Hamlet was very insecure (but that didn't stop him)

...I'm relatively sure I know how Sarah Palin felt when SNL did a parody of her interview with Katie Couric...and didn't even bother changing some of what she said. I think I'm feeling what she felt, just in a better, more positive, whoo-what-I-said-became-a-question-again-ftw way.

Anyway, off that ego trip. Here, to the best of my memory, is what I said today in class:

If we're going with the idea of infinite possibilities for security issues, then no one, on an individual, national, or international basis can ever be fully secure. I must strongly state that we are all insecure because we collectively simply cannot imagine all the possibilities that are out there. What was that quote from Hamlet? 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' We cannot prepare for what we cannot imagine and thus we will always be insecure and any conveived notions of security are based solely on our limited knowledge. Now it's time for a nap.

The key phrase in that statement was "now it's time for a nap." I agree with my medicated self.

I'm done. It's sleepy time.




Alright, maybe that wasn't the point. You have to admit though, naptime is good time.

The problem with a statement like mine is discussion begins to enter into the Realms of the Unreal (good documentary) or more sci-fiingly, into the Twilight Zone (good show). Everything is conjecture.

The other problem with a statement like mine is that I made it. It's rather apparent that I believe it. ...So, in answer to my own question, yes, states can never be fully secure?

But let's get real here. Not necessary realism, but real.
No state can ever be fully, completely, unabashedly, without a doubt and in every scope and spectrum of the word, "secure". Simply, how can you prepare for something that you can't imagine?

Let's backtrack a bit to a few weeks ago with the whole aliens on the front lawn issue. In the discussion for that, I stated that we all made assumptions about these aliens, and everyone said since the question was hypothetical they could make assumptions; I, however, said the problem with these assumptions is that we exclude what we can't imagine. What if the aliens didn't, couldn't, speak our language? What if we couldn't find a way to communicate? What if the aliens only existed on dimensions we didn't know existed, or couldn't perceive even if we knew they existed? Or taking a cinematic approach, in the movie Forbidden Planet (as much as that sounds like porn, it isn't) the monster turned out not to be some alien creature, but our own id, and we didn't even imagine that our id could do such a thing. Where I am going with this is we weren't secure because we couldn't prepare, because we didn't know.

The strength of security is limited by our knowledge, and since our knowledge, undoubtedly, is limited (if it weren't, we wouldn't be making scientific "discoveries" all the time), so then, if the level of security which can be attained.

But! And this is a big but (snicker), that doesn't mean we can't feel secure. We can look at this in two ways:

1) While we cannot act on all possibilities, nations can act on all probabilities. Probabilities are merely the possibilities we can imagine. If we've acted on everything we can imagine to be plausible, then we can feel secure. We may not necessarily be secure, but we wouldn't know different, because we can't imagine what those causes of insecurity might be. Like we cannot imagine all the possibilities there are, we can't imagine all the ways we aren't secure. In this instance, our ignorance works for us. We don't know better, so we don't worry any more than necessary. If we could worry about it, then we would know it as a probability, and thus it is taken out of the realm of unimaginable possibilities.

2) We can acknowledge that, yes, our knowledge is limited. We can acknowledge that, yes, what defines security issues are an infinite number of situations. And we can accept it. We can prepare for what probabilities we know, and feel secure in knowing that we've done what we can with what we know and have.

This entire opinion rests on the "unknown", or, the fear of the unknown. We can either stagnate with this fear, retaining a constant feeling of insecurity (this can be called depression or nihilism) or face it, accept it, and be secure in our acceptance of it.

It comes down to whether you want to say, "There are so many things I don't know what could happen I can't even imagine what can I do there is nothing I can do." or "Yes, there are things I don't know about, can't even imagine, but that's fine. At least I realize there isn't a lot I can do, accept keep progressing." Turning possibilities into probabilities.

You can't get rid of insecurity...you can only expand knowledge. OH SNAP, ending on a metaphysical note.

Actually, ending on the first point I made: naptime.

GOOD NIGHT.
[sleep tight, don't let the id monsters bite]

Danger, World Politics, danger! (Flail arms accordingly)

"What do you think the US government (and world governments) would do if aliens came and landed on the White House lawn?"

Being a child of the 90s, my knowledge of aliens (and I'm going to define aliens as extraterrestrials, not my relatives across the border) is comprised of videos popped into the VCR, then Netflix, then TiVo. That said, we're taking a cinematic approach to "when aliens attack/land."

Going through decades of film, here are pretty much the collective options garnered from Hollywood:
1) We can attempt to kill them immediately. (…No film would actually kill the aliens immediately, because that means a 10 minute movie. Still, it is an option.)
2) We can (attempt to) kill them after they harm us (even if possibly we caused them to attack), and some options of how to kill them INCLUDE: playing Slim Whitman songs (Mars Attacks!), or Ronny Desmond songs (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes), freezing them (The Blob), electrocuting them (The Thing from Another Planet), pouring water on them (Signs), shooting them (Men in Black), using a computer virus to infiltrate their mainframe, then blowing them up (Independence Day), letting Mother Nature take its course (The War of the Worlds), using high pitched frequencies (Earth vs. The Flying Saucers) and blowing them up (Invaders from Mars, Predator [although Predator blows himself up…], Killer Klowns from Outer Space).
3) We can attempt to kill them even though they did nothing wrong, and in fact were trying to help us (The Day the Earth Stood Still).
4) We can form some sort of relationship with them, including setting up an ambassador program with them (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) or creating an agency that allows them to live on Earth (Men in Black), or just let them chill after we persecute them and then they save the world (Transformers).
5) We basically just let them hang around a bit (maybe try to capture them, fail/they escape), then they leave (Cocoon, It Came from Outer Space, E.T., The Abyss, The Rocky Horror Picture Show [although…they kill their leader then rocket-house back home]).
6) We can do nothing. They’re already here. You’re next. (a la Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

Alright, maybe blockbusters and B-movie films aren’t the best way to go about figuring out what to do in the event that aliens just happen to land on the White House lawn. However, movies are great at providing what if scenarios, and what if is exactly the question we’ve been poised with.

So what would we do? WWUSD? Immediately, get the President, First Lady, VP, cabinet members all to their safe locations, while simultaneously securing the area, and begin evacuating civilians from the area (although probably not telling them why…unless they see the spaceship and are like, “Yo, it’s a UFO.”). This could be considered a realist measure, placing security first, however, it is doubtful staunch liberals would be “hey, they’s cool, no worries, we’s all chill, party on the lawn!”

After that…not sure. It depends on whether or not the aliens immediately decide to kill us (which is War of the Worlds style, in which case, we revert to Independence Day status), if they do nothing (probably roll it out like The Day the Earth Stood Still) and just wait till they do something. I doubt the US would attempt to make the first encounter, since it could be safely assumed that the aliens have more advanced technology, and while perhaps not necessarily true, more advanced weaponry. However, if after an extended period of time (1-2 days sounds about right), we would probably attempt to make the least antagonist contact possible. No idea what that is, but we’d do it. If they do attempt to contact us, then we’d…probably have some convoy prepared to meet them. I’m relatively sure the government does have a list of people who’d be in a convoy to meet extraterrestrials, probably including a polyglot, a top “extraterrestrial” scientist, a top space technician, an expert mathematician, a doctor, a psychologist, and some of the top trained soldiers, yet not blatantly dressed as such (once again, non-antagonistic).

As for the world governments' responses...that is a bit harder to say. Places like Russia, China, and other countries that practice more realism than liberalism would go on the defensive, and could easily move into the offensive if they feel their security is endangered, which they always do. Other, more liberal countries, like Sweden or Iceland, would undoubtedly stay quiet, since pacifism is usually their route. Other countries that are more "mixed" in theories....I don't know, probably something along the lines of the US, I suppose. On the defensive, but willing to be open to what happens. Unless the aliens are BAMFs, in which case, that is an excellent excuse to blow various nations/factions up. Because, as in Invasion of the Body Snatchers how do we know that they're even human anymore?

Listen, we're thinking in what if scenarios here, and this is something unprecedented. Much like the economic crisis right now...coincidence? Nope. This is a conspiracy theorist post, and I don't believe in coincidences. (I want to believe.)

In both situations, we don't know what to do, and even similar experiences in the past can only help us so much. Luckily, aliens landing remains in the hypothetical realm; terrifyingly, the economic crisis doesn't, but we're facing the same hesitancy. As Klaatu says, "I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason. "

...If we're all fearful though, how do we know what is reason, and what is fear parading around as such? Who knows our best interests then, when no one is sure of our interests now? ....Frightening.



And yes, I have seen every single film I mentioned.