The idea is that if the Earth was taken over by an alien species they'd exterminate us- we'd go extinct anyway. So we might as well threaten to do it ourselves _and_ take the planet with us, which greatly reduces the value of invading.

Ha, so the idea is to keep nuclear arms around so that we can bluff aliens and prevent an invasion? I don’t think humanity would opt for mass suicide if aliens showed up.

Who said anything about bluffing :)

But you're right- determining any degree of consensus for such a decision would be nearly impossible.

Then again- extinction event.