06 of 30 - IV - When the Aliens Arrive

[aggienaut]

   Many many movies, books, and television series have addressed the idea of what happens if aliens arrive at Earth. Usually the aliens want to kill us all, but sometimes they just want to probe a few people and draw pictures in their fields. But what happens if the aliens are friendly and helpful?

   What if the aliens take pity on us with our populations of impoverished and hungry? Using their alien technology they generously offer to sell anyone and everything anything they need at a price they can afford. Benevolent? Yes. But a disaster for the world economy!! We'd immediately begin to run a huge trade deficit with the aliens!

   Our governments would probably become try to intervene - either with tariffs on space imports or outright embargoes (or militant force?). Even so, our economy would still be mangled as we'd lose our export market due to other countries getting things more cheaply from space. And what if the aliens, like Western Powers used military force to open up the markets of Japan and China in the 19th Century, use military force to compell us not to interfere with them providing us an economy of plenty?

   And would it even be ethical for the government to try to limit the aliens from providing us with everything? As thousands lose their jobs yet cost of living becomes negligible, would America become a welfare state?

   I think this is a really intriguing question.


Unrelated: Picture of me at the Stone Brewery (home of Arrogant Bastard Ale)

Comments

[metalphoenix.livejournal.com]

But see, the aliens would also see the human race as a vast pool of cheap labor! Obviously we'd become third-world (third-universe?) overnight, but over time as the money flows into our planet as they outsource(because why wouldn't they use our resources first if they can afford it?) we will slowly start developing and maybe someday overthrow their economy! Of course, our planet will be completely devoid of any resources to use for ourselves, so we'll just have to follow their lead and find some other planet and start the cycle all over again.

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Yeah thats an interesting other alternative. In that case, the economic political power relationships on Earth would suddenly be thrown upside down, as the "advanced" technology of the Western World would account for nothing, and the population and resource rich current third-world countries would probably be handling most of the intersteller business. Suddenly Angola is a world power, etc!