High Concept Sci-fi Rigamarole

What happens when humans are no longer the most advanced?

We've discussed the dangers of the singularity when it comes to AI: the idea that humanity would be eradicated by an advanced enough artificial intelligence. But what about aliens? How often do we see extraterrestrial contact and cooperation in science fiction? If they reach us first... would they be benevolent? After all, a type III civilization "would be godlike to us" for much of the foreseeable future (human civilization isn't even expected to fully crack type I for another few hundred years).

While many works of science fiction feature a rosy outlook of such encounters, I struggle to imagine contact with beings from another world going well. As the late Stephen Hawking once said: "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

Awkward Moments with Aliens

One of the works that portrays this colonization/destruction well is Rick and Morty. Unlike films like Independence Day, where the reasoning behind the alien invasion isn't abundantly clear but has something to do with exploitation of resources, Rick and Morty features extraterrestrials verbalizing a superiority to humans to justify the various injustices they perform.

The best example I can think of is Morty's encounter with an alien that calls itself "Fart." Fart is a highly advanced interdimensional gaseous being that Morty rescues from assassination. In the clip below, we learn that Fart's intentions toward mankind are a bit... xenocidal. "After I return to the others with this location, we will be back for your cleansing... Carbon-based life is a threat to all higher life. To us, you are what you would call a disease. Wherever we discover you, we cure it. You said yourself that life must be protected even through sacrifice."

Even when they don't go in for the kill, we observe the more advanced species oppressing their less capable counterpart. Sometimes this is uncomfortable trivial and exploitative-- like when the Cromulons force planets to compete for their lives in a song competition.

Other times, we hear familiar colonizer rhetoric from the hive-mind Unity about how its complete control over its host planet is a vast improvement and for the greater good of the (completely controlled) people (episode here). There are even some mundane interactions on Rick and Morty that highlight how the future of humanity could well be that of a marginalized class. Ex: "Anything with less than 8 limbs is considered disabled here," "the e-arth relationships are simpler. It's a primitive planet"

"You guys are talking about my species! We understand genocide! We do it sometimes!"



It's nice to have a comedic take on something like this-- especially since it could well be our future to a certain extent. I'd love to think that extraterrestrials are above the way we treat one another, but how likely is that? Maybe the best we can hope for is an alien that sounds like Werner Herzog making fun of our species.