History Main / ETGaveUsWiFi

* Erich von Daniken is famous for claims that the first human civilizations were created by aliens, similar to the ''Film/{{Stargate}}'' film.

* The 1914 of ''Animation/WarOfTheWorldsGoliath'' is a {{Dieselpunk}} setting thanks to humans having retroengineered the technology of the downed Martian tripods.

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[[folder: Comic Books]]

* Creator/TheAsylum film ''Transmorphers'' has the human resistance's weaponry reverse-engineered from the alien robots'.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', one of the player's available weapons is the Exagryph, a ChainsawGripBFG with machine gun and grenade launcher functionality. It was forged by the cyclopes at the dawn of time for Hestia to wield against the Titans, and it is heavily implied that it is the Platonic ideal of a gun, which will one day inspire humankind to invent firearms in general.

* In ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident'', it's heavily implied that the last of the [[{{Precursor}} Creators]] influenced humanity's development up until the 19th century (when the last one died) in order to result in the creation of compatible computing technology and [=AIs=] that could merge with Angel, the AI they left behind in an asteroid base near Pluto. All to combat their own creations, the [[AIIsACrapshoot Mechanoids]].

* The Creator/StrugatskyBrothers' ''Literature/RoadsidePicnic'' transfers this trope into the future: In a setting TwentyMinutesInTheFuture, humanity makes progress by studying and finding uses for alien artefacts dropped on Earth by an unknown extraterrestrial civilization.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series, after a partly-successful AlienInvasion during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII that leaves most of the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics under the control of [[TheReptilians the Race]], the surviving human nations start reverse-engineering their technology. By TheSixties, human technology has reached 21st century levels, and in less than a hundred years they've surpassed the Race (who are very conservative about applying new technologies that could disrupt the social order) and are building FasterThanLight starships.

* In the Creator/IsaacAsimov short story "[[Literature/DoesABeeCare Does a Bee Care?]]" an immortal alien stranded on Earth guides human technological development through most of history until it has reached the point where he can stow away aboard an early unmanned satellite and thus make his way home. He's no more concerned about where Mankind goes after he leaves than a bee cares about the flower it has just pollinated.
** [[BeenThereShapedHistory He has influenced pretty much the whole development of physics and engineering on Earth with his PsychicPowers, working on scientists like Newton and Einstein and Thornton Hammer so as to help Earth get space travel.]] He's taken the form of the human body since it's the most intelligent species on Earth. It's all part of his instinctual drive for reproduction, [[IdiotSavant and he doesn't even understand what he's done]]

* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': The Chitauri are an alien race that helped the Nazis back in World War II, but they were defeated. The Americans salvaged the Chitauri tech, and used it to kickstart NASA.

* In the Creator/IsaacAsimov short story ''Does a Bee Care?'' an immortal alien stranded on Earth guides human technological development through most of history until it has reached the point where he can stow away aboard an early unmanned satellite and thus make his way home. He's no more concerned about where Mankind goes after he leaves than a bee cares about the flower it has just pollinated.

Also, a healthy dose of [[ArtisticLicenseHistory historical revisionism]] may be necessary to effectively use this trope considering modern technology ''can'' be traced back to human discovery pretty easily.

* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' episode "The Return of Maggie Beckett" showcased a parallel world where TheGreys gave Earth new technologies and allowed for significant advances. Rembrandt says he always believed this was the case for his own world and cites several technologies, including Velcro. (Both this and the ''Enterprise'' episode listed above were written by the same guy: Chris Black.)

* In ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', wizards from another world are responsible for [=JavaScript=] ([[FunctionalMagic it was styled after their magic system]]).

->''"This morning we were able to transmit a [[WebOriginal/LOLCats mildly amusing image of a cat]] halfway across the world, suggesting it will be an excellent tool for sharing classified information within our organization. I named this impressive creation the "internetwork", and would be very surprised if it didn't catch on."''

Also, a healthy dose of [[RealityRetcon historical revisionism]] may be necessary to effectively use this trope considering modern technology ''can'' be traced back to human discovery pretty easily.

* A variation occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "The Ricks must be Crazy." When the power supply of Rick's car suddenly dies, he takes Morty into the battery, and tells him that he's created a "Microverse," waited until a sapient life form evolved, told them he was an alien and introduced to the wonders of electricity via [[HamsterWheelPower "Gooble Boxes," which produce the power necessary to run his car when used to run or walk in place.]] When Morty tells Rick he's essentially enslaved an entire planet, Rick says they aren't slaves since they created a society, when Morty says "that's slavery with extra steps," Rick just brushes him off. Inside the Microverse they encounter Zeep, basically a [[InsufferableGenius Rick]] {{Expy}}, who created a "Miniverse," waited until a sapient life form evolved, told them he was an alien, and gave them "Flooble Cranks," which produce the electricity needed to power his world, and render the "Gooble Box" obsolete. When [[IronicEcho Rick tells Zeep he's essentially enslaved an entire planet,]] Zeep says they aren't slaves since they created a society, when Rick says [[{{Hypocrite}} "that's slavery with extra steps,"]] Zeep just brushes him off. Inside the "Miniverse" they find a researcher named Kyle, who's just created a "Teenyverse," and is waiting for a sapient life form to evolve, so that he can give them "Blooble Yanks," a pulley based exercise device that will power his world, and render the "Flooble Crank" obsolete. When Zeep tries to explain that Kyle's plans to enslave an entire planet, Kyle says that since the people of the Teenyverse will live in a complex society, they won't be slaves. Just as Zeep begins to explain "that's slavery with extra steps," he and Rick begin fighting. After being stranded for months inside the "Teenyverse," Rick, Morty, and Zeep make it all the way to the "Microverse," where [[InferredHolocaust Rick destroys Zeep's "Miniverse."]] After escaping the "Mcroverse" Rick starts his car, and tells morty he told Zeep to tell everyone in the "Microverse" that he [[DeadlyEuphemism "would either have toss a broken battery or the battery wouldn't be broken.'']]

* ''Series/ChappellesShow'' had a take on the movie Film/DeepImpact where the president reveals all the nation's secrets in the shadow of impending doom. One of these is the existence of aliens who brought us technical marvels such as both Playstation 1 and 2. (3 and 4 had yet to be released)
* In a variation, the powers-that-be on ''Series/StargateSG1'' were initially disappointed that not enough exploitable alien tech was coming back with the teams. As time passes and they bring in more tech, it starts filtering down to the public. They even fielded a (barely functional) energy weapon.
** In an AlternateTimeline where the stargate was never discovered, technology is noticeably behind the main timeline standard.
** The low rate of transfer is mainly because the SGC has to balance [[TheMasquerade keeping itself secret]] (not to mention trying not to piss off their offworld allies) with getting a return on the government's investment, and generally leans towards the former. The aforementioned energy weapon is ''intentionally'' barely functional in order to simulate trial-and-error development; Carter and the other scientist are able to get it working pretty fast when their lives depend on it.

** The episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]] features a tech mogul who hoards alien artefacts for profit or [[TheCollector just to admire them]]. According to him, he's not the first: Broadband is from {{Roswell|ThatEndsWell}}.
** A subversion in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E2DayOfTheMoon "Day of the Moon"]], in which it is revealed [[spoiler:that many of humanity's technological advancements were ordered by a race of hypnotic, memory-wiping parasite alien things with the aim of getting to the moon, making it a case of humans giving E.T. wi-fi.]] Technically they wanted [[spoiler:a space suit and not moon travel; mankind just sorta took the ball and ran with it.]]

* ''Series/DarkSkies'', and the conspiracy folklore it's based on, supposes that modern technology was invented by reverse-engineering material from the famous {{Roswell|ThatEndsWell}} incident.
* ''Series/TheEvent'': [[spoiler:Development of the atomic bomb was pushed ahead by several decades, thanks to the {{Human Alien|s}} Thomas' involvement in the project. The ultimate goal of the aliens, who are stranded on Earth, seems to be to advance humanity's technology so that they have the infrastructure to make it back home.]]
* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' episode "The Return of Maggie Beckett" showcased a parallel world where TheGreys gave Earth new technologies and allowed for significant advances. Rembrandt says he always believed this was the case for his own world and cites several technologies, including Velcro. (Both this and the ''Enterprise'' episode listed above were written by the same guy: Chris Black.)
** It's implied that the only reason the government made the contact with alien public was because a different President was office at the time, thanks to UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo lasting longer.
* ''Series/{{Fringe}}:'' It is implied that many of Massive Dynamic's tech advances are copied from the parallel universe: the Other Side is far enough ahead of us to be worth copying, but not so far ahead as to be beyond us.

[[folder:Other Sites]]
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1073 SCP-1073 ("Computing Microbes")]]. The silicon chip technology that almost 90% of the Earth's computer systems are based on came from information provided by SCP-1073.
** In general, once the Foundation has analyzed something to the point where it's completely understood, they arrange for what they've learned to be released to the general public, since at that point it's no longer considered to be paranormal/anomalous.
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