> It would cost a fortune and it would take awhile, but we could do it. Certainly it would be orders of magnitude easier than getting humans there, setting up any sort of interstellar trade, or working to understand each other’s language and culture. And nobody at the receiving end would be the wiser until their planet essentially ceased to exist one day.
Many of these arguments seem to work equally well for France nuking Britain.
I am also skeptical of any overly pessimistic alien interaction theories, but I don't think this analogy applies here. We already have open communication channels and centuries of trust between the British and French, and we certainly did pillage each other before we figured out how to speak to each other.
Many of these arguments seem to work equally well for France nuking Britain.