Humans. Are. Superior.

[Shroom Man 777]

Well, like they say, third time's the charm. It's not wealth redistribution, it's more like... death redistribution.

[Simon_Jester]

Eh, I dunno.

It's not really funny anymore, for those of us who are mostly Westerners in our twenties and teens, and historically literate enough to know about all this history of shit-ruining. I know you like twitting HyPoCritical Ancients, but there aren't really many of them around, and hearing over and over about how fun it would be to see all humans on the receiving end of imperialism and bullshit that was before merely reserved for most humans at the hands of other humans...

Dunno. It just seems depressing and repetitive to me.

[Shroom Man 777]

IIRC, quite a lot of folks got pissed that the VTOLOLs didn't drop enough Tunguska asteroids at the blue people and there weren't any MiG-52 Pacemakers to blow up the Home Trees and then give speeches afterwards, and quite a lot of folks got a chubby over the prospect of said things happening to weaker alienoid specieses while the hooahoorah human mareens get to jerk off to their technological killtech.

So, to subvert those trope troop trooopes, I think taking the plight of a lot of people at the hands of the more powerful imperialist and colonialist and transpositioning it to the entire human race as a whole, without a bunch of jingoistic assholes metaphorically beating back King George and celebrating independence day, but instead suffering centuries of enslavement, rape, and cultural annihilation and assimilation, ought to be an interesting and humbling and magical and uplifting experience.

Imagine, after centuries of subservience, the people in those lands don't even know the names or the gods of their own ancestors. They end up worshiping the same gods, and using the same names, as those of their conquerors. Hell, modern day Spanish colonies have more in common with old Spain (conservative populations, very powerful church, rigid shitty power structures) than modern day Spain itself.

This happening to mankind at the hands of alien overlords would be magnificent.

You could even use the whole alien-human interbreeding trope as a metaphor.

Pure humans are treated like shit, while in post-invasion Earth, all the wealth and power is accumulated only at the families who have alien blood in them. Xenostizos!

Gods, that would be amazing. I guess for you it would seem depressing and repetitive.

For me? It's home.



Addendum:

Think about it. All these heroic plucky rebels beating back the oppressive alien space empire, that's pretty much a metaphor for American history. Okay, fair enough, not just American history then. A lot of people have rebelled against their oppressors. So these stories of humans beating back alien empires could be an allegory of that.

But... a whole bunch of people have never been so fortunate to have histories like that. So, what if we use their history, the history of the rest of the world that got fucked over, as the basis of our sci-fi story analogy metaphor of historical triumphs and downfalls and whatever?

What if instead of a story where humanity is basically America, triumphant and mighty after a buncha ragtag rebels beat back Space King George, we turn humanity into the Philippines instead. Filipinohumanity is about to win against the alien Spanish invaders, but whoops, Space-spain sells Earth to another space empire for a measy couple thousand space-dollars, and the victorious Earthicans end up getting shot by MORE invaders!

Maybe humans ARE superior. Like, aliens are frail, while humans are tougher to kill. So the aliens make a Space Colt M1911 to kill pesky rebel humans better with large-caliber laser beams.



Addendum 2:

Yes! I like this. The first contact is basically like Magellan coming to the Philippines. Some alien shmuck out to prove that the galaxy is round lands in the Philippines, and some guy cuts his head off.

Yes.

[Eleas]

Two phrases need to be included. "People armed only with their hatred for moral clarity fell bloodied, terribly injured, and dead.", and "Two-limbs bad, four-limbs good!"

Find a way to use those, and I'd buy a copy. Hell, I'd buy ten.

[Lord Baal]

About humans being pets, I heard about a book a while ago where humans in the future are annihilated by another race with superior tech with relativistic kinetic planet killers. They do so without apparent provocation because humans at that time where beginning to reach the tech necessary to make their own relativist kinetic planet killers, so this race (they are something like octopuses) killed off mankind as a preventive measure.

However two(or more people) get saved by the aliens to live in some kind of reservation of something. Since they did this out of "necessity" for they own safety not evil or the desire of exterminate. However in the end I think some large groups of humans survived on hidden bases on the asteroid belt or the Oort cloud or something along those lines to plot the revenge.

[Ryan Thunder]

IIRC, quite a lot of folks got pissed that the VTOLOLs didn't drop enough Tunguska asteroids at the blue people and there weren't any MiG-52 Pacemakers to blow up the Home Trees and then give speeches afterwards, and quite a lot of folks got a chubby over the prospect of said things happening to weaker alienoid specieses while the hooahoorah human mareens get to jerk off to their technological killtech.

Because being irritated by what they thought was unconvincingly stupid villains == wants to kill blue people, right?

Kind of like how anybody wanting to do anything in the Middle East who isn't from there must just have a raging hardon for killing brown people. Oh, right, that's a gross generalization.

[Shroom Man 777]

Because being irritated by what they thought was unconvincingly stupid villains == wants to kill blue people, right?

Because convincingly stupid posters making bullshit arguments on how it's morally acceptable to invade and pillage and kill for shitty resources == exactly that, yes.

The fuckers bitched about everything from useless military trivia, to character contrivances and author's fiat, to justifying land-theft and murder for profit and resources. So, fuck them.

[Apparently when unconvincingly stupid military people get eaten by horrible acid-blooded aliens yet make an awesome masculine showing of power (and also feminine empowerment through surrogate motherhood), it's awesome. But when unconvincingly stupid military mercenary people get stabbed in their faces with spears yet also make an allegory on the hypocrisy and evils of imperialism, baaaawwww!!!!!]

Kind of like how anybody wanting to do anything in the Middle East who isn't from there must just have a raging hardon for killing brown people. Oh, right, that's a gross generalization.

Oh, right, that's because a whole wad of those who say that shit generally do espouse might makes right bullshit, interventionalist nonsense, militarist shit, and other such hypocritical pussy-footing cockamamie apologistic bullshit. Observe how they actually fellate military juntas and when those get replaced by people power, or when you get governments that democratically disallow coups, you end up with people choking on their whole "freedom" and "democracy" nonsense out of fear for some Thanksgiving Turkey.

High and mighty assholes who get a chubby over imperialistic bullshit should have their faces dragged through the mud. In times like this, it should be done more, not less. Apparently folks don't really have any problem with chest-beating patriotic victory-explosions-for-freedom stuff, but this mud-dragging gets them all sensitive and bitchy. I wonder why. Maybe they aren't being dragged through the mud enough. Either way, arguably this mud-dragging is a far more important moral lesson than the aforementioned chest-beating patriotic victory-explosions-for-freedom stuff anyway.

PS. It's not that anybody wanting to do anything in Middle Earth/Pandora/wherever who isn't from there must be a raving hyperthyroid paratrooping conscript atrocifier, it's just that... it's totally fine to want to do whatever in wherever, but if the people from that place tell you to fuck off, well... it's generally advisable to take the local's advice, pack the "I know better what's good for people than the people themselves" shtick up in the travel bag, and buy some airplane tickets back to good ole Fuckoffsville. It's their house, their couch, their non-renewable resources under their own lawn, and all that.

PPS. Also, that's because your countries have demonstrated that they do have a hardon for killing people. It's not you who's gonna be doing the "doing anything" in the Middle West/Canaan/Uzbekistan, it's your countries, and we've already seen how good they've been to the people there.


People should remind themselves, and pat themselves on the back, for all their great accomplishments a little bit less, and remind themselves, and spank themselves on their hands, for all the horrible things they've done and are still doing a little bit more.

It seems depressing and repetitive?

*looks around to see what's happening*

I think it's not depressing or repetitive enough!

[Simon_Jester]

IIRC, quite a lot of folks got pissed that the VTOLOLs didn't drop enough Tunguska asteroids at the blue people and there weren't any MiG-52 Pacemakers to blow up the Home Trees and then give speeches afterwards, and quite a lot of folks got a chubby over the prospect of said things happening to weaker alienoid specieses while the hooahoorah human mareens get to jerk off to their technological killtech.

Yes, my complaint is that this has already been parodied here many many times- it's not just the one thread, it's me looking at you and saying the joke is starting to get old, because many of the people you're talking to are disgusted by the "nuke Pandora" bullshit and are not at all proud of the whole murderizing imperialism gig.

So when you keep coming back to how glorious it would be to see this, over and over and over...

Gods, that would be amazing. I guess for you it would seem depressing and repetitive.
For me? It's home.

Since your entire argument is that your home has been made into a shithole by imperialism, which is why this is a bad thing in the first place... I'd think you could see why many don't want to discuss it endlessly.

Again, I wouldn't mind seeing a few movies or novels like this. What I really take issue with is that you're getting predictable, y'know? Sure, the movie would be a good inversion; my concern is that you are getting predictable, such that in nearly every thread you will say "god, wouldn't it be sweet to see people getting their shit ruined as an allegory for the way people got their shit ruined by imperialism."

[Shroom Man 777]

Be that as it may, this thread topic is tangentially related to that fact. What better to deal with Humans. Are. Superior. than by dragging them across the mud?

And who says I'm joking?

Since your entire argument is that your home has been made into a shithole by imperialism, which is why this is a bad thing in the first place... I'd think you could see why many don't want to discuss it endlessly.

Something I just noticed.

One, it's not discussed endlessly, there's a whole reason for the predominant trope or convention is Space America Fuck Yeah or some variation of that. You seldom see what I speak of in popular fiction or whatever.

Two, "many don't want to discuss it endlessly", I wonder if the non-Westerners share this sentiment. It's like, I dunno, victims of some crime wishing to recount what's been done to them, and yet the ones who don't want to discuss it because they are discomfited or whatever, are people who aren't the ones victimized. Maybe other people/posters from other non-Western countries share your sentiment of not wanting to discuss it endlessly? This is curious.

Interestingly, if we transfer Point Two from you and me (or our fellow Western/non-Western posters), to your society and my society and other people's society, what would we get? Some dichotomy between societies that wish to depict these traumas again and again, and other societies that... don't want to talk about it? Demographic differences between those who want to watch happy heroic war movies, and movies more like Platoon? Arab audiences giving Kingdom of Heaven standing ovations, but Western critics questioning whether the work is "dangerous"? Who wants to see more depictions of all the things wrong in the world, and who would rather... not talk about them? Perhaps I am over-analyzing it. Personally, I would love to see more, and I would like to show a lot more to a whole lot of people.

"Since your entire argument is that your home has been made into a shithole by imperialism... I'd think you could see why many don't want to discuss it endlessly"

I just can't help but wonder about the other people whose homes have also been made into a shithole, like me. What would they want to discuss?

[Losonti Tokash]

I just can't help but wonder about the other people whose homes have also been made i shithole, like me. What would they want to discuss?

I've always been a fan of poetic justice. :V

[Srelex]

Gods. Imagine a rendition of the European colonialization of the Americas, but with the aliens playing the Europeans and humans for native Americans. Fuck me, imagine that. Space Cortezianoid coming to Earth and killing the shit out of all humans, three hundred aliens on ubertech horses and with sticks that belch guns, plus greedy human auxiliaries, murdering the populations of the mightiest human nations. Then the alien priests come in and eradicate almost all vestiges of native human culture and replace it with worship to the alien messiah.

Yes. The only free native humans would be in the fucking jungles. The rest of us would be in the reservations after they steal our land.

It will be magnificent.

You ever read Turtledove's Vilcabamba? It's along the lines of what you're suggesting here.

EDIT:That story even contains a little reference to all the Avatar-Na'vi-genocide discussions you were talking about.

[Shroom Man 777]

Nope, I haven't read it. It sounds intriguing though.

[Terralthra]

About humans being pets, I heard about a book a while ago where humans in the future are annihilated by another race with superior tech with relativistic kinetic planet killers. They do so without apparent provocation because humans at that time where beginning to reach the tech necessary to make their own relativist kinetic planet killers, so this race (they are something like octopuses) killed off mankind as a preventive measure.

However two(or more people) get saved by the aliens to live in some kind of reservation of something. Since they did this out of "necessity" for they own safety not evil or the desire of exterminate. However in the end I think some large groups of humans survived on hidden bases on the asteroid belt or the Oort cloud or something along those lines to plot the revenge.

That's The Killing Star

[Lord Baal]

Oh yeah!! That one! Fucking aliens! Couldn't they simply came up with a easier way to do it, like opening a interstellar McDonals and see us all die of morbid weight related diseases?

[speaker-to-trolls]

Anyway.

I also agree with Stark about the absurdity of human beings having an advantage because damnit, America Humanerica doesn't bend the knee to anyone! Seriously? Ten thousand years of absolute autocrats and proliferous patriarchs and mankind's greatest strength is that it won't submit to unjust authority? And I know this isn't just an American conceit, other nations love to talk about their resilience in the face of tyranny, it's just that Americans seem to love this as a theme that little bit more than everyone else.

Step back and look again at that.

Who's the tyrant we're heroically resisting in all that stereotyped SF? Usually some alien warlord or elder god or ascended being or whatnot. One who is, most conspicuously, not human.

Maybe that "strength" isn't refusal to submit to unjust authority. It's refusal to submit to a tyrant who isn't "one of us." Bloody-mindedness, with a dash of xenophobia...

Yeah, but the cognitive dissonance and acceptance of 'our sons of bitches' isn't usually what's focussed on, what's more usually focussed on is the power of the human spirit and, like in Lord of the Abyss's example the idea that 'we won't be slaves to anyone'*

I'd say that Nietzchean uber Amoeba probably had a good idea on the first page, saying that the human advantage could be psychological resilience, and going along with that I'd say loyalty to abstract ideas and symbols, which we can attach that resilience to. The great thing is it's perfectly possible for this to make people both utterly loyal to the most brutal dictator and put up psychopathic resistance to any foreign oppressor.

It is, I'll admit, a little bleak though. Plus, it's entirely plausible that any alien society that has built up the resources to become a space empire needs all of those same psychological traits anyway.

*In fact Lord of the Abyss mentioned that the aliens in that story couldn't get their heads around our insane resistance (and I'm not saying inviting the enemy into your city and then destroying it wouldn't happen, it's happened before after all) because of their 'rational self interested minds'. By the same token, you wouldn't expect a species with a good, specieswide sense of rational self interest to allow dictators to emerge, putting all that power in the pincers of one man puts everyone else in too much danger.

I just can't help but wonder about the other people whose homes have also been made into a shithole, like me. What would they want to discuss?

This is an interesting question, and I'd definitely like to know whether this is a point of division in sci fi from developed vs developing countries.

I have a feeling that in terms of actual written work the general trend toward more straightforward stories where humans are either in a position of power or are subjugated but fight their way out from under the thumb of the invaders might be more American than Western in general. However, I only have some examples of British scifi to base that on, so I could be wrong very easily there.

I'd like to see a story where Earth is economically ruined in the manner of third world countries on Earth, so alien students come here after graduating from space university to make a difference in the lives of the poor humans and witness our simple way of life

[speaker-to-trolls]

Anyway.

I also agree with Stark about the absurdity of human beings having an advantage because damnit, America Humanerica doesn't bend the knee to anyone! Seriously? Ten thousand years of absolute autocrats and proliferous patriarchs and mankind's greatest strength is that it won't submit to unjust authority? And I know this isn't just an American conceit, other nations love to talk about their resilience in the face of tyranny, it's just that Americans seem to love this as a theme that little bit more than everyone else.

Step back and look again at that.

Who's the tyrant we're heroically resisting in all that stereotyped SF? Usually some alien warlord or elder god or ascended being or whatnot. One who is, most conspicuously, not human.

Maybe that "strength" isn't refusal to submit to unjust authority. It's refusal to submit to a tyrant who isn't "one of us." Bloody-mindedness, with a dash of xenophobia...

Yeah, but the cognitive dissonance and acceptance of 'our sons of bitches' isn't usually what's focussed on, what's more usually focussed on is the power of the human spirit and, like in Lord of the Abyss's example the idea that 'we won't be slaves to anyone'*

I'd say that Nietzchean uber Amoeba probably had a good idea on the first page, saying that the human advantage could be psychological resilience, and going along with that I'd say loyalty to abstract ideas and symbols, which we can attach that resilience to. The great thing is it's perfectly possible for this to make people both utterly loyal to the most brutal dictator and put up psychopathic resistance to any foreign oppressor.

It is, I'll admit, a little bleak though. Plus, it's entirely plausible that any alien society that has built up the resources to become a space empire needs all of those same psychological traits anyway.

*In fact Lord of the Abyss mentioned that the aliens in that story couldn't get their heads around our insane resistance (and I'm not saying inviting the enemy into your city and then destroying it wouldn't happen, it's happened before after all) because of their 'rational self interested minds'. By the same token, you wouldn't expect a species with a good, specieswide sense of rational self interest to allow dictators to emerge, putting all that power in the pincers of one man puts everyone else in too much danger.

I just can't help but wonder about the other people whose homes have also been made into a shithole, like me. What would they want to discuss?

This is an interesting question, and I'd definitely like to know whether this is a point of division in sci fi from developed vs developing countries.

I have a feeling that in terms of actual written work the general trend toward more straightforward stories where humans are either in a position of power or are subjugated but fight their way out from under the thumb of the invaders might be more American than Western in general. However, I only have some examples of British scifi to base that on, so I could be wrong very easily there.

I'd like to see a story where Earth is economically ruined in the manner of third world countries on Earth, so alien students come here after graduating from space university to make a difference in the lives of the poor humans and witness our simple way of life

[speaker-to-trolls]

Anyway.

I also agree with Stark about the absurdity of human beings having an advantage because damnit, America Humanerica doesn't bend the knee to anyone! Seriously? Ten thousand years of absolute autocrats and proliferous patriarchs and mankind's greatest strength is that it won't submit to unjust authority? And I know this isn't just an American conceit, other nations love to talk about their resilience in the face of tyranny, it's just that Americans seem to love this as a theme that little bit more than everyone else.

Step back and look again at that.

Who's the tyrant we're heroically resisting in all that stereotyped SF? Usually some alien warlord or elder god or ascended being or whatnot. One who is, most conspicuously, not human.

Maybe that "strength" isn't refusal to submit to unjust authority. It's refusal to submit to a tyrant who isn't "one of us." Bloody-mindedness, with a dash of xenophobia...

Yeah, but the cognitive dissonance and acceptance of 'our sons of bitches' isn't usually what's focussed on, what's more usually focussed on is the power of the human spirit and, like in Lord of the Abyss's example the idea that 'we won't be slaves to anyone'*

I'd say that Nietzchean uber Amoeba probably had a good idea on the first page, saying that the human advantage could be psychological resilience, and going along with that I'd say loyalty to abstract ideas and symbols, which we can attach that resilience to. The great thing is it's perfectly possible for this to make people both utterly loyal to the most brutal dictator and put up psychopathic resistance to any foreign oppressor.

It is, I'll admit, a little bleak though. Plus, it's entirely plausible that any alien society that has built up the resources to become a space empire needs all of those same psychological traits anyway.

*In fact Lord of the Abyss mentioned that the aliens in that story couldn't get their heads around our insane resistance (and I'm not saying inviting the enemy into your city and then destroying it wouldn't happen, it's happened before after all) because of their 'rational self interested minds'. By the same token, you wouldn't expect a species with a good, specieswide sense of rational self interest to allow dictators to emerge, putting all that power in the pincers of one man puts everyone else in too much danger.

I just can't help but wonder about the other people whose homes have also been made into a shithole, like me. What would they want to discuss?

This is an interesting question, and I'd definitely like to know whether this is a point of division in sci fi from developed vs developing countries.

I have a feeling that in terms of actual written work the general trend toward more straightforward stories where humans are either in a position of power or are subjugated but fight their way out from under the thumb of the invaders might be more American than Western in general. However, I only have some examples of British scifi to base that on, so I could be wrong very easily there.

I'd like to see a story where Earth is economically ruined in the manner of third world countries on Earth, so alien students come here after graduating from space university to make a difference in the lives of the poor humans and witness our simple way of life

[speaker-to-trolls]

Fuck, can someone delete the extra posts?

[Shroom Man 777]

I'd like to see a story where Earth is economically ruined in the manner of third world countries on Earth, so alien students come here after graduating from space university to make a difference in the lives of the poor humans and witness our simple way of life

Yes. Now that would be an awesome idea. Naive silly overprivileged alienoids feeling guilty that their star nations are so well off come to devastated Earth, in the middle of being exploited by space companies or under trouble from human dictator rulerships or maybe suffering from some environmental disaster, come here to help us in an attempt at inhumanitarianism and maybe to give meaning to their lives and such. Humans would be mixed between being grateful, and knowing for a fact that all these alien assistances won't count for jack because we're too busy screwing ourselves over and cause, well, a half-hearted aid attempt by some kids from some space nation that doesn't really care won't reverse all our terrible problems.

Heck, if it's a post-Global Warming waterworld thing, the aliens could be amphibianoid and could actually live on Earth better than terrestrial human beings. A race of alienoid Kevin Costners. The genuine alien attempt at helping could be intermixed with alien tourism (they'd think Earth was neat for the fact that almost all of its landmasses have been swallowed by the oceans, woah radical cowabunga!), and even immigration - cause they are adapted to this kind of environment and so end up staying here, in ever-growing numbers, pissing the hell out of some of the more crotchety humans.

Hell, to get Earth citizenship or other benefits, the aliens could marry human beings - even though no sex or reproduction actually takes place, just to... you know, evade taxes or get perks from legal loopholes. Yet this further infuriates a whole buncha foolish puny human shits.

There could be a high demand in space for exotic products made by indigenous Earthling aborigine primitives. Like, anything built by a human would be considered by aliens like those elephant paintings or shit, and the aliens could sell it amongst themselves at inflated prices while donating some of the proceeds to a Save the Earth fund or whatever to buy more band aids for impoverished humans.

Yes. I love this. Turn the planet Earth into a third world nation! Oh, no!

[CaptainChewbacca]

I really like the idea of Earth being sold. Like, for most of our history we were in the territory of Fuckidontcare Empire, who were content to pick at some of our rare minerals, abduct some of our people and animals for museum exhibits, and occasionally pretend to be gods. They're a decadent, aging civilization and don't care.

BUT, things have changes, and now the Raeptiem Hegemony is looking to expand its' power base. They need cheap manufacturing and resources, and that means slave labor. So, as a part of a treaty our solar system ends up in the clutches of a cabal of Raeptiem warrior-businessmen who have taken the contract to pacify the planet and get it working to produce war materiels UNDER BUDGET.

I actually have such a story in early stages, set in mid-80's earth. The Raeptiemers decide to subvert some 'rising powers' and give them alien tech and after a while mercenary forces, but in order to make the story somewhat interesting there's the galactic equivalent of the geneva conventions, specifically;

*No orbital bombardment of civilian population centers.
*No virus weapons, only chemicals are allowed.
*The planet has to be 'governed' by the natives even if they're 'advised' by outsiders.

I kicked it off with some powers like Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Iran, etc getting some nifty doodads that let them start punching WAAAAY above their weight. Then alien militaries start landing around the world, but I kinda let it degenerate into a farce;

1. Once 'first contact' is made, alien businessmen of various moral character start trying to sell earth nations tech, some of which is good and some which isn't.
2. In covering the 'Pacification of D-6821' (Earth's ID number) various galactic journalists come to town and set up shop in earth capitals. They get 'directed to land' by the 'pacification control force' which means there's alien aircraft flying over our cities on higher authority.
3. As the fight goes on, alien celebrities start touring the planet, bringing light to the plight of the poor Terrans. There might even be a benefit concert, and human-made trinkets start to become kitschy on the galactic scene, because its the first time in a long time that a post-industrial civilization has been discovered.
4. Hello-Kitty apparently looks like some civilization's god, and they start making pilgrimages to Japan.
5. Some humans start managing to buy passage to other worlds and start stealing stuff to bring back. Humans get a rep as dirty thieves.

And all the while the 'allied' forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact are fighting against horrific odds and barely holding the line. But, they manage to scavenge enough alien tech to put together an Orion-style 'space ship' thats barely holding together. It hurls itself into orbit, fires a full broadside at a pacification ship, and then ignites a salvaged star drive.

Being 'hyper capable' as a race accords you certain rights, so when the EAS John Paul Jones is seen as being operational it changes the game and an immediate ceasefire is declared.

Oh, and one of the main sources of human tech was that the entire alien mercenary army in russia defects when the Soviet High Command offers the merc general an estate of 200,000 square kilometers, plus money to develop cities for him and his men to live in under the auspices of 'soviet autonomy'.

The Raeptiemers were pretty pissed by that.

[Ahriman238]

I really like the idea of Earth being sold. Like, for most of our history we were in the territory of Fuckidontcare Empire, who were content to pick at some of our rare minerals, abduct some of our people and animals for museum exhibits, and occasionally pretend to be gods. They're a decadent, aging civilization and don't care.

BUT, things have changes, and now the Raeptiem Hegemony is looking to expand its' power base. They need cheap manufacturing and resources, and that means slave labor. So, as a part of a treaty our solar system ends up in the clutches of a cabal of Raeptiem warrior-businessmen who have taken the contract to pacify the planet and get it working to produce war materiels UNDER BUDGET.

I actually have such a story in early stages, set in mid-80's earth. The Raeptiemers decide to subvert some 'rising powers' and give them alien tech and after a while mercenary forces, but in order to make the story somewhat interesting there's the galactic equivalent of the geneva conventions, specifically;

*No orbital bombardment of civilian population centers.
*No virus weapons, only chemicals are allowed.
*The planet has to be 'governed' by the natives even if they're 'advised' by outsiders.

I kicked it off with some powers like Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Iran, etc getting some nifty doodads that let them start punching WAAAAY above their weight. Then alien militaries start landing around the world, but I kinda let it degenerate into a farce;

1. Once 'first contact' is made, alien businessmen of various moral character start trying to sell earth nations tech, some of which is good and some which isn't.
2. In covering the 'Pacification of D-6821' (Earth's ID number) various galactic journalists come to town and set up shop in earth capitals. They get 'directed to land' by the 'pacification control force' which means there's alien aircraft flying over our cities on higher authority.
3. As the fight goes on, alien celebrities start touring the planet, bringing light to the plight of the poor Terrans. There might even be a benefit concert, and human-made trinkets start to become kitschy on the galactic scene, because its the first time in a long time that a post-industrial civilization has been discovered.
4. Hello-Kitty apparently looks like some civilization's god, and they start making pilgrimages to Japan.
5. Some humans start managing to buy passage to other worlds and start stealing stuff to bring back. Humans get a rep as dirty thieves.

And all the while the 'allied' forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact are fighting against horrific odds and barely holding the line. But, they manage to scavenge enough alien tech to put together an Orion-style 'space ship' thats barely holding together. It hurls itself into orbit, fires a full broadside at a pacification ship, and then ignites a salvaged star drive.

Being 'hyper capable' as a race accords you certain rights, so when the EAS John Paul Jones is seen as being operational it changes the game and an immediate ceasefire is declared.

Oh, and one of the main sources of human tech was that the entire alien mercenary army in russia defects when the Soviet High Command offers the merc general an estate of 200,000 square kilometers, plus money to develop cities for him and his men to live in under the auspices of 'soviet autonomy'.

The Raeptiemers were pretty pissed by that.

Sounds like an interesting read. Would you be posting that here, or trying for publishing?

[CaptainChewbacca]

If I finished it, I'd try and publish.

[speaker-to-trolls]

Yes. I love this. Turn the planet Earth into a third world nation! Oh, no!

Exactly!

Another possible thing to add to this idea could be the ecological disaster being a direct result of the alien interference because they sold us some kind of nanotech enhanced supercrop that could grow us infinite food or houses or missiles, or whatever we wanted, except it was untested and did something disastrous. It turns out, however, that the very reason they sold it to us was because that since we aren't a fully signed up member of the League of Civilised Planets we are not signed up to any of their environmental protection laws, and they can grow their untested and unsafe nanotech supercrops and make cheap whatevers here whereas if they tried to grow them on an industrialised, first galaxy planet they would be tied up in red tape.

[Shroom Man 777]

Is that like a Constant Gardener, when foreign pharmaceuticals just test their drugs on poor desperate Africans because of a lack of regulations in the region?

I like that. You could combine all of it. Earth would've already been a global third world nation, like Africa was before people started giving its citizens experimental TB drugs. The already shitty conditions of Earth would've helped facilitate humanity's sheer desperation for alien wondertech. We'd be all doe-eyed and asking these wise benevolent aliens to help us, thinking they could cure all our woes.

Like that scene in Lord of War when an amputated child goes to a drug-fueled Nicholas Cage and asks him: "Mr. White Man, will my arm grow back?"

It was a wonderful scene, and to see humanity encapsulated in that... yes.

In any pulp sci-fi, your proposition would be linked to some kind of malevolent alien scheme that gets defeated by the heroes.

But in this case, I think the aliens wouldn't even be defeated at all. They'd cover their asses, issue some bullshit apology over the malfunctioning nanites, and then years later humanity would still be dependent on them for all the other alien-branded supertech products they offer us, because we love them and love to buy their stuff.

[Spectre_nz]

And then we'd invent galactic advanced fee fraud and Nigerian letter scam some naive alien homeworlders?

Hello, my name is Commander Urtbag Roffuloso, I hope this hyperletter finds you well.
Your name came recommended and I was assured you were a very moral and upstanding Urlang.
It is a matter of great embarrassment, but I have become waylaid on planet {gal-coord 12-33454-98} with a stockpile of 1500 kilotons of element 92 isotopes.
I request your discretion on the matter, if you are able to dispatch an antimatter resupply tug, I am willing to repay the value of the antimatter twice over in reactive isotopes...