“Independence Day,” “War of the Worlds,” “Battle: Los Angeles,” “Transformers,” “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Man of Steel” and “Edge of Tomorrow.” The common element tying all these films together is an alien invasion.

It’s a common story, an alien race sucks up all the resources of their homeworld and searches the galaxy for a suitable replacement planet. They find earth, an apocalyptic battle ensues, and humanity is laughably outmatched technologically yet somehow ends up winning anyways. But why alien invasion?

Well, literary scholars tell us that speculative fiction (or science-fiction/fantasy for those who prefer not sounding like they have a metal rod up their ass) often projects the fears that are prevalent in the present reality of characters in some distant future or some far away land.

For example, in JRR Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” whenever a person or group of people destroy or exploit nature for their own sinister endeavors it ultimately leads to their downfall. This was a story written following the world wars, at a time when the technological innovations of humanity had led them to commit several atrocities. Consequently, Tolkien’s fear for what the industriousness of mankind would lead them to became reflected in his greatest work of fiction.

So why alien invasion? Because it reflects one of the deepest fears that all earthlings feel: not being alone in the universe. What if out there, in the vast unknown, the final frontier, there lies another race of intelligent life that is thousands maybe even millions of years ahead of us in scientific progression?

A race so advanced that we would all be helpless should they wish to oppress us. That’s a valid fear, or at least, it was in 1898 when H.G. Wells published the original alien invasion story, “The War of the Worlds.” Technology has come a long way since then. Humans have stepped foot on the moon. We have accomplished once unfathomable scientific feats like the creation of the International Space Station or the puppymonkeybaby.

So who says we can’t be the more advanced alien race in these stories? If you have paid any attention the headlines recently, the concept of humans living on Mars is rapidly becoming a more relevant topic for news writers than science fiction authors.

So what if while we search out distant planets to make room for our rapidly growing population, we find life less technologically advanced than our own? If we let history be our guide their story would be very similar to that of the indigenous of Africa, or the Native Americans, or the many others who came before them. The story of the alien race that greedily depleted its home world’s resources, leaving it a desolate wasteland as it ventures out to other planets and conquers the indigenous life in an effort to find a new home is beginning to sound eerily familiar.

Given the state of our world climate, and the fact that we are a species with an extensive history of intolerance and cruelty towards beings different from ourselves the alien invasion story sounds more prophetic than fictitious.

So maybe, the alien invasion story still has meaning for us 118 years after its original telling. Not because it reflects a fear of our inadequacy but rather a fear of our inability to handle the power of superiority as we head out into the great unknown. More precisely, a fear that we are now the monsters of our science fiction stories.