Major studies in the past have shown society would completely lose it if aliens just showed up on earth. I think there has already been a long steady slow disclosure so that even now people are far more accustomed to the idea.

Imagine Billy Bob in Arkansas, with his shotgun and his family behind him, meeting a strange alien. How would that go? People can’t even handle immigrants from other states. I know that as a Californian I am, right now, almost universally despised in Arkansas. And I am a good American.

Imagine if we suddenly had cold fusion or anti-gravity propulsion, maybe through reverse engineering. Totally free energy.

Imagine what that would do to the oil industry, upon which the world’s economy is based. Like suddenly we didn’t need it anymore.

Again, massive societal collapse.