Humans are "Special"

[Clonus]

Ever watch Ben 10? Notice how pathetic humans seem to be? Everyone else seems to have these superkeen powers. Are we just the lameoids of the universe or what? Suppose you were setting up the Galaxy Legion, a team which takes the most formidable individuals from each of a bunch of species like that. What would you set off as the human specialty, the thing we do that they can't?

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Never watched Ben 10.

 

If you go by Larry Niven's 'Known Space' stories, then the primary schtick of the human race is Luck. The other alien races are bigger, tougher, smarter or whatever; yet humans keep squeaking by, no matter what.

 

Personally, I think humanity's strongest attribute would be something to do with gadgeteering, MacGyvering, kit-bashing, making-do, improvisation and general inventiveness. Just think of all the nifty little gadgets that are continually being devised for everyday living, for instance.

[casualplayer]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Viciousness.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

IIRC, in the DCU it's the Metagene, the ability to adapt in a nearly infinite number of ways resulting in super powers. This explains why there are so few alien supers (beyond what anyone in their respective races would have, that is). Seems to work for the Marvel U too.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

We write all the fiction?

[Bloodstone]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Ingenuity, adaptability and "indomitable spirit" tend to be pretty common human traits in settings like that. You see this with characters like Batman and Captain America in their respective team books.

 

Of course, in the Ben 10 universe so far only Humans have used literal Magic, which could be a good starting point for a human legionnaire contribution to a galactic team.

[Balabanto]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

The one thing that humans can do that others can't is, sadly, warfare.

 

No other species so regularly fights in large groups against itself. In a galactic game like that, humans are generals.

[The Weapon]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

The one thing that humans can do that others can't is, sadly, warfare.

 

No other species so regularly fights in large groups against itself. In a galactic game like that, humans are generals.

 

Compared to Klingons we're pacifists. The thing is you only hear about the alien races who can melt steel with their eyes, read minds etc. In fact there are probably lots of races as pathetic as us (and as warlike, ingenious with gadgets etc.). We just don't focus on them because they're too ordinary from our POV.

[Hermit]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Also, in the 5th Ed universe, at least so far, most species don't seem that innately superior to humans anyway. Different gifts, advanced tech, but not really built on that many more points. Of course, there are exceptions like Ironclad and so on, but then you get exceptional humans too.

[McCoy]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Personally' date=' I think humanity's strongest attribute would be something to dow with gadgeteering, MacGyvering, kit-bashing, making-do, improvisation and general inventiveness. Just think of all the nifty little gadgets that are continually being devised for everyday living, for instance.[/quote']

 

The one thing that humans can do that others can't is' date=' sadly, warfare.[/quote']

Haven't watched Ben 10 more than a couple of episodes, but i would go with what Ian and Balabanto said, and add: teamwork!

 

Look at Star Trek, especally the retro-series Enterprise. The Vulcans, Andorians, and Klingons had been in contact for years if not centuries. Humans came up with the idea of the Federation. Humans kept insisting "we have more in common than you believe." Humans were able to fight wars against the Andorians, the Klingons, much later the Cardassians, and after they won, say, "the past is past, we can be friends now."

 

"The twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn," but humans are the ones who can best see and exploit the patterns.

 

For your Galactic Legion, the human would be in a leadership position, the team tactician, possibly levels useable by others at range, and the power skill useable by others. (In Marvel, Rick Jones was able, in a few hours, to figure out uses of the Nega-bands that had not occured to Mar-Vell in years of using them.) They are the ones who will be able to get ancient enemies to work togther for a common goal. They are the ones who can most clearly see the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

[OddHat]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Internet Porn.

 

Motivational Posters.

 

Management Seminars.

 

An actual working government beyond a bogus "Science Council" or poorly thought out monarchy (most sci fi monarchies don't even have a civil service).

 

An economy that makes some kind of sense.

 

Philosophies that don't sound like something thrown together on deadline by a comic book or TV writer who didn't care much.

 

Theologies that run deeper than generic New Age BS or silly sci-fi pantheism.

 

I'd probably go the "Superhumans are surprisingly powerful, even though the average human isn't" route, but in a comedy setting I'd play up human organizational and cooperative skills. Maybe go Farscape style, with the human having mainly the ability to sell his plans to otherwise better educated, stronger peers.

[Balabanto]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I think the main difference here is that I'm cynical and Hermit's optimistic.

[Dreadnought]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Personally, I'm a fan of the approach from the RPG Star Thugs. I'm not a fan of the writer's sense of humour, but he provides some good in-game explanations for genre conventions. One of them is his explanation of why humans are anything special in a galaxy full of species more advanced than us. The reason is because the entire human race is mildly psychic. For almost all of us, it's completely uncontrolled, so that not even we notice, but some poeple manage to harness it. Most species exibit some variation in the type of psychic powers they have, but humans can only learn Ishikendo. Ishikendo is the ability to understand and alter vast and complex systems. The way this manifests in most humans is that we get sudden flashes of inspiration, which are in fact just us tapping into the galactic unconscious and finding a solution that works. It also explains why so many aliens speak English. When humans developed languages, they naturally gravitated towards languages they passively picked up with their minor psychic powers, and English is basically a direct rip off of one of the galaxy's main trade languages.

[Badger]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Compared to Klingons we're pacifists. The thing is you only hear about the alien races who can melt steel with their eyes' date=' read minds etc. In fact there are probably lots of races as pathetic as us (and as warlike, ingenious with gadgets etc.). We just don't focus on them because they're too ordinary from our POV.[/quote']

 

 

 

Well, Klingons didnt have any outstandingly special powers either. They might have had slightly more durable bodies, but I am not sure.

 

 

Also, with species we have only seen a few members of, we cant really say they are more powerful necessarily (unless mentioned somewhere). We may just be seeing the few that are supers, just like humans have a small amount of supers.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Klingon's where considerably more durable due to more selection pressure they had to be as the never really developed a medical culture.

 

Klingon culture was very Darwinian unlike the federation which had almost no selection pressure at all(and no genetic engineering either due to KHAAAAANNNNN) which would normally result in fairly mediocre humans( still lots of them so the best will be very good just that the middle will be very broad). it would be especially bad after several hundred years of those with drive and ambition shipping out to start colony worlds.

 

i always imagined the federation recruited most of its security officers from frontier planets which unlike earth still have selection due to fitness

which would explain Tasha Yar, if you can survive planet of the rape gangs your not going to hesitate about firing phasers.

not like some prissy vineyard owners archaeologist wannabe son with an artificial heart.

[Zed-F]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

What do humans have that no other race does?

 

In a comic book universe, common sense.

 

Of course, most humans don't have that either...

[Karmakaze]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

In Farscape, humans weren't physically tougher, but were able to survive a wider range of environments, most notably a better tolerance of temperature ranges. Given how many scifi planets are monoclimates, that actually makes sense. Our human protagonist was also a fast learner and better at figuring out how to fix things than the others, although that may have been more a trait of the character than humanity in general.

 

Consider that, out of Earth species, our big physical specialization is... endurance running. How often is that going to come up in space directly?

[Metaphysician]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

It varies depending on the setting. There are some settings where humans *are* the ubermensch- as strong as the strongest aliens, as smart as the smartest aliens, etc.

 

More commonly, its all about adapability. Humans have more of it than other species, both physically and psychologically.

[BobGreenwade]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

As noted, the typical "advantage" given to Humans is usually something along the lines of adaptability, ingenuity, diversity, or the like. As Karmakaze indirectly pointed out, John Crichton (the Human character in Farscape) was able to get by despite being physically weaker than the other species and having no special abilities because Humans have been forced to adapt their environment to accommodate themselves.

 

I've been toying, though, with an idea for a setting where the trait that sets Humans apart from other species more than any other is the fact that Earth's atmosphere is thinner than that of any other planet bearing sentient life -- we have the galaxy's most efficient lungs.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

How about range of senses? In nature many animals have particular senses that are more efficient than ours in certain circumstances, and even a couple of senses that we don't; but they also tend to be highly specialized, and deficient in some areas. Not that many other species have the variety of well-developed senses that we have. We're certainly superior to other animals on the planet in our ability to apply vision and touch to precision tasks.

 

How would this translate to a superteam, you ask? How about a master martial artist who has studied finding the weak spots of every other sentient species? Or a marksman exceptionally accurate with any ranged weapon?

[Zed-F]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Another advantage often given to humans in a sci-fi setting where humanity has explored and colonized other worlds and formed a space empire, is that humans tend to be better businesspeople and explorers. Humans are usually latecomers to the galactic scene but rarely have trouble carving out an empire for themselves once they do develop FTL space travel. Moreover, while human spacecraft and weapons of war are generally not particularly advanced relative to the races around them, they usually have a better economy than most of their neighbors.

[Zed-F]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I've been toying' date=' though, with an idea for a setting where the trait that sets Humans apart from other species more than any other is the fact that Earth's atmosphere is thinner than that of any other planet bearing sentient life -- we have the galaxy's most efficient lungs.[/quote']Interestingly, our own lungs are actually not all that efficient compared to other earth-born creatures, such as most birds.

[Dog Soldier]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

How about humans taste and smell really bad to all non-Earth carnivores and are mildly toxic as well?

[Hermit]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I'd posted this quote elsewhere recently, but it seems appropriate to this thread

---------------

"You have demonstrated their weakness may be found through a less sophisticated approach. We are no longer capable of such thinking."

 

"Wait a minute. You're actually saying you need someone dumber than you are?"

 

"You may have come to the right place."-Thor, Daniel, and Jack Stargate SG-1: Small Victories

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I'd posted this quote elsewhere recently, but it seems appropriate to this thread

---------------

"You have demonstrated their weakness may be found through a less sophisticated approach. We are no longer capable of such thinking."

 

"Wait a minute. You're actually saying you need someone dumber than you are?"

 

"You may have come to the right place."-Thor, Daniel, and Jack Stargate SG-1: Small Victories

Oh, just put it in your sig already!

 

 

 

I mean, it is a good quote.