<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div><span>I wrote:</span></div><div><span></span> </div><div><span>> term survival "big-picture questions for human <br>> civilization" should look at long term stability<br>> as a primary criteria. I believe the <span id="misspell-0" class="mark">Superstealth</span> <br>> <span id="misspell-1" class="mark">SND</span> approach is fundamental to the<br>> survival of any technological civilization.</span></div><div><span></span> </div><div><span>Eugen <span id="misspell-2" class="mark">Leitl</span> wrote:</span><span></span></div><div><br>> I believe that <span id="misspell-3" class="mark">superstealth</span> and advanced cultures<br>> are mutually exclusive. You can't hide your </div><div>> metabolism. Unless you're not there.<br></div><div>In nature as in military technology there is
always</div><div>a cost involved in hiding which also creates a cost</div><div>for anyone searching. Balancing the cost/benefit </div><div>ratio is the question. Do you hide every E&M </div><div>signal or just those an advanced <span id="misspell-4" class="mark">SETI</span> program</div><div>might see. Do you hide every heat signature or</div><div>do you make your heat signature look natural?</div><div> </div><div>It might be difficult for us to imagine hiding</div><div>advanced cultures but does advanced culture</div><div>necessarily mean huge centralized processing </div><div>plants and huge cities? The growth of the </div><div>information age seems to poke some holes in that</div><div>idea. Satellite TV in rural Nebraska in 1979 when</div><div>New York City cable still had 9 channels years </div><div>later. An Intranet on the Cable TV system </div><div>in Omaha in 1982-83 when a Commodore
64 or</div><div>an Atari 5200 was the ticket and <span id="misspell-5" class="mark">PC's</span> were </div><div>unheard of.</div><div> </div><div>The information age allows a great many things</div><div>to be done in a dispersed civilization. The </div><div>advantages of proximity and size in an <span id="misspell-6" class="mark">mbrain</span> </div><div>are not necessarily the last word in capabilities.</div><div> </div><div>Dennis May</div><div><br><var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var> </div></div></body></html>