Well, there's always Manga Khan's "Shop or Die" arc from Keith Giffen's Justice League International. "Shop or die, earthlings! Offer void where prohibited."
Is there a GOOD reason for an alien invasion
- Thread starter Gotham Central
- Start date
heh I was just about to post this. it was an interesting show, more so than many of the recent alien invasion blockbuster movies.
Yes, for all the same reasons forts out on the old frontier were important to the United States government at the time. A faster speed doesn't eliminate the need for supply depots, it just moves them further down the road.
Earth might also be in the perfect spot to plant a fortified observation post to spy on the neighboring interstellar empire. Especially since the neighbor's last survey showed a bunch of meat-based lifeforms. (Who wants to meet meat?)
I mean, c'mon guys, its like you don't even watch science fiction!
Why can't you put supply depots on any old asteroid/moon/etc? Plenty of chunks of rock around.
Unless you want a habitable supply depot, which gets back to the idea that habitable planets are the only really valuable thing in the cosmos (other than sci fi ish things like "stable wormholes").
Yeah I guess that spoils all our fun.
So if there was an alien species that found Earth habitable but had not mastered FTL flight and instead was wandering around in generational ships and got really sick of being in a tin can and they happened to stumble across Earth, we'd be in trouble. I'm not gonna lose sleep over this one.
I was going to say Pest Control. If you were an advanced, but aggressive species keeping tabs on us be far better to deal with us while all our eggs are in the one basket, and poorly defended.
I think we can't really know the cultural or political imperatives that might drive an alien species to conquer (as opposed to just destroy) the Earth.
What if we Earthlings had some kind of Draka-style dystopia going on, and we discovered FTL? Such a society might actively seek to conquer and enslave an alien race, regardless of the economic irrationality of spending resources that way, just because that's what that society does.
Or maybe conquest has second-level effects in some kind of complex alien political system. The Romans continued to conquer their neighbors during the time period of the late Republic even when there was no compelling economic or security reason for them to do so, for the simple reason that conquering a neighboring region made political sense for individual province governors. So maybe it makes no economic sense for an alien race as a whole to conquer Earth, but it makes sense for one alien decision-maker who will personally benefit with increased individual prestige, power, or wealth.
What if we Earthlings had some kind of Draka-style dystopia going on, and we discovered FTL? Such a society might actively seek to conquer and enslave an alien race, regardless of the economic irrationality of spending resources that way, just because that's what that society does.
Or maybe conquest has second-level effects in some kind of complex alien political system. The Romans continued to conquer their neighbors during the time period of the late Republic even when there was no compelling economic or security reason for them to do so, for the simple reason that conquering a neighboring region made political sense for individual province governors. So maybe it makes no economic sense for an alien race as a whole to conquer Earth, but it makes sense for one alien decision-maker who will personally benefit with increased individual prestige, power, or wealth.
Or the aliens could seek to conquer and enslave us for the exact same reason: it's just what THEY do.
^ What you say!
You have no chance to survive make your time.
Perhaps humans are the assholes and we simply deserve to have the shit kicked out of us?
I suppose it would come down to how "easy" it was to invent FTL travel and how many habitable (and inhabited by sentient species) planets there are in the galaxy.
In the Star Trek universe, FTL is fairly easy to develop and there are numerous inhabited planets with humanoid species, so the risk of an alien invasion would be high. Just imagine how much blood would be on the hands of the Klingons/Romulans/Cardassians (let alone the Borg). Earth was lucky it was in Vulcan's back yard.
If FTL takes thousand of years to develop after an industrial revolution and there are few sentient species in the galaxy, then the main reason for an invasion may be religious/ideological or pre-emptive and would be a very rare risk.
If anything (assuming there are parallel universes and it's technologically feasible to travel between them a la Fringe, Sliders, Charlie Jade, and Trek's own Mirror Universe) there would be a far greater likelihood of an invasion from an "evil" imperialistic, ultra-Stalinist/fascist, super-capitalist, Earth than an alien race capable of FTL.
In the Star Trek universe, FTL is fairly easy to develop and there are numerous inhabited planets with humanoid species, so the risk of an alien invasion would be high. Just imagine how much blood would be on the hands of the Klingons/Romulans/Cardassians (let alone the Borg). Earth was lucky it was in Vulcan's back yard.
If FTL takes thousand of years to develop after an industrial revolution and there are few sentient species in the galaxy, then the main reason for an invasion may be religious/ideological or pre-emptive and would be a very rare risk.
If anything (assuming there are parallel universes and it's technologically feasible to travel between them a la Fringe, Sliders, Charlie Jade, and Trek's own Mirror Universe) there would be a far greater likelihood of an invasion from an "evil" imperialistic, ultra-Stalinist/fascist, super-capitalist, Earth than an alien race capable of FTL.
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^ W00t! nice to see *somebody* else on this board remembering Charlie Jade! 
^ Quick aside, if you are a cyberpunk or Fringe fan, you should really check out Charlie Jade on DVD. The only cheap and easy way to do that is to order it from Amazon UK and have a multiregion DVD player. It is fairly stylized and had some production problems halfway through, but is worth viewing. If it's not your cup of tea, you can always sell it on Amazon zShops.
Or the aliens could seek to conquer and enslave us for the exact same reason: it's just what THEY do.
The problem that I have with the "its just what they do" argument is that such a position would in some respect require a crowded universe. How exactly would a civilization evolve with conquest as an end unto itself in a universe where planets are far apart, habitable planets are scarce, and civilizations are VERY rare? A civilization could not evolve to become the Klingons or Hirogen if there simply are not that many places available for conquest. What they hell would they be doing the other 99.999%of the time?
Because they can?
Also, do they necessarily need a motivation? I agree the concept of alien invasion is tired, and writers need to do it properly or not at all. But in all honestly, I think it's more frightening to not know and have to speculate.
Also, do they necessarily need a motivation? I agree the concept of alien invasion is tired, and writers need to do it properly or not at all. But in all honestly, I think it's more frightening to not know and have to speculate.
Too many variables:
-- Number of habitable planets in the galaxy
-- Number of civilizations in the galaxy
-- Ease of inventing FTL
-- Ease of terraforming
-- What percentage of civilizations destroy themselves before inventing FTL or fall victim to natural disaster
-- Artificial intelligence (like Cylons or Replicators) or cyborgs (Borg) that supplant an existing civilization and could then pose a threat to other life
-- Proliferation of technology to other civilizations that have yet to evolve to the point of using it responsibly. See the Goa'uld using the Ancient stargate network to subjugate other species, had a gate never been placed on P3X-888, they probably would have never posed a threat to anyone unless visited by an incredibly stupid starship crew. Also the Prime Directive (which in my view serves to protect the Federation more than the other society). And the Klingon's obtaining FTL from the Hur'q (not sure if this one is canon or not).
-- How "alien" non-humanoids would be
-- Parallel Earths and inter-dimensional travel
-- Prior intelligent species that evolved on Earth (Ancients from Stargate, Voth from Star Trek, Non-Terrestrials from The Event) or a parallel Earth (Kromaggs from Sliders)
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If an alien species wanted to conquer us for the sake of conquering us, it probably would have already happened (unless 20th century radio-communications somehow put us on the map, and someone follows up hundreds or thousands of years later, but its very doubtful signals would be that detectible). Now the only thing to really watch out for would be aliens viewing us as a potential threat to be preemptively dealt with. They'd probably just use one ship and a bio-weapon and kill everyone within days.
-- Number of habitable planets in the galaxy
-- Number of civilizations in the galaxy
-- Ease of inventing FTL
-- Ease of terraforming
-- What percentage of civilizations destroy themselves before inventing FTL or fall victim to natural disaster
-- Artificial intelligence (like Cylons or Replicators) or cyborgs (Borg) that supplant an existing civilization and could then pose a threat to other life
-- Proliferation of technology to other civilizations that have yet to evolve to the point of using it responsibly. See the Goa'uld using the Ancient stargate network to subjugate other species, had a gate never been placed on P3X-888, they probably would have never posed a threat to anyone unless visited by an incredibly stupid starship crew. Also the Prime Directive (which in my view serves to protect the Federation more than the other society). And the Klingon's obtaining FTL from the Hur'q (not sure if this one is canon or not).
-- How "alien" non-humanoids would be
-- Parallel Earths and inter-dimensional travel
-- Prior intelligent species that evolved on Earth (Ancients from Stargate, Voth from Star Trek, Non-Terrestrials from The Event) or a parallel Earth (Kromaggs from Sliders)
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If an alien species wanted to conquer us for the sake of conquering us, it probably would have already happened (unless 20th century radio-communications somehow put us on the map, and someone follows up hundreds or thousands of years later, but its very doubtful signals would be that detectible). Now the only thing to really watch out for would be aliens viewing us as a potential threat to be preemptively dealt with. They'd probably just use one ship and a bio-weapon and kill everyone within days.
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Charlie Jade is really good and very much worth that purchase. Cyberpunk, alternate universes, and set in South Africa before District 9 made it cool.
Well as I understand the whole alternate universe idea or theory or whatever (which is very, very badly) it's not actually possible to transfer anything above the quantum level, or something like that. Even in the event of alternate real;ities transference between them may be impossible.
Compare that to space travel. That's pretty real. FTL is not, but space travel itself is, and the conquest of Earth doesn't require FTL - just the capacity and willingness to transfer aliens across vast distances of empty space. So while an alien invasion doesn't sound like a terribly likely or plausible threat, it's more scientifically sound - I think - than an alternate universe one.
Not necessarily. Space is obscenely big, and obscenely empty. Takes a long time to get anywhere, is what I'm saying. If there were aliens interested in acquiring other species, it could be countless millennia before they'd heard of us and then a few more centuries before they got anywhere near us.
Well as I understand the whole alternate universe idea or theory or whatever (which is very, very badly) it's not actually possible to transfer anything above the quantum level, or something like that. Even in the event of alternate real;ities transference between them may be impossible.
Compare that to space travel. That's pretty real. FTL is not, but space travel itself is, and the conquest of Earth doesn't require FTL - just the capacity and willingness to transfer aliens across vast distances of empty space. So while an alien invasion doesn't sound like a terribly likely or plausible threat, it's more scientifically sound - I think - than an alternate universe one.
Not necessarily. Space is obscenely big, and obscenely empty. Takes a long time to get anywhere, is what I'm saying. If there were aliens interested in acquiring other species, it could be countless millennia before they'd heard of us and then a few more centuries before they got anywhere near us.
What if the aliens had some method of immortality?
The bigness of space would then just be a matter of tedium to contend with.
Immortality would also create insane living space issues, especially if they still breed in a regular fashion. Or what if they lived forever or even for merely thousands of years but bred like fish, spawning by the 10's of thousand.
But even then a diosonsphere of satellites would still be preferable to an interstellar voyage of hundreds of years to some mud ball they'll fill up in a century or two, and then they're forced to build another diosonsphere and satellites.
Then of course nothing gets rid of a superfluous surplus population like a good war.
The bigness of space would then just be a matter of tedium to contend with.
Immortality would also create insane living space issues, especially if they still breed in a regular fashion. Or what if they lived forever or even for merely thousands of years but bred like fish, spawning by the 10's of thousand.
But even then a diosonsphere of satellites would still be preferable to an interstellar voyage of hundreds of years to some mud ball they'll fill up in a century or two, and then they're forced to build another diosonsphere and satellites.
Then of course nothing gets rid of a superfluous surplus population like a good war.
It would be easier to build a space habitat on an asteroid than to deal with Earth's native population if aliens wanted resources. The asteroids are rich with resources and it's easier to get at than digging up Earth's crust for the meager materials there.
If an alien race wanted resources, which I think would be the major reason to invade, the worst they might do is use us as slave labor - as a means to an end. Killing us would serve no purpose.
The truth of the matter is that there are trillions of asteroids in the galaxy and all are rich in various minerals, ores and the like, so invading a planet for resources is a ridiculous concept, unless you need the native population for something.
If an alien race wanted resources, which I think would be the major reason to invade, the worst they might do is use us as slave labor - as a means to an end. Killing us would serve no purpose.
The truth of the matter is that there are trillions of asteroids in the galaxy and all are rich in various minerals, ores and the like, so invading a planet for resources is a ridiculous concept, unless you need the native population for something.
That's not a million miles away from the reason behind the Human/Covenant war, in the Halo games; The Covenant begin systematically wiping out humans in the galaxy, because they believe the human race is an affront to their gods.
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