Dr Pubicon, I Presume?
The Good Doctor welcomes you to his humble abode.
"If you ever teach a yodeling class, Probably the hardest thing is to waste what you don't have a child, And here you are sleeping, So that you finally accept it. I've accepted that satan is in the crotch. For this, I thank you." - Dr Pubicon
The date was August 21st, 1986. America was dealing with the tragedy of the Challenger shuttle explosion but had not yet discovered the Iran-Contra affair. Half way around the world, a stranger tragedy was literally brewing beneath the surface of Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Africa. At this point, it should also be noted that seven months eariler, the Voyager 2 probe encountered Uranus; the relevancy of which will become apparent to the reader later.
The night of the 20th, witnesses reported hearing loud noises and seeing bright lights flashing across the lake but it wasn't until the next morning that totality of the devastation became apparent. The normally calm, clear water of Lake Nyos had turned red; disturbed by the eruption of a massive gas cloud of carbon dioxide from a dormant volcano. Being denser than the surrounding air, the CO2 cloud proceeded to roll down the hill and reek havoc on the surrounding countryside. By the time the air had cleared, 1800 people and countless animals had asphyxiated in the apocalyptic cloud.
What no one could have known (since no one was around to know it at time) is that a spacecraft bearing a curious visitor of unknown origin had landed by the lakeside. Those who later had the privilege to view the craft described it as a "dull metallic" in appearance and "roughly rhombitruncated icosidodecahedronic" in shape, although their account was later called into question due to "repeated expert drug use" at the time of the sighting. This mysterious exo-solar vagabond promptly made his way into nearby jungle and was not heard from until 2004 when he emerged to greet a civilized world (via AIM) with a previously unknown associate in tow. Not to be confused with Brainiac of Superman fame (actually he's met him and said he's a bit of an asshole), Dr Pubicon, as he referred to himself, was also a information collecting robot, with specific interest in pop culture. He referred to his associate as "Bushman" and claimed he was a once-lost research scientist who had almost been eaten alive by the jungle until Dr Pubicon rescued him.
Dr Pubicon's mission is to interact with earth people with the hope of discovering the cause of his civilization's demise. According to the Good Doctor, in the 2029th year of his culture's existence, his people became inundated with mass media, ads, surcharges, late fees, EULA's, contracts, patents, never-ending copyrights, landmark lawsuits and such. The people cried out that they wanted no more but business turned a deaf ear and instead, extolled the "greater visibility" of newly designed ads which ensured "unprecedented numbers of impressions per hour" and a "return to profitability". Unable to cope, the common people stopped consuming things and instead made their own fun. Infuriated by this, business successfully lobbied the elected High Council to decree that profit become mandatory and that it would be the responsibility of the common people to see to that they remain profitable. Expecting an outbreak of what the Doctor called "bootlegs", business mobilized a police task force that oversaw spot inspections of "right to view" licenses. As a result of everyone being a violator by virtue of accidently hearing someone else head phones or seeing a little television through an open window, everything personal was soon seized as assets. Without the fear of personal loss, the people revolted.
Needless to say, it wasn't pretty and the survivors were few but proud. To ensure that this would never occur again, they sent an researcher, Dr Pubicon, to study a mysterious source of RF radiation emanating from a galaxy far far away.
