Neil Degrasse Tyson on Alien and Sci-fi Movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S12cgccAsy0

I was watching a few The Daily Show videos on YouTube when I came across this video where Trevor Noah is interviewing Neil Degrasse Tyson. The talk was about his book Accessory to War and how superior intellect has always been used as a tool for oppression. Towards the end of the show, NDT makes an astounding point, a point which is deceptively simple and yet opens a new perspective on how you watch Sci-fi movies.

He explains how Europeans have historically oppressed their colonies with their advanced technology and how their wealth of knowledge was used for imperialism. He makes the remarkable observation here. We dont have any knowledge about the existence of alien life forms, let alone how they would behave if they were to encounter us. But, a majority of alien/sci-fi movies portray aliens as violent oppressors ready to obliterate humanity. We created these movies not from our knowledge of the aliens, but from what we know about how we treat each other! Alien movies are a mirror to our culture and civilization! This blew my mind. It's humanity's collective suppressed guilt that is portrayed in alien movies.

The next time I watch a sci-fi movie, I wouldn't be able to help not think about this point and draw parallels to our history as a civilization.