Insignificant Little Blue Planet: Difference between revisions

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* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''Robot Detective'' series, Earth is primitive and backward compared to the Spacer worlds. Later, in his ''Empire'' series, humans have spread through the Galaxy and no longer even remember which planet is the homeworld. Earth is one claimant, but most people don't believe it, as it's become a radioactive ghetto. By the ''Foundation'' series, no one even knows where Earth ''is'' anymore.

* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Under the Dome]]'', the town of Chester's Mill is shown to not be the target of any terrorist attack, supernatural event, or even coordinated alien experiment, but rather {{spoiler|the victim of a few alien children playing with human beings the way that human children might burn ants with a magnifying glass}}.

* [[Iain M ~~Banks|Iain M.~~ Banks]] has [[The Culture]] roaming the galaxy in the 12th Century, and they're not the only ones. They don't know about Earth until one of their ships visits in 1977, and even then they decide [[You Are Not Ready|not to contact us]]. Though ''Consider Phlebas'' has an appendix which calls itself part of a "Contact-approved Earth Extro-Information Pack" made in 2110, so presumably they came back by then. Dammit.

* [[Iain M Banks]] has [[The Culture]] roaming the galaxy in the 12th Century, and they're not the only ones. They don't know about Earth until one of their ships visits in 1977, and even then they decide [[You Are Not Ready|not to contact us]]. Though ''Consider Phlebas'' has an appendix which calls itself part of a "Contact-approved Earth Extro-Information Pack" made in 2110, so presumably they came back by then. Dammit.

* [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Barrayar]]'' books have a [[City of Adventure|Planet of Adventure]] (the namesake Barrayar), though the characters often venture forth across the galaxy. Only one book out of nearly 20 takes place on Earth. However, the first chapter of that book, ''Brothers in Arms'', states, "Earth was still the largest, richest, most varied and populous planet in scattered humanity's entire worm-hole nexus of explored space. Its dearth of good exit points in solar local space and governmental disunity left it militarily and strategically minor... But Earth still reigned, if it did not rule, culturally supreme."

* In [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s ''[[Rendezvous With Rama]]'', the namesake spaceship, en route from Point A to B, zips through the solar system and slingshots around the sun. Earth isn't even an afterthought.

** [[Canon Discontinuity|If there had been any sequels]], they would have involved {{spoiler|a couple more ships coming specifically to obtain humans. However, these ships contained life forms from other solar systems as well, so Earth still wasn't considered extremely important except for the humans.}}

* Taken to its extreme in the short story "[[They're ~~Made Out of Meat|Theyre~~ Made Out of Meat]]": Earth is blacklisted due to the freakishness of its inhabitants. The [[Starfish Aliens|narrators]] clearly don't even think of them as people.

* Taken to its extreme in the short story "[[They're Made Out of Meat]]": Earth is blacklisted due to the freakishness of its inhabitants. The [[Starfish Aliens|narrators]] clearly don't even think of them as people.

* ''[[The Sirens of Titan]]'' has the entirety of human existence {{spoiler|as a means to build a part to repair a damaged alien spaceship, or send messages to said alien that help was on the way. For example, the Great Wall of China was a progress report. Just to twist the knife further, a discarded offcut of something else turns out to be that crucial part, and the ship's mission is utterly banal.}}

* In Katherine Kerr's ''Polar City Blues'', Earth [[Earth-That-Was|has been abandoned]] after ecological collapse. Humanity has spread out to across the stars, but the Human Republic is quite insignificant compared to the two main alien power blocs, the Carli Confederation and H'Allevae Alliance.