The Destruction Window

First espoused by Englander and Jancar, The Destruction Window describes the unmatched technological development required by one force to enable it to destroy its enemies with relative ease.

To take one example, by the time they set off on their global trading and raiding missions, the European Powers had inadvertently built up a destruction window over the civilizations they encountered. The imbalance was so great that colonization was a foregone conclusion.

Western powers are still more advanced in military terms than those in the developing world but the destruction window has all but closed, ensuring that conflicts in those regions can no longer be predicted quite so easily.

In one sense, the briefly total and still partial destruction window opened by the USA in its development of nuclear weaponry was a false window, in that the weapon concerned is so catastrophic as to almost entirely rule out its use. For example, the USA had a destruction window over North Vietnam but was unable to use it.

Regardless of this leapfrogging, it is still imperative for all powers to race towards greater sophistication in weaponry and to engage in espionage to ensure that no other power is opening a destruction window against it.

Naturally, even if the planet became a unified political entity, it would still make sense to continue with the development of weapon systems to ensure that any extraterrestrial visitors do not automatically have a destruction window against Earth. After all, in space terms, we might be Pacific Islanders.

Opponents of The Destruction Window Theory argue that it is unnecessarily focused on military solutions and does not allow for the ability of advanced societies to engage in diplomacy. Englander and Jancar argue in response that diplomacy is a necessity which only ever takes place when no destruction window exists.

(coming next - the new eugenics)