Editing 2478: Alien Visitors 2

{{comic
| number    = 2478
| date      = June 18, 2021
| title     = Alien Visitors 2
| image     = alien_visitors_2.png
| titletext = "Although fresh juice DOES sound--" "NO! For humanity to survive we must learn from the mistakes of the past."
}}

==Explanation==

This is the second comic in a [[:Category:Alien Visitors|series]], following the previous comic [[2477: Alien Visitors]].

The aliens now return to show us even more "advanced" inventions. As with the previous strip, the only innovations they offer are not only things that humans know how to build, but things we figured out some time ago, and are now obsolete.  As with the pyramids and Stonehenge, these inventions might have been impressive in their time, but now offer nothing to humanity.

{{w|Biplane}}s are planes with two sets of wings, which provide more of the necessary lift at slow speed than a contemporaneous {{w|monoplane}}, but develop increased drag and aerodynamic and air-frame issues as higher air-speeds became possible/necessary. Biplanes have been obsolete for most purposes since the 1930s, though they remain in use for agriculture and aerial sports.

A {{w|blimp}} is a lighter than air aircraft with no internal structure. These aircraft were traditionally filled with hydrogen gas to provide the needed buoyancy, due to the lower density of hydrogen and a US monopoly on helium limiting availability for the German blimp manufacturer. Hydrogen is highly flammable and thus presents a safety issue: however, its use has gradually increased, considering that it is far cheaper than helium. The famous {{w|Hindenburg_disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster}} is widely seen as a reason hydrogen airships are unlikely to be widely accepted. However, it is still disputed whether the hydrogen or the coating of the airframe caused the fire. Blimps are still used today, but only rarely, in niche applications, such as for advertising or for aerial photography/videography. Modern airships generally use helium as a lifting gas, which is more expensive, but non-flammable. 

{{w|Tetraethyllead}} ((CH<sub>3</sub> CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>4</sub>Pb) is a chemical added to gasoline (mostly from the 1920s to the 1990s &mdash; although some countries [https://web.archive.org/web/20171115235249/http://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/17542/MapWorldLead_March2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y still use it to this day]) to prevent {{w|engine knocking}}. Lead is toxic and bio-accumulative, and there's substantial evidence that its use in gasoline caused widespread lead exposure, impacting public health on a huge scale. The aliens seem surprised to learn of these toxic effects, and their concern implies that they may be using leaded gasoline themselves, but it's unclear whether they might think that their biology may by vulnerable to lead as well or whether they never considered that biologies alien to theirs would be.

The final invention appears to be a reference to {{w|Juicero}}, a defunct and short-lived brand of juicer, which has become iconic of the absurdity of modern technology investment. The company produced a high-tech, internet-connected juicer which sold for $700, and only worked on the company's proprietary branded single-serving bags of pulped fruit, which were available by subscription for $5-$7 per serving. The company raised over $100 million in startup capital, but quickly went out of business because most consumers considered the expensive product to be nearly useless, coupled with a rather damning [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lutHF5HhVA video by Bloomberg] demonstrating said packets could easily be squeezed by hand. The title text singles this invention out, calling it one of the "mistakes of the past". 

After the latest showing of unimpressive "inventions", the humans start questioning how "advanced" the aliens really are. It's traditionally assumed that a species capable of interstellar travel would have a host of other advanced technologies, which is inconsistent with the unimpressive and not only obsolete, but also fatally-flawed inventions they're offering to humanity.  The humans on the ground ask whether they actually built their own flying saucer. They also consider the wisdom of standing directly under the saucer, implying that, if the aliens did build it, it's likely to be unreliable, and may be at risk of crashing (though perhaps a bit ironically, the humans say this in response to the juicer, and while the actual device it is spoofing was a failure in many ways, one thing it was ''not'' was shoddily built (aside from the fact that you could squeeze more juice by hand than by using the machine...) - one critique of the Juicero was that it was needlessly over-engineered).

==Transcript==
:[A flying saucer is flying high above Ponytail who is walking towards White Hat, Cueball and Megan. Those three are looking up at the spacecraft. The humans are drawn very small standing on the ground beneath it. The aliens inside speak to them from inside their saucer, indicated with zigzag lines between it and the text.]
:Aliens: Greetings, humans. We have returned. 
:Aliens: Since you already have pyramids, we've brought you more advanced wonders.

:[Pan up to only showing the flying saucer which has two beams below it, the left showing an outline of a biplane and the right is showing an outline of a blimp. The human replies off-panel. Given their positions before, the first is probably Ponytail, but it cannot be determined.]
:Aliens: These machines will let you conquer the sky!
:Voice 1 (off-panel): A biplane? 
:Voice 1 (off-panel): Aren't monoplanes more efficient?
:Voice 2 (off-panel): Does that blimp use hydrogen?

:[Zoom in on the four humans looking up, the Aliens reply from above the panel. There is a chemical formula in an outline from the alien flying saucer, shown in a similar manner to the other items.]
:Chemical formula: (CH<sub>3</sub> CH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>4</sub> Pb
:Aliens (off-panel): Add this elixir of lead to your gasoline and your engines will run smooth.
:White Hat: Lead? Isn't that stuff toxic?
:Aliens: Is it? 
:Aliens: Oh no.

:[Zoom back out, as in first panel but the flying saucer and the humans are shown in silhouette. A beam from the saucer is showing an outline of a juice machine.]
:Aliens: Okay, uh.
:Aliens: This device's electric press can squeeze fresh fruit juice from bags of pulp!
:Ponytail: ...Just curious, did you build that saucer? 
:Cueball: Maybe we shouldn't stand right under it.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Alien Visitors]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Alien Visitors 2]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Aliens]]