If it was a story about the military fighting aliens then it probably would be but the primary conflict is about people surviving the aliens so I don’t think so
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fogbadge
Certainly more clever than contrived I’d say. Some of the thematic analysis of it is interesting
ZephyrZ
The common cold is caused mostly by viruses. From my understanding viruses tend to be specialized for their hosts, so it usually takes a mutation for them to jump from one host to another. The more distantly related the host species are the more difficult the jump - so realistically cold viruses would probably have a very hard time jumping to an alien species. Assuming alien species are even similar enough with earth species to be compatible with any of our viruses.
....But from what I gather about War of the Worlds it's not actually the common cold that kills them, but Earth's various microbes. So mostly bacteria, not viruses. Bacteria are much less picky compared to viruses, so that actually makes a lot more sense.
Though that does beg the question of why the aliens weren't prepared to deal with microbes. You'd think that if complex life existed on another planet, that much simpler microbial life would exist there too, and that the aliens would be aware of the dangers and have taken measures to protect themselves from Earth's own microbes.
....But from what I gather about War of the Worlds it's not actually the common cold that kills them, but Earth's various microbes. So mostly bacteria, not viruses. Bacteria are much less picky compared to viruses, so that actually makes a lot more sense.
Though that does beg the question of why the aliens weren't prepared to deal with microbes. You'd think that if complex life existed on another planet, that much simpler microbial life would exist there too, and that the aliens would be aware of the dangers and have taken measures to protect themselves from Earth's own microbes.
"And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, some in the now rigid handling-machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians—dead!—slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain; slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth."