3
$\begingroup$

Say that humanity was lost in a war against alien invasion (denefasan). Another advanced alien (not the one that attacks them, say Aucafidian) which had built an outpost on earth, then decides to spare some of them, and transfers about 2.6 billion humans (randomly selected) off-planet, to another earth-Iike planet in sun-like star, approximately have the similar axial tilt (of around 20 degrees), and is terraformed (basically was aucaformed by the former alien, but the biosphere is capable to support earthen life as nice as aucafidian life). It has similar geology as of earth, except that the planet is younger (bonus question: will it make the planet more active geologically?). The planet is populated with earthen structures (buildings, infrastructures, both fractally generated, and, whole back up of the internet archived by alien servers) in approximately sufficient quantity to support 2.6 billion humans. Say humans didn't bring anything precious other than their clothes and basically anything they could hold in their pockets, bags that they might carry, but consider it wouldn't be that much as at the time of exodus they were at war. They were left on the planet with 100 years of protection by the alien from another possibly hostile aliens that might attack humanity. Tech level is at near-future (say, around 2030s).

The Question:

  1. Will humanity be capable on resuming their society? How would it affect their society at large?
  2. Will it capable on recovering their economy?
  3. Will nation governments (suppose some is also transferred to this new world) would re settling their nations? Or would United Nations (or what remains of it) assuming the role of world government (probably temporarily)?

Note 1: also, is this question too broad? Should I splits this question to multiple question posts? Please comment on it, so i could fix it before the question is put on-hold.

Note 2: they might be taken randomly, but they're not placed randomly on the new world, they were put on cities build by aucafidian (the architectures were reconstructed by aucafidian)

Note 3: Question number four that asks for continuity is removed, and is to be reposted as independent question to keep the scope of this question narrow.

$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ Well, the simple answer is: They all die. The odds the new planet is naturally capable of supporting terrestrial life long-term are infinitesimal. Did the aliens previously terraform the new world before transporting humans? $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    May 16, 2015 at 15:58
  • $\begingroup$ Are you more interested in the ones left behind, or the ones setting up on the new world, or both? $\endgroup$
    – Mikey
    May 16, 2015 at 18:07
  • $\begingroup$ @Frostfrye consider the planet is sufficiently earth-like, and had been terraformed by the benevolent alien mentioned above (aucafidian), and had been repopulated with earthen life, along with complete (or most of them if not all) ecosystem reconstruction. $\endgroup$ May 17, 2015 at 12:32
  • $\begingroup$ @Mikey I would be more interested on the ones setting up on the new world. $\endgroup$ May 17, 2015 at 12:33
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Most likely the people with the best public speaking and ability to get people to cooperate would end on top. Look at Hitler for example; that's how he came to power $\endgroup$
    – Towell
    May 18, 2015 at 17:00

5 Answers 5

6
$\begingroup$

Transplanting few billion people to another planet and leaving them there does not really work. So the Aucafidians would not bother. Instead they would supply their own transition administration that would organize and manage government during the rebuild. Possibly with an offer to move anyone unhappy with the Aucafidian way of doing things back home at gunpoint. Or just stuff them into a huge mass driver and shoot them into the sun.

Society

Aucafidians, or anyone else trying to manage moving billions of people at once, would see no value wasting resources into trying to rebuild forms that existed on another planet in an entirely different circumstances. If they had resources to waste they'd get an extra billion people out instead. Instead they would simply insist on their own rules, moral codes and even language. Not only would this save resources on their part, but making everyone a foreigner would actually give everyone common ground and temporarily obfuscate ethnic, political and religious differences. This would vastly ease the rebuild process. There would be accommodations with any actual differences between humans and Aucafidians, but any local variations would be deliberately suppressed by ignoring ethnicity, language, and religion when locating people.

The goal would be to integrate humans into the Aucafidian society. Not necessarily permanently or deeply, but to the point there they'd identify as human refugees within Aucafidia instead of their former ethnicity or religion. All efforts to integrate with Aucafidian society would be supported. Efforts to recreate old divisions would be suppressed.

Economy

Initially economy would be almost entirely based on Aucafidian assistance. Aucafidians would then have Aucafidian companies invest in the planet with generous subsidizes on both investment on the planet and employing humans. Reasonably the first companies would be the ones involved in food production, construction, heath care, security and other things that the refugees need from the beginning. Extraction of resources, generation of cultural goods and other industries that produce exports would follow. The sheer size of the project would probably attract a sizeable service industry as well.

Still the planet would be similar to developing countries with economy dependent on exports and external loans. There would probably also be high unemployment. Although Aucafidians would probably manage the situation better than colonialism and post-colonialism on Earth might suggest. Economy would remain controlled by Aucafidian companies for the foreseeable future.

Essentially Aucafidians would be using humans as cheap labor for colonizing the planet. And possibly others, I doubt Aucafidians would see any reason to prevent companies from transferring good employees to another systems just because the species of the employee. Economically the planet would be part of the wider Aucafidian economy. There would be no real value in trying to build a separate economy on planet that is dependent on external support anyway. And by the time the planet would be self sufficient economic integration would be very expensive to reverse.

Note that economic integration implies technological parity. From the beginning the Aucafidians would use their own technology and solutions instead of trying to reproduce human ones. This would reduce costs, since they presumably already had solutions in place for colonizing the planet with Aucafidians and simplify cultural and economic integration.

Government

Initially this would be whatever the Aucafidians provide. There would be no value organizing while the refugees depend on Aucafidian resources anyway. And spending resources that could be spent building a self supporting economy, so that humans could waste time arguing with each other and forming blocs competing with each other for influence, would seem kind of silly to non-human.

Aucafidians would employ humans to act as intermediaries between administration and refugees. These would inform people of decisions, assist in dealing with administrative matters and handle education. They would also act as an accessible human feedback channel. In theory such feedback is more efficient than running elections, if regulations force administrators to actually pay attention to the feedback.

Eventually the planet would be an integrated part of the Aucafidian state with whatever form of local governance the Aucafidians themselves use. Why would the Aucafidians hand over a planet they spent resources terraforming when they can help the refugees and keep the planet? There is no possible value in letting the humans form their own governments on property belonging to the Aucafidians. Certainly the Aucafidians would not spend resources supporting such development.

$\endgroup$
3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This answer assumes that humans are useful to the Aucafidians. If we're near-future tech levels and the aliens are teleporting us to a planet they terraformed, I get the feeling we won't have that much in common. Still, good answer, thought-provoking, great springboard for stories, +1 from me. $\endgroup$ May 18, 2015 at 15:56
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @DaaaahWhoosh Honestly, "thought provoking" was my goal. After writing this I thought "good answer, but not necessarily to this question." LOL. Actually, this only assumes the humans would be useful after being integrated to the Aucafidian economy. So the humans would be using Aucafidian technology. Probably should say that specifically in the answer as it is a major advantage of integrating with Aucafidians over building a separate human system. I'll edit, thanks. $\endgroup$ May 18, 2015 at 16:11
  • $\begingroup$ Whoa, what an answer, an insightful one. You took a completely different glasses to see the problem posed in the question. +1 upvoted. $\endgroup$ May 22, 2015 at 12:41
7
$\begingroup$

Needless to say, there would be major upheavals. Both the UN and national governments are toast unless the good aliens take special consideration to transport them, but you specified random selection.

Borders

Even assuming that people who lived close to each other on Earth will be deposited close to each other on the alien world, how would you draw national borders? It might help if the alien infrastructure comes in distinctive chunks (say villages/cities surrounded by wilderness). If the selection is truly random as you wrote, Chinese or Indians would be the local relative majority, without being anywhere close to an absolute majority. Everywhere is New China, except for the parts which are New India?

Legitimacy

Democratic governments derive legitimacy from the consent of the governed. Since opinion polls are too fickle do build a lasting nation, the people generally codify their choices in a constitution or similar arrangements and a large number of laws.

Many of the detailed choices are either arbitrary or long obsolete. A constitution keeps people from pointless arguments. Having an independent judiciary is vital. How many judges on the supreme court? Less so. It should be an odd number, to avoid deadlock, and more than three and less than 15, but the rest are details. As long as the government doesn't unilaterally appoint two more to stack the bench in their favor.

There would have to be new constitutional conventions to form new governments.

Coercion

Governments have the means to enforce their decisions. Environmental safety inspectors, taxmen, cops, ultimately the armed forces. By transporting a random number of people, the chains of command (and legitimacy) are broken. Say John Doe used to be a municipal sewer inspector. How does he enforce his decisions?

Who is the UN, anyway?

Say you wake up on an alien planet. A month later some people come to your camp, say they represent the United Nations and they're new world government. Could you tell them from a gang of con-men?

People might recognize their mayor on sight. They will probably recognize their head of state. But could you tell me who is #2 or #3 in the UN "chain of command" right now? And what "chain of command"? Secretary General? President of the Security Council? The General Assembly Administrative and Budget Committee?

Money

That would be gone. Perhaps people have printed papers and metal discs in their wallet, but what are they worth? Our money, both cash and bank accounts, serves as a token to streamline economic transactions. Basically they're promises backed by the wealth of the national economy.

Companies

When people pool their capital, labor, and managerial skills to work together, they can be more effective than a lone craftsmam. At least more effective from the viewpoint of the capital owner who wants a return on investment. Those legal structures would be gone.

Say the aliens provides a car factory. People who used to work in a car factory on Earth congregate in that factory because they want to go on making cars on the new world. What then? Who has the right to purchase sheet metal from the nearby ironworks? Who can sell the cars to the former car salesmen who want to reopen business?

Will there be a democratic election by all the people who proclaim themselves to be in the automotive industry? Will the former managers make the call?

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ Hmm, what an insightful answer. Basically chains of command and governments must be put on top priority during exodus? $\endgroup$ May 17, 2015 at 12:45
  • $\begingroup$ Well, then aucafidians couldn't just build a one, single megacity capable on sustaining 2.6 billion people at once, instead they have to build cities and put peoples of each nationality on each cities to prevent chaos? $\endgroup$ May 17, 2015 at 12:47
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @HendrikLie, you specified that the aliens provide infrastructure and that they transport people, so meaningful organization is what is missing to let the people live productive lives in their new cities. It would really help if there was an organized pickup and delivery -- "A million people from old Earth city X go to new city Y. There will be 20 standard-layout hospitals, see to it that they're all staffed on arrival." $\endgroup$
    – o.m.
    May 18, 2015 at 19:10
5
$\begingroup$

You are going to end up with a massive undifferentiated mass of humanity. In particular if people are transported to "random" regions rather than along pre-existing cultural/social/political lines.

The most likely scenario I see happening is a massive series of small conflicts, and small communities banding together for mutual protection. Slowly these groups will assimilate or conquer each other. Look at any recent example of a political structure toppling, and you'll see the warlords emerge. This will be much worse than anything in our current history.

War is pretty much inevitable, and any large-scale political organization will have lost all claim to that title. This is, for most intents and purposes, a post apocalyptic scenario.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Peoples would be transported by interstellar arks (yes, not just one), and of course they would be put on cities instead of randomly put. $\endgroup$ May 17, 2015 at 12:49
2
$\begingroup$

As you mentioned in your comment, you're interested in the new world. I will have to work on the assumptions:

This brave new world has been made to be Earthlike. It is occupied sparsely by 2.5bn randomly selected Earthlings.

Distribution - I suspect your world - like ours, but with half the people - will consist of densely populated areas as well as rural, unless your story dictates otherwise. In this case, you have the luxury of having a lot of different stories of cooperation or warring, depending on where the people are located and how they're distributed.

Arrival - Your people have arrived with almost nothing but a virgin planet. The commonly accepted hierarchy of needs must be met; they will next work towards shelter, clothing, and food. Food will consist initially of gathering, depending on your planet. Those dropped in the severe places might perish versus those placed in temperate and abundant locations. There will be little hunting with the exception of those few who have mastered the skill - they may be valued for their skills.

Language - While the probability is that Mandarin, Hindustani, and Arabic languages will slightly dominate (percentage-wise), the common language will remain English/Germanic, Romantic, or Slavic. These are common second or business international languages.

Storyline - This is purely speculative, but I can imagine you will have the typical tropes of the leaders, workers, planners, and thinkers. You'll also have your 'criminals' who will devise clever ways to sustain themselves off the backs of others.

Agriculture? - I had a professor who posited that the actual leading causes of agriculture in cultural hearths (Middle East, Central America, North Africa, East Asia, Greece, etc.) were developed for the purpose of distillation before food security. In this case, though, I think modern humans would appreciate the latter as much as the former.

This is a very broad question, so everything that I've included should be a 'comment', but is too much to fit. There are a million other things that could be here.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ I'm sorry for being too broad then x_x. I'll try to be more specific on my future questions. $\endgroup$ May 17, 2015 at 15:17
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @HendrikLie not a problem, but the more specific, the better we can help you with your story. $\endgroup$
    – Mikey
    May 17, 2015 at 15:19
2
$\begingroup$

Plonkig 2.5 billion random people on a planet, even if the climate and ecology is begnign, will not allow for the formation of governments, or even any really organized society.

First off, since this is a lottery of sorts, there is no way to ensure that the various skill sets needed for a modern society will be present in the numbers needed, or in close enough proximity to coordinate any sorts of efforts.

Second, the immediate needs of the people will become the overarching concern, so everyone from the peasant plucked from Bangladesh to the CEO plucked from a corner office in Manhattan will have to get down and start farming or learning to hunt and forage for food and shelter. Your society will devolve into a pre industrial agricultural society, which was pretty much the same from ancient Mesepotamia to the start of the Industrial revolution. This was a pretty crappy system for about 99% of the human population, since serfdom and slavery were quite common, and even "free" farmers, craftsmen and merchants were still pretty much at the mercy of any armed "elite" which developed (and such an elite will surely develop quite quickly).

Without the proper sets of skills and access to high tech tools, there would be no way to maintain even a semblance of the current social or technical structures of Earth, or even building up towards anything more sophisticated than probably the late middle ages. You would not have the tools to make the tools....

Whatever reason the benevolent aliens have for transporting a few billion people from Earth, I somehow doubt that it involves creating a preindustrial agrarian society. What possible use would any alien race have for such a construct (unless creating societies is their hobby)?

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Ehm, actually it is mentioned on the question that all necessary (earthen) technologies were provided by the benevolent alien. $\endgroup$ May 19, 2015 at 23:32

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .