Invasion chaos

[UsuallyPresent]

Over in the 9/11 thread on AH, @hypoxia mentioned,

Would an ET-alien invasion unite humanity against a common foe? Ha.

How would that show up in a story?

Initially major powers - nations, mega corps, maybe some others - might well start grabbing resources. Probably lightly or unaligned regions, with all the global stress that’d cause. - Great setting background for any type of story, imo

As shit ran down hill, minor players would get absorbed or steamrollered or ignored. All would suck. More stress, with bigger spikes here & there

Eventually, even if the invaders didn’t win, as long as they just kept coming - von Neumann self replicators, or complex biosystems, or the like - even the biggest powers would erode and eventually shatter

Game over humans, we’d be at whatever level of mercy the invaders would offer.

Now if the invaders can be stopped, that could cease the entropic effects and, maybe, we could rebuild after - depends heavily on how much broke for how long & remaining available resources.

Or if the invaders flat out won, we’d again be at their mercy, or dead or dying

Thoughts?

 

[AlinaX]

This got me thinking:

The real power these days is not in states so much as the handful of superrich. These would no doubt engage in an epic struggle to survive the invaders - and perhaps even conspire with them. I'm reminded of the book/film Contact in which the machine was quietly funded and built by an elusive billionaire while society descended into chaos. I'm also reminded of Stephen Donaldson's Gap series in which the chief villain is not the aliens but the ruthless superrich human, Holt Fastner.

I'm thinking a truly terrifying invasion would be one in which the aliens identified these few superrich and used them to control humanity...