How to prepare for alien invasion

Taylor and Boan started thinking about how to respond to an aggressive extraterrestrial attack during a 2001 discussion about defending against terrorist attacks.

"One thing that popped into my mind was that the only way Americans would be in an asymmetric war on the other side would be if we were attacked by aliens. Everyone chuckled, but then after a minute the comments started setting in," Taylor said.

"Then we really got to talking about it and we thought, well, you know, we really might need this contingency plan anyway."

(Via The Anomalist.)

This is, of course, a great source for speculation. But it assumes -- as do all remotely mainstream treatises on alien visitation -- that the ETs have yet to get here. While this may be the case, I certainly wouldn't bet my life on it.

Assuming for sake of argument that they are here, why haven't we been thoroughly demolished? The abduction mythos suggests that "they" are here for our DNA, in which case we constitute a valuable natural resource. Of course, this forces us to wonder why an extrasolar species would have any interest in a molecule that many scientists consider unique to this planet. Initially, at least, it seems implausible that ETs would have any practical use for human genetic material. Then again, given the sheer novelty of our biological heritage, is it excessively arrogant to consider ourselves worthy of prolonged ET scrutiny?

And don't get me started on the motives of possible cryptoterrestrials . . .