By nature, I am somewhat of a pacifist. I see the necessary use of violence as a fail-state & not a default position in any case. As a rational animal (in name if not always in deed) I am optimistic enough to believe that in all possibilities, there is a wealth of peaceful conclusions that can be reached in every dispute we are faced with if we have the patience, willpower & clarity of mind. This is a purely anthropocentric view. As the dominant species on our planet, we have been blessed with seemingly limitless imagination & my intuition fuels the belief that our responsibility is to be an example of the virtues that are possible through the application of reason. But I am not delusional, & the hopes that extraterrestrial intelligence, if such a thing exists, would be of a similar temperament may be a mistake too farfetched, & too fatal, to allow to fester without prescription.
In the Fermi Paradox, we are faced with the question of the emptiness of the universe. Allegedly, mathematically, we shouldn’t appear to be so alone & yet our attempt to prove otherwise has been fruitless. This could simply be a result of an ineptitude far greater than we are intelligent enough to assume or it could be an indication of something more deliberate. In the novel [insert novel name], the author proposes that we live inside a Dark Forest of a universe, where civilizations hide for fear of the intentions of other civilizations, potentially predatory or dishonest. A response so unanimous, as far as we can tell, hinting at the existence of a continuously roaming validation of this fear, or a historical precedent not easily forgotten.
I propose a collaborative project that is unlike anything humanity has ever seen, at least since the construction of the Pyramids1. If shutting down SETI is not an option, their hubristic broadcasting of our signals serving as a beacon of light in the darkness, let us develop the teeth of an anglerfish. A series of giant guns pointing into space.
There are indications in the Emerald Tablets of Thoth that the Pyramids and other ancient Egyptian megastructures themselves were developed for a similar purpose