Them Killer Little Bugs

When I first saw the most recent “War of the Worlds,” starring Mr. Scientology, I thought it was a pretty good movie. I’ve been catching glimpses of it on HBO, however, and I see some major flaws. Not so much with Katie’s husband, or Dakota Fanning, nor even with Mr. Spielberg’s superb direction. The problem goes back much further, I think, back to H.G. Wells himself.

Mr. Wells can be forgiven for his lack of technical expertise. When his novel was written, mankind had yet to even launch a vessel into orbit. Am I the only one to see the absurdity of this movie’s ending?

Yes, I agree that humans have adapted to the multitudes of armies of tiny invaders who invade our bodies constantly. And yes, I agree that exposing an alien being to those same invaders would prove fatal. My problem lies in intelligence. Both kinds.

For instance, why don’t we start relocating our citizens to the moon? Well, we know from research that the moon’s atmosphere is inhospitable to human life. We humans, as ignorant as we are (compared to the beings in War of the Worlds), know this. Even closer to home, we know that certain parts of the world are more biologically dangerous for us than others. Some regions in Asia use human feces as fertilizer for their crops. People who have lived this way for generations have undoubtedly built up a certain amount of resistance to the harmful pathogens found therein. If an American citizen were to consume these crops, however, serious illness or death might result.

Surely then, an alien race with the ability to travel via lightning bolt would possess adequate intelligence to know about our dangerous microbes. As a geologist takes soil samples to analyze and predict the possible actions of a volcano, would it be unreasonable to assume an advanced life form would have the presence of mind to do the same?

Imagine all the tests and probes and analyses we would conduct if we were planning to colonize a planet. I find it difficult to believe that a superior intelligence would make such an obvious error.