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A civilization capable of interstellar imperialism* would be focused on long-term exploitation of less primitive societies, so they would probably manage us better than the current elites do. A more educated, healthy worker is simply more productive than the alternative, especially in the long term.
- unless it is some kind of swarm of space locusts that just devour everything in their path.
Or they would manage us to their own desires. I wouldn’t say imperialism of conquered peoples went well for people on Earth.
Hell, there are several noted cases of deindustrialization, like the British Raj in India, where the imperial power pushed a civilization back into resource extraction. Why would an alien civilization colonize us for anything other than natural resources?
And there are several examples where humans weren’t treated well in a resource extraction economy. Sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean were where slaves went to die.
Why would an alien civilization colonize us for anything other than natural resources?
Space is full of mineral resources, going to a random planet with a relatively high gravity well just for some rocks would be counter productive. And an advanced civilization would probably use a lot of automation for resource extraction.
And there are several examples where humans weren’t treated well in a resource extraction economy. Sugarcane plantations in the Caribbean were where slaves went to die.
That part is true. But the question is what could the aliens get from us that couldn’t be made for cheaper closer to their planet?
It doesn’t have to be mineral wealth. It could be biological in nature, like cash crop farming.
smaller planets tend to lose their water and hydrogen.
Not the cold ones.
I know aliens haven’t found this planet because Musk is still alive, and he’s a threat to their goals.
I would find it more likely that they wipe us out to make way for colonizers of their own. They probably have no use for us, save maybe a couple to keep on display in a captive breeding program. They would likely have the technology to perform any work we could, but better and faster.
Boy, somebody hasn’t learned about colonisation history!
Targeting primitives is about right, though!
Aliens have probably intercepted internet traffic at this point and without setting foot on the planet have decided that it isn’t worth the visit.
A few years ago I wrote a short story about a benevolent alien alliance coming to earth because they observe planets with intelligent life to evaluate if they’re worthy of joining the alliance.
They say they usually take 10ish years to do a complete evaluation but it took less than 3 for them to determine not only are we not worthy, but they are officially quarantining our solar system. The basis of their determination: 10 people on this planet have the resources and means of legitimately end all suffering and make this planet a utopia, but they would instead poison and burn 3/4 of the planet to hoard more of those resources for themselves.
Sounds like the hate us for our freedoms.
Time to bring back ‘freedom fries’ at mcdonalds and go to war with some aliens.
Hahaha yes; funny short story. Hopefully nobody violates the quarantine. :)
“we’re here to take over your planet”
“Yes please”
.
Is there a scifi story where the aliens are actually benevolent? Could be funny; they are just genuinely kind but the human mind cannot grasp that and continues to distrust them.
“IT’S A COOKBOOK”
Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke.
Just finished this. Pretty unique story.
OOP has clearly never played “Stellaris”.
But what if they take you to their planet and show you their advanced society that everyone works a 3-days week and have great healthcare, just to send you back to Earth afterward??
Ironically that argument only works for the USA, and definitely the country more fixated in UFO is USA, maybe because of the military idk
I dunno, 3 Body makes a good argument for China being the country of origin for the person that ultimately betrays humanity to the aliens because how much worse could it actually get?
Aliens probably watch earth like a trashy reality show. Just full cringe all the time
Don’t forget the universal truth that it can always get worse.
This is why we vote for Kang.
I think along these lines when someone talks about the dangers of agi suggesting a terminator type thing.
The rise of the robots isn’t what most ‘AI doomers’ are worried about. What a truly malicious AGI could do would be along the lines of simulating your consciousness and placing you in eternal simulated hell. However, the more realistic fear is that it might treat us the way we treat ants. We have nothing against them, but we’ll wipe out a colony without a second thought if we need to build a house there.
Yeah this is still along the lines of im not worried about it. Im worried about non general ai being programmed for the service of humans to gain advantage over others.
“No one will save you” entered the chat
Posadism always proves itself correct
This is pretty mich the plot of Three Body Problem.
It’s really not even close…
Not in the books, it isn’t.
Well, there’s at least one character and organization that thinks the aliens couldn’t do any worse then what humans have already done.
Mother effing Prime Directive!
Edit: realized Prime Directive is a proper noun. Corrected Capitalization.
Wouldn’t they be allowed to make contact once the civilization reaches out to space? Or was that just in the Orville?
They were allowed to make contact once the civilization achieved warp drive in some form. With warp drive, the civilization would run into other space faring civilizations eventually. So an attempt was made to make that first meeting, peaceful.
