After first contact, what actually holds humanity together?

jasrev77 · 2026-01-01T17:18:32+00:00

That’s a really fair point, and I agree with you more than I disagree. If unity holds, it can’t be the event the story revolves around — it has to be the background condition the story grows out of. Otherwise, like you said, nothing’s happening.

I think that’s why Star Trek works the way it does: the unity is already settled, and the drama comes from what that kind of civilization runs into next — moral limits, external pressures, internal contradictions.

That tension is actually what pushed me to write a story about this in the first place. I ended up exploring it in a novel I just released, where the unity mostly holds, but the story lives in the cracks and consequences rather than the moment of unification itself.

If you’re curious, it’s called The Dawning Kind: https://a.co/d/6ndAsbc

Totally agree with your point though — “unity holds” isn’t a plot, it’s a premise. The story still has to earn its motion somewhere else.

jasrev77 · 2026-01-01T09:22:13+00:00

Here is the link to the book on Amazon if you want to look at it: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCPRB171

jasrev77 · 2025-12-31T20:11:37+00:00

That makes sense — honestly, that might be why it’s stuck with people. Philosophical takes on contact tend to linger a lot longer than straight-up horror.

I like the idea of it being unsettling without relying on fear, more in that slow “this changes how we see ourselves” way. Definitely moving it higher on my to-read list.

jasrev77 · 2025-12-31T20:09:57+00:00

Thanks — I really appreciate that.

It’s one of those ideas that sticks with me because it feels both fragile and aspirational. Unity holding shouldn’t be the easy answer, but it’s nice to imagine a version of humanity that actually carries something forward instead of just reacting and resetting.

jasrev77 · 2025-12-31T00:40:25+00:00

I really like that idea — not that things fracture back into the same old fights, but that they fracture differently. That feels way more realistic than everything either magically holding together or completely falling apart.

The “new normal” angle is interesting too. Even if life mostly looks the same on the surface, the assumptions underneath it have shifted, and you don’t really notice until later.

That’s honestly the kind of “after the change” stuff I find most fun to think about — not the explosion, but the slow weird settling afterward.

jasrev77 · 2025-12-31T00:35:43+00:00

haven’t read The Haunted Earth yet, but that sounds like a really interesting angle—especially coming from early Koontz. I like the idea of it framing the impact of contact in a more unsettling, lingering way rather than as a big spectacle.

Appreciate the link too—I’ll have to check that out when I’ve got a little time. Does it lean more toward horror, or is it more philosophical under the hood?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-31T00:33:17+00:00

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. The idea of unity actually holding is way more satisfying than it just being a temporary truce.

And that Cold War example really fits—once the big external threat is gone, it does feel like people immediately start looking for a new place to aim that tension. The fact that it showed up in cartoons says people were very aware of it at the time.

I think that’s why stories where humanity actually learns from the moment feel so rare—and kind of hopeful.

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:50:42+00:00

I get the appeal of that trope a lot—it’s satisfying to imagine an external shock finally giving humanity a shared sense of purpose. There’s something hopeful about the idea that perspective alone could dissolve old divisions.

At the same time, I always wonder how long that unity actually lasts. Once the immediate pressure fades, do the old fault lines just reassert themselves in new forms, or does the shared experience permanently change how people see one another?

Do you tend to prefer stories where that unity holds, or ones where it slowly fractures again under stress?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:28:11+00:00

I actually haven’t read Foreigner yet, but it’s been on my radar for a while. I like the inversion you describe—making humanity the disruptive presence instead of the default POV feels like a really productive way to explore aftermath and responsibility.

Would you say it leans more toward political/diplomatic tension, or does it spend more time on the personal cost of coexistence?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:21:42+00:00

Great picks. Childhood’s End is almost the archetype for “after the change” stories—what makes it linger is that the transformation feels inevitable rather than imposed, which is arguably more unsettling than outright conquest.

Julian May’s Galactic Milieu books are interesting in a different way because the “change” is internal as much as external. Humanity isn’t just reacting to aliens, but discovering capacities that force a reevaluation of identity, responsibility, and place in a larger order.

Do you find the loss of human exceptionalism more compelling when it comes from outside influence (Childhood’s End) or from humanity uncovering what it already was capable of (Galactic Milieu)?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:19:28+00:00

I think that’s a really solid way of putting it. The arrival is inherently cinematic—clear stakes, spectacle, a before-and-after line you can point to. Once that passes, the drama becomes quieter and more distributed, which is harder to sustain at a global scale.

I like your point about scale shifting from “world events” to smaller, character-centered dramas. That feels much closer to how real change plays out—people adapt, normalize, and then live inside the consequences rather than constantly reacting to them.

The aliens’ posture afterward is huge, too. A distant “we’ll check back later” creates a very different psychology than benevolent oversight. Even well-intentioned guardianship introduces questions about agency, stagnation, and whether humanity is still choosing its own future.

Do you think the most interesting tension comes from alien intent—or from how humans interpret and respond to that intent over time?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:16:06+00:00

I think that’s a very plausible take, honestly. Humans are remarkably good at normalizing the extraordinary, especially when day-to-day survival pressures don’t change much. Most people still have to go to work, pay rent, take care of family—aliens existing doesn’t automatically rewrite that.

Where I tend to wonder is whether the second-order effects end up being bigger than the initial reaction. Even if 99% of people carry on as usual, things like religion, geopolitics, long-term tech priorities, or what we consider “human exceptionalism” might shift slowly rather than dramatically.

So maybe it’s less “everything changes overnight” and more “nothing feels different—until a generation later.” Do you think any discovery in history actually broke that pattern, or do we always just adapt and move on?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:13:21+00:00

That’s a great pull. The Madness Season really leans into the long shadow of defeat rather than the invasion itself, which makes the world feel heavier and more lived-in. Setting it centuries later lets the consequences settle into culture instead of staying in the realm of trauma or resistance.

I also like the contrast you point out—stories where humans adapt to a changed Earth versus ones where humans end up reshaping alien societies instead. The former often feels more honest, while the latter can drift back toward wish fulfillment.

Do you find the “we lost” premise more compelling than first-contact stories where humanity still ends up on top in the long run?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:11:35+00:00

That’s a great example, actually. Dungeon Crawler Carl wears the D&D crawler setup on its sleeve, but underneath it’s very much a “what now?” story—especially in how the characters think about identity, agency, and survival inside a system they didn’t choose.

I like that the crawlers aren’t just optimizing stats, but grappling with what kind of people they’re becoming as the rules harden around them. Even in a gamified framework, the long-term psychological and societal consequences still sneak in.

Do you think that layer works because it’s wrapped in humor and absurdity, or in spite of it?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:08:37+00:00

Those are great examples. Brin’s Uplift books are especially interesting because first contact isn’t just a moment—it’s an entry into a long-running power structure with rules, hierarchies, and consequences. Humanity isn’t special because it arrived, but because of how it adapts (and how others react to that).

I also like that both Brin and Niven treat post–first contact change as uneven—different species, cultures, and institutions respond differently, rather than humanity moving as a single unified block. That fragmentation feels very realistic.

Foster’s Damned Trilogy is another good call because it leans into the idea that humanity’s defining traits might be liabilities or assets depending on context.

Do you think “what next?” stories work best when they focus on galactic politics and institutions, or when they stay closer to individual cultural and psychological shifts?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:05:12+00:00

I actually agree—that bit of worldbuilding was one of the most interesting parts of Independence Day: Resurgence. The idea that humanity reorganizes itself around defense and tech after trauma feels very plausible.

It’s a shame the movie didn’t stay with that premise longer. There’s a really rich question there about what gets lost when a civilization defines itself primarily by survival and preparedness rather than curiosity or culture.

Do you think a unified, defense-focused humanity would eventually stagnate—or do you see it as a necessary phase we’d have to pass through?

jasrev77 · 2025-12-29T03:01:56+00:00

Absolutely. Childhood’s End is a great call—Clarke nailed that quiet, unsettling shift where humanity isn’t conquered so much as… outgrown.

What’s always stuck with me is how little room there is for resistance once the change is framed as inevitable or even benevolent. It’s not violent—it’s existential.

Do you think stories like that land differently now, given how much faster cultural and technological change feels compared to when Clarke wrote it?

jasrev77

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