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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shayuri" data-source="post: 6113651" data-attributes="member: 4936">Maybe it would help focus discussions if you (the OP) tell us the endpoint you want to arrive at, rather than try to massage the feedback to suit your purpose.It sounds to me like you're looking to start a scenario where the Earth has (more or less) unified in opposition to a nearby planetary neighbor's inhabitants in an interplanetary war...and the implausibility of that happening with your starting conditions are vexing to you.Happily, being fiction, all that needs be done to correct that situation is play with the assumptions a bit. For example:1) If the aliens appear to be more capable than we are at space flight, and seem interested in Earth for some reason (ie - UFOs buzz us a lot), then Earth governments and people will be more nervous. This nervousness may or may not be warranted.2) If the aliens are significantly different than we are in psychology or technological path, meaningful communication may be difficult or impossible. This doesn't guarantee war, but in conjunction with point 1, it makes war more likely.3) If the alien planet has some unusual resource that can justify the massive expenses associated with space travel, then human beings might have interest in going there, in which case scenario 1 would apply to us buzzing them with 'ufos.'4) If human technology is unusually advanced so as to make spaceflight easier, that lowers the bar for having interest in other planets. The idea that additional research could lead to a big breakthrough is unlikely without invoking space magic though...as long as we're limited by the laws of physics, space travel is going to be slow and expensive.All of these points are at odds with the conditions set in the original post, but any or all of them would help satisfy the conclusion you seem to be aiming for.As for the unified government of Earth...I suppose a case could be made for the idea that an inhuman 'other' could help human beings think of themselves as a single unit and overcome regional differences. But given the level of isolation from that other, I think it's unlikely to make a big difference in people's day to day lives. Realistically, entities like the UN might be more powerful, or more respected, but the nations of the world have too much rooting in history, ethnicity and culture to be so easily wiped out.That doesn't mean that you can't have a one-world government in a fictional setting. It just means that the mere presence of aliens wouldn't alone plausibly justify it, in my view. But it could certainly contribute to other things, like a war of conquest, or something...</blockquote>

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