Timeline for Why Would Aliens Enslave Humans?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 19, 2017 at 11:59 | comment | added | Lostinfrance | "How many jobs do you think humans will be able to do better than a robot in 2025, in the real world?" Plenty. The first type of jobs that come to mind is, literally, being a servant. A good servant has to show initiative in a great range of tasks. Another type of job that is better done by people than robots is caring jobs requiring empathy - children's nanny, caring for an old person, caring for a disabled person. At first sight one might think that you could not get slaves to care for the children of those that had enslaved them, but the history of human slavery shows this is not the case. | |
| Apr 17, 2017 at 14:36 | comment | added | Jim2B | @Solanacea I am not saying they aren't related. I am also not saying that some discoveries are not required for others. I am only saying that the order of discovery for humans does not always dictate the order of discovery for alien species. | |
| Apr 17, 2017 at 13:53 | comment | added | Solanacea | @Jim2B, don't fall for the classic video game trope of the "tech tree". Everything in the universe (brains, stars, computers, spaceships, etc) is made up of the same stuff. Science is the study of that stuff. There can be no biology without chemistry, no chemistry without physics, no physics without mathematics. These terms are just arbitrary areas of expertise we assign to individuals due to the limitations of human lifespan and cognitive capacity. In reality, there is no such thing as "I will just bee-line to fusion lasers". My answer already acknowledges alien culture can be alien. | |
| Apr 16, 2017 at 14:27 | comment | added | Jim2B | @Solanacea, you question implies that all technology advances at the same rate we humans developed it. The slavers may be extremely advanced in biological, social, psychological or other areas but aren't adept at physical sciences. Don't fall for the classic blunders of alien SF. Aliens will be, well, alien. They won't look, think, act, or develop like us. If an alien looks like a Vulcan (Narn or most other types), then human scientists will be convinced they're biologically related until/unless genetics proves otherwise. | |
| Apr 15, 2017 at 22:00 | comment | added | Solanacea | @Jim2B How would they enslave a more technologically advanced species? They have a single spaceship that they cannot even repair, earth has 7 billion people and thousands of nukes. Logistics of interstellar conquest is daunting. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 22:57 | comment | added | prosfilaes | @Solanacea Why is an interstellar spaceship AI? Voyager 1 is arguably the first Earth object to reach interstellar space and is not remotely intelligent. Large aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines, large long-term people containers, were originally built with pre-1980s computers. On the other hand, anything that has free movement and sight (like self-driving trucks and robot surgeons) requires AI, at levels we're currently working on mastering, and that's easily a line too far for people who fought a war against AI. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 20:50 | comment | added | Jim2B | Or if the aliens inherited technology but didn't have the means or knowledge to repair it, it might make sense to enslave a technologically sophisticated species - but one that wasn't too sophisticated. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 17:31 | comment | added | Solanacea | @prosfilaes Where exactly in my answer do I refer to AI? If the aliens consider an automated corn harvester "AI" and an interstellar spaceship " not AI", it falls under my irrational reasons title. Note that unrealistic and popular are not mutually exclusive. Using humans as an energy source is utterly unrealistic, yet the Matrix was an awesome and extremely popular movie. | |
| Apr 14, 2017 at 2:11 | comment | added | EvilSnack | +1 because I was going to give this answer. It's also the rationale for interstellar military conquest. | |
| Apr 13, 2017 at 8:51 | comment | added | prosfilaes | There's many stories where AI is not approved of; it's simply too dangerous, possibly with historical evidence about why. | |
| Apr 13, 2017 at 8:23 | comment | added | Brent Hackers | I's a stretch but what if the aliens had limited technology and social development, but were able to travel vast distances at seemingly impossible speeds? If for example (depending on how fi you like your sci); you have a highly evolved leviathan, a living ship capable of FTL travel, that some brutish aliens have accessed either thanks to some other unwitting sentient race or because this creature evolved on their own world, those aliens of limited empathy could travel the universe being all mean and enslaving folks for practical proposes and/or their amusement. | |
| Apr 12, 2017 at 21:50 | comment | added | C. S. Wright | as much as I hate to admit it, you've touched on the real dilemma of my question. I'm going to be obstinate and keep looking for at least a semi-reasonable solution (perhaps irrational religious or cultural reasons as you suggested), but I appreciate your honesty. | |
| Apr 12, 2017 at 20:58 | history | answered | Solanacea | CC BY-SA 3.0 |