There is of course the disease factor. What new and exotic plagues could result from first contact with space aliens, must give us pause."
- But then if, as you suppose likely, they aren't DNA based, then there should be no risk. H. G. Wells' Martians would appear to have had no such good fortune.
