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Someone commented in a FREEPMAIL about ET's being against war etc.

First a comment I ran across looking for the below . . . p 86, 87
"Left alone, he said, the human species would require another two million years, according to the best estimates of the Verdants' scientists, to achieve absolute intelligence."
. . .
"Absolute intelligence," . . .
"The point at which it becomes biologically impossible to become any more intelligent. There are limits to everything," Robert said.

"But again, he pointed out, the relatively low rating of a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1 to 10 [when compared to other species when they are first brought into the IFSP . . .] is due to the immense diversity of the human species. Most other species have intelligence levels that do not deviate more than one percent from the most intelligent to the least intelligent individuals. For all practical purposes, except for very slight variations, that means that every individual is of equal intelligence."

"If we compared just your most intelligent people--say the top 10 percent--your species would rank at perhaps an 8 or a 9," Robert continued. "But the sheer vast numbers of the less intelligent draw down the average considerably. Again, this is an anomaly that we had never experienced before. We previoiusly had thought that it would be impossible to find such a wide difference among infidivuals in the same species."

[then some interesting paragraphs about how they can help humans take 2-3,000 years instead of 2 million years to reach absolute intelligence.]

p 51
"So far, something like 27,000 species have been assimilated into the universal alliance of planetary civilizations. Many of those species originally had been isolated and confined . . . [because they were violent etc] Only about 200 species are currently confined to their home planets, the Verdants said."

"In addition, the Verdants themselves have colonized roughly 246,000 formerly uninhabited planets. Some of these are in the Milky Way Galaxy, but the vast majority are scattered to the farthest reaches of the universe. Their population is variously estimated at a total of 500 trillion on all of the planets, which range from pint-sized moons circling other planets, to spectacular giants. . . . "

"Of the 27,000 other species that have advanced civilizations on an equal number of planets and have become star travelers, there is a population of approximately 150 trillion. . .

[Whether story or half truth or whatever, this is another section worth getting the book just for the fun of the story]

She told me that the ship was a medium-size star cruiser, one of thousands in service throughout the universe, designed specifically for monitoring any planet to which it was assigned. This particular one was built 200,000 Earth years ago. Its name, literally translated, was "Goodwill." It was home port to several hundred smaller shuttle craft that are capable of traveling at sub-light speeds to the surface of the planet under observation."

"A larger mother ship about 20 times this size is always within close range and is capable of speeding to the monitoring ships within a short period of time, although the distances can be hundreds of trillions of miles of separation."

[This section too is worth getting the book for, imho]

p 69
The Goodwill is disk-shaped, thinner along the rim, and increasingly thicker toward the center. . . .Gina said, it has a radius of about three-quarters of a mile, or a diameter of about a mile and a half. It has 16 decks along the outer rim, which is about 200 feet thick at that point, and gradually rises to its highest point of 234 decks or about 3,000 feet thick, in the center."

"That is, through it's latitudinal axis, there are 8 decks below and 8 above on the rim, ranging to the center point of 117 decks below and 117 above the centerline."

"There are 32,000 personnel aboard, most of them scientists who conduct the studies of the planet under observation. Computers, of course, run the entire ship, so it requires only a handful of crew members to oversee its operation."

[This tour of the ship is also worth getting the book for, imho].

The KRAPF book THE CONTACT HAS BEGUN has an interesting take on that issue . . .

p. 73 Gus, the leader of the Verdant ship:
"I want to talk to you about that. The answer is yes, I have been in many fights. But I have never drawn blood, nor have I ever inflicted pain or injury upon another living creature. No Verdant has for eons."

. . .

"Do you play ches?" he asked.

. . .

"Partly right," Gus said. "Chess is a game played by cultured people pretending to be engaged in a gentlemanly p 74 contest of intellect but whose real purpose is to outwit their opponent to such a humilitating and degrading point that the rival will never speak to them again. It is barbaric, and yet no noses are bloodied, as you say."
. . .

"If there is only one message that you take back to your people," Gus continued, "it is imperative that they understand that the Verdants are a peaceful race, completely and totally lacking in aggressive tendencies. We are not conquerors or warriors. Your people must understand that. They must not fear us."

. . .

. . .
In addition, even their [Verdants] earliest recorded history shows vestiges of internecine conflict, although such destructive activities have been a thing of the past for eons. No Verdant warship has ever been built, let alone gone into space. There are no Verdant armed forces, and there have not been any for several million years. The only weapons of destruction exist in Verdant museums."

"Not even defensive weapons?" I asked. "What happens if you come across a warlike species that is already in space before you discover them? How would you defend yourselves?"

"'Absolute intelligence' is the ultimate weapon against which there is no adequate defense, even by the most aggressive and advanced military power," Gus said.

. . .
p75
"Ah, but what happens if this armed and ferocious species also has achieved absolute intelligence?" I asked. "Now you're facing an enemy that is as intelligent as you, but he has a weapon and you have none. Doesn't that put you at a disadvantage?"

"A contradiction in terms," Gus replied.

"Species resort to war and conflict when they lack the intellect to resolve their differences through peaceful means, Gus told me. Once absolute intelligence is achieved, use of force to settle disputes is out of the question because it is a tool of the ignorant and the inferior. Therefore, it is impossible to meet a warlike species with absolute intelligence. The two qualities are mutually exclusive."

. . .

. . .

"You said you've been in bloodless fights before," I said. "What did you mean?"

In their explorations of the universe, the Verdants have on occasion encountered heavily armed hostile species that have already become star travelers by the time they are discovered, Gus said. Without relying upon military weapons, the Verdants surrepititiously move their chess pieces into place and proceed to force the aggressive [p76] species out of space and back to their home planets. They become effectively isolated and neutralized until such time as the species evolve to the point where they can be safely absorbed into the IFSP."

. . .

. . .

. . .

"So what happened?" I asked.
"I checkmated them," he said.

"Gus had summoned a cadre of volunteers through the High Command, and within several months he had placed 10,000 Verdants on each planet who had been genetically altered and disguised to pass as members of the two species. Because of their supreme intelligence, the faux fifth columnists worked their way into positions of great power and authority within an accelerated time frame."

"They became heads of military units, key scientists, government leaders, and chief executives of industrial complexes, including armament manufacturers. Through sabotage, subterfuge, misdirection, persuasion over great masses of the host populations, and careful manipulation of government policy, the means to make war on each side quickly deteriorated."

"Great interstellar warships mysteriously malfunctioned. Satellites fell from the skies. Communications broke down. Weapons of destruction emerged from the factories woefully flawed, and then failed in combat. Finger-pointing and blame-laying led to heated bickering as the social fabric began to unravel. It got ot the point where each side's starship fleets became grounded.

[another very, very fascinating section continues]