The Alien Invasion Question

If humanity knew aliens were coming to invade in 400 years, what would you do about it?

“The Great Day of His Wrath” by John Martin (1851)

If humanity knew aliens were coming to invade in 400 years, what would you do about it? 

Would you sit around doing nothing, awaiting the mass extinction of humanity? Would you think “eh, I’ll be dead by then, not my problem”? Would you end your own life, filled with existential despair? Would you welcome their arrival, knowing how broken we are?

Or… would you put up a fight, knowing all the odds are against you? Would you protect humanity at all costs, sacrificing your own life to save the rest of us?

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For the Sake of All Humanity

I find the follow-up questions people ask, and answers they give, very revealing of their fundamental values. You get a sense of how optimistically they view the world, their agency within it, and caring attitude towards others. Some are inspired by hope while others experience a lack of it. Hope is like a flame that keeps burning even when all you can see is total darkness. My favorite answers are optimistic, proactive, and collectivist. They dream of a better world, one we can actively work towards, for the sake of all humanity — regardless of the time horizon.

Humanity faces the same question in The Three-Body Problem. A technologically supreme alien civilization escapes their chaotic home planet in search of a new home. Their closest chance of survival is our planet paradise. Unable to coexist with a lying, deceitful humanity, they choose to eradicate us like bugs. Their biggest problem, our biggest advantage, is it’ll take over 400 years to reach Earth, hopefully enough time for us to catch up. For us to defend ourselves. For us to technologically pose a threat. We need to start building now. 

Some people might say, “why does it matter what we do against superior aliens determined to erase us, what shot do we have?”. Because hope is human. Because we root for the underdog knowing they can overcome insurmountable odds by continuing to fight in the arena. Because pessimistic, reactive, and individualistic mindsets may destroy us before aliens even arrive. Hope shows us that tides can turn with focused action. Once we lose it, we lose the fight. In reality, this is the only choice. Whatever your immediate reactions, the only real path is hope, to being default alive. This is the only way we survive.

Maybe others say, “what if I don’t care if we survive, everything sucks anyway”. I’d say they’re probably right, things do suck. We don’t have everything figured out. We barely have anything figured out. Yet, I’d also say this mindset is like drinking poison, hoping it’ll cure our misery. Even with little hope, we owe it to ourselves, those who came before us, and those who come after us, to protect what we’ve created. To protect the richness of human cultures, art, music, literature, culinary traditions, our expressions of creativity and emotion that connect us like one giant thread woven by our ancestors.

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The Three Traits

Optimistic, proactive, collectivistic people are rare. Any one trait would be common. Two overlapping would be uncommon, but still not enough. Maybe they’re optimistic and proactive, but only care about their immediate surroundings. Maybe they’re collectivistic and optimistic, but don’t act on their worldview. Maybe they’re proactive and collectivistic, but then you get a Thanos-esque villain. All three together are rare, these characteristics embedded in niche communities, neatly tucked away in little corners of the world. It’s these people who I call the “builders”, who we sorely need more of. Those who build up the world, not tear it down. Those who see long-term, not short-term. Those who think about others, not just themselves.

The builders might not look like one in the traditional sense. They might not be rolling up their sleeves to build the physical cities we live in, but they very much do shape the fabric of these cities. They build software that runs the world’s infrastructure, they create policies to promote a habitable environment, they develop educational programs to foster critical thinking, they design research experiments that push the boundaries of medicine, they craft artistic masterpieces that touch our souls and give us new life. These people may seem like they’re all around us. But really, there are very few who meet this high bar. This standard requires us to pause and think about those around us, to consider if what we’re building is positively worth it in century-long horizons. I’ve seen many otherwise great builders be optimistic and proactive but long-term consequences seem to elude them. One or two traits aren’t enough, it takes all three to be a true builder. 

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Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

During the Vietnam War, malaria was still a significant threat to both military personnel and civilians. Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmaceutical chemist, led an effort to discover new treatments despite limited resources, political turmoil, and a monumental task. Her two-year rigorous pursuit led to the discovery of artemisinin in 1971, saving millions of lives worldwide and remains a critical treatment for malaria. She was optimistic in a desperate world, proactive despite multiple setbacks, and collaborated with traditional medicinal practitioners and modern scientists, always keeping in mind her larger collective goal — to help eradicate malaria. We’re only here today because of the many builders like Tu that go back to the beginning. Maybe some met the bar, maybe others didn’t, it doesn’t quite matter. What matters is that we have the chance to become better builders for those 400 years from now to stand on our shoulders. 

I’ve only felt this special aura in small spiritual, and technological circles. True builders think differently, so far in the future that I can’t help but be in awe. Their ideas are infectious, like a virus. It’s the only virus I’d hope we’re all infected with. I met David, one of these people, after Church a few years ago. We grabbed lunch after mass and he shared stories of his missions flying Hueys in the 80s as a helicopter pilot in the United States Air Force. He told me about navigating his son’s rare-cancer treatments and how he was now focused on helping others find joy in their grief. Life had hardened him, but his eyes still beamed with curiosity and his laughter was pure like a child. I told him about my own journey and he reminded me that “life isn’t about selfish ambition, but when we put everyone else first, we find a new sense of clarity”. I’ll never forget that. I admired his kindness, sense of duty towards God and man, ferocity for action, and mindfulness for long-term consequences, well into the distant future. He constantly referred to himself as a side character, how he was just serving others. To me, David was the main character. My bar for what it meant to be a builder changed that day. Being a builder wasn’t just what you did, but your whole worldview, how you saw yourself, others, and how that translated to life. They care not just about thriving by themselves or treating others with dignity and respect. They care broadly about the planet itself, how we treat it, take care of it, and heal it. They deeply care. I love being around these people. David is a true builder.

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Be the Builder

So what would I do? I can’t know for sure, but I’d hope to pour my entire life-force into preserving humanity. I'd use whatever skills I have for writing code, designing products, and rallying others, to help establish peace with our alien destroyers. I'd prepare for the worst-case-but-most-likely-scenario of defending ourselves from absolute obliteration. I’d think there was a chance, no matter how small, of survival. I’d think of something I could do, anything to help. I’d think about all of us and any future humans that might come along after we’re dead, the ones who have to face the aliens themselves. This is what I believe it takes to be a builder. I’d try my best to be this builder.

So, if humanity knew aliens were coming to invade in 400 years, what would you start doing about it, today?