There are only a few scientists even named in the whole book and in every scene the scientists themselves openly stress how little they know. I think that kind of fetishization comes from the space-race era golden age of SF and that constant race and push for technology to lift society out of the industrial age carried much more societal weight and fame. In more recent years, the speed of technology advancement has accelerated to the point that we barely even notice. Nowadays an entirely new technology designed solution is often just another button on your phone.
This could explain why modern sci-fi literature swings more towards speculative fiction and almost techno-magical realism. The point of the stories now are no longer abot the cool technology but the impact and opportunities they create for society.
I think we have actually reached a tipping point now in 2024-2025 with the rapid-onset of AI. For the first time in recent memory a sizable part of society is actively pushing back on a technology as something we dont need or want. That perhaps it has consequences that are not worth the benefits. It is interesting that this sentiment is most pronounced in the most technology driven cultures.
I enjoyed reading this version of alien encounter as a reality-check to man's hubris. When you expand your perspective to a cosmic scale (as the introduction of intergalactic visitors forces one to do) its hard to come to any other conclusions then: We do not matter. We are not important. No one cares.
Too often the well-worn sci-fi trope of "First Encounter" is draped in the same psychology, if not the literal pageantry, of either colonialism's "Civilization meets the Savages" or a rehash of some 19th century Metternichian meeting of nation states. Our society, their society, a tentative feeling out of motives, values, knowledge, wealth, capabilities, etc. When in reality in the grand history of our species, we have only managed to allow 12 human beings to walk on our own moon and have never traveled any further. If a species had the ability to sail across stars to find us, it would be like us hiking into a jungle and looking at a termite hive. Its obviously a huge structure, requiring all kinds of diligent and intelligent work. There is clearly some kind of social structure among these strange creatures and the overall "society" appears to be functioning, but we wouldn't then try to meet with "The Termite Queen" or assess the potentiality of Termite Technology. We would stand there, maybe poke it with a stick a few times, take a picture and walk away to look at other more interesting stuff.
Which appears to be pretty much what happened at "The Visit".
!LOLZ
!ALIVE
!PIZZA