Humans are "Special"

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I've never witnessed a heated internet argument over the philosophies of Enforcer84 as opposed to Ayn Rand.

 

Sorry, dude.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I've never witnessed a heated internet argument over the philosophies of Enforcer84 as opposed to Ayn Rand.

 

Sorry, dude.

YET, Cap. You've never seen it yet...

[Enforcer84]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

I've never witnessed a heated internet argument over the philosophies of Enforcer84 as opposed to Ayn Rand.

 

Sorry, dude.

Cause she knows I'm right!

[Spence]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Well I have returned and discovered that all of the threads I followed are now so long I will never catch up. So. New threads

 

To answer the question. I read a book many years ago that had an answer to your question. We are the only species able to "go native" practically anywhere. We are able to adapt to and use pretty much everything from customs, ethics, technology from just about anywhere. Even if you conquer and human world, at first the surviving humans may be slaves or servants, but 50-100 years down the line you discover they are the primary movers and shakers of 99% of your soldiers, banking firms, trading companies, etc. One day you wake up and they took over from the inside. Kinda like cockroaches

[BNakagawa]

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.

 

This is an entertaining fiction, but it is, in the end, fiction.

 

Almost all species fight amongst themselves. Mostly for territory or reproductive rights.

 

Only a few have been observed engaging in conflict in larger groups. Chimpanzees and cetacians for example.

 

As much as some might hate to admit it, it is very likely that warfare has been with us since before we became, well, human.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

This is an entertaining fiction, but it is, in the end, fiction.

 

Almost all species fight amongst themselves. Mostly for territory or reproductive rights.

 

Only a few have been observed engaging in conflict in larger groups. Chimpanzees and cetacians for example.

 

As much as some might hate to admit it, it is very likely that warfare has been with us since before we became, well, human.

yeah, but not alienses!

[Badger]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

But sometimes they steal our women.

 

Remember, Mars Need Women!!

 

 

 

But, Mars got Dejah Thoris.

[Battlestaff]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Reading through the post also made me think of that New Twilight Zone episode called "A Small Talent for War."

 

If I recall correctly, an alien spaceship landed and spoke with the United Nations. After a lot of discussion about how humans have a small talent for war, and that humanity must be destroyed, the diplomats ask for 24 hours to prove they can be better.

 

 

At the end of that time, when the alien ambassador returns, all major conflicts on Earth had been resolved. The alien ambassador revealed that we had failed to prove they should survive, as they wanted peace all along. Humanity was an experiment for the aliens, an attempt to breed a planet full of soldiers for the aliens wars. Since it turns out humans in their hearts wanted peace, their "small talent" for war was insufficient for the aliens needs, and humanity must be destroyed.

 

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

In a lot of literature, a lot of the human 'specialness' comes from being a polyculture.

 

Just about every non-human race, from elves to Klingons, is just like every other one unless it's some 'rogue/renegade/outcast' member of the race, and they invariably get killed before they can create any significant sociological change.

 

(This tends to impair my RPG experiences, because I freakin' hate playing to stereotypes!)

 

Basically, the other races can only look at things one way, whereas if you get a dozen humans together to look at a problem, you'll probably get at least ten different solutions.

[palaskar]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Don't forget that humans are the best distance runners on our planet, perhaps barring wolves.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Don't forget that humans are the best distance runners on our planet' date=' perhaps barring wolves.[/quote']

 

Which is really important on a spaceship.

 

Seriously, how often do the turbolifts on the Enterprise give out?

[Alverant]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Because it's a superhero universe... While it is true that the Champions universe ended up depowering its aliens except for a few that went into seclusion' date=' I assume that's because of the decision to put the science fiction games in the future of the superhero universe. But there's a reason why I posted this in the Champions area instead of the Star Hero. On Ben 10 all aliens appear to have powers because that's what his gimmick is dependant on. In DC while not all "aliens" have powers, an awful lot of them do, maybe more than don't.[/quote']

 

So how about this, in Hero cannon Earth controls the ability for this dimension to have superpowers for some reason. Personally this bugged me because I couldn't think of any logic reason why one planet should control the laws of physics for the entire universe. We live here, but that's just a play to our ego.

 

Instead what if Earth, along with every other life-bearing planet, controls just its little corner of the universe, say a few light years radius. In this sphere of influence the magic that allows superpowers can go up or down (effectively making every planet its own dimension). Now since magic is fickle and mysterious only some superpowered being can exit their planet's region and go to others.

 

In the end, humans aren't any more special than any other species. Alien visitors to Earth are as rare as Earth visitors are to other worlds. It's just that most supers wind up staying near home.

[Badger]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Which is really important on a spaceship.

 

Seriously, how often do the turbolifts on the Enterprise give out?

 

Well, this and other similar physical traits would benefit maybe in colonization of planets somehow. I'm reaching, I know.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Well look at it this way, humans may be special in that we are really good at killing each other, feeding a world that is overcrowded, plus we have great medical ability.

 

Forgot the story's name, but Earth was called Hospital Earth because we happened to be so good at medicine.

[nexus]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Which is really important on a spaceship.

 

It wouldn't be but if we're limiting things to strictly spaceships, allot of the "edges" other races are shown to have wouldn't be important. Technology could/would render all but the most extreme racial advantages largely moot under many conditions.

 

But humans do have much more stamina and resiliance than we give ourselves credit for. Physically, people tend to use the First World, doesn't do much but move from the house to the car type of person as the baseline for humanity which isn't really fair.

 

 

But since this is Champions instead of Star Hero...

 

Maybe humans are "special" because our genetics are inherently more prone to developing superpowers. Ofher races have innate racial abilities that are super to us but none or few of them have the sheer variety of mutants, induced supers, etc that humanity has. You ususally die or at least get very ill if you get bitten by a radioactive animal on other worlds but on Earth you stand at least some chance of taking on the creature's characteristics. Not that other races don't have the occasional mutant or whatever, its just much much rarer than on Earth.

[Balabanto]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Hey, in my game humans are special because all humans were originally superpowered soldiers working for alien humanoid sperm whales before the gene burned out in most of the population.

[Angelalex242]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Humans are special because they get +1 skill point per level and an extra bonus feat.

 

...Oh, wait, that's D&D...

[Hunter]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Seem to remember K'Ehleyr' date=' Luxana, and Deanna discussing this once, and raising their glasses in a toast to the Men of Earth.[/quote']

 

K'Ehleyr appeared in only two episodes, neither of which had Lwaxana in it. So you must be remembering this from a fanfic.

[Whitewings]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Here's a thought that I don't think has ever been used: Humans are special because of their voices. In real life, there are no other animals that can create the sheer variety of sounds we can, at least not that I can think of, so it's not inconceivable that alien species can normally communicate with only small numbers of other species: One race talks in whistles, which the trillers can approximate well enough to be understood. The trillers can be approximated by the high croakers, who can approximate the low croakers. The low croakers can imitate, somewhat, the clackers, who can, with effort, manage a rough approximation of the chirrers, who can sort-of manage the squeaker languages. Then along come the humans, who can croak, and trill, and whistle, and clack, and... Basically, humans are the ultimate go-betweens. *Everyone* can talk to us, and we can talk back.

[nexus]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Here's a thought that I don't think has ever been used: Humans are special because of their voices. In real life' date=' there are no other animals that can create the sheer variety of sounds we can, at least not that I can think of, so it's not inconceivable that alien species can normally communicate with only small numbers of other species: One race talks in whistles, which the trillers can approximate well enough to be understood. The trillers can be approximated by the high croakers, who can approximate the low croakers. The low croakers can imitate, somewhat, the clackers, who can, with effort, manage a rough approximation of the chirrers, who can sort-of manage the squeaker languages. Then along come the humans, who can croak, and trill, and whistle, and clack, and... Basically, humans are the ultimate go-betweens. *Everyone* can talk to us, and we can talk back.[/quote']

 

But even on Earth there are sounds we just can't make and/or cant hear and that makes the assumption that all races communicate vocally as well or makes that our anatomy is even capable of duplicating And I'm not sure about humans have the best vocal range, particularly since there are sounds we can't hear or emulate but I haven't really looked into it.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Here's a thought that I don't think has ever been used: Humans are special because of their voices. In real life' date=' there are no other animals that can create the sheer variety of sounds we can, at least not that I can think of, so it's not inconceivable that alien species can normally communicate with only small numbers of other species: One race talks in whistles, which the trillers can approximate well enough to be understood. The trillers can be approximated by the high croakers, who can approximate the low croakers. The low croakers can imitate, somewhat, the clackers, who can, with effort, manage a rough approximation of the chirrers, who can sort-of manage the squeaker languages. Then along come the humans, who can croak, and trill, and whistle, and clack, and... Basically, humans are the ultimate go-betweens. *Everyone* can talk to us, and we can talk back.[/quote']

 

Have to say, there are a number of birds (parrots, macaws, cockatoos, parrakeets, budgerigars, etc,) that can mimic all the noises that humans make, and often quite a bit more besides.

[Whitewings]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Have to say' date=' there are a number of birds (parrots, macaws, cockatoos, parrakeets, budgerigars, etc,) that can mimic all the noises that humans make, and often quite a bit more besides.[/quote']

 

Interesting. I wasn't sure just how great a range of sounds such birds could imitate.

[McCoy]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Interesting. I wasn't sure just how great a range of sounds such birds could imitate.

My aunt has a bird (parrot?) that can perfectly imitate the phone ringing, then laughs when she answers it.

[Lucius]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Cross posted from "What I Learned Playing an Alien"

 

If a Human or group of Humans wants something you have - an item, knowledge, a resource, a service you can perform - try to make a mutually profitable trade. Humans love to trade. Not all of them are trustworthy, but in general, if you deal fairly with them, they will view you as a friend - and Humans can make surprisingly loyal and helpful friends.

 

If Humans want something you have, and you can't arrange a beneficial trade, be aware that they are quite likely to attempt to get it by stealth or trickery.

 

If the Humans need, or just want badly enough, something you have, and they have failed to trade for it and failed to steal it or trick you out of it, get your weapons ready. They will probably next attempt to wrest it from you by force. And they're STUBBORN. You should have tried harder to make a trade....

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Palindromedaries are special

[Spence]

Re: Humans are "Special"

 

Cross posted from "What I Learned Playing an Alien"

 

If a Human or group of Humans wants something you have - an item, knowledge, a resource, a service you can perform - try to make a mutually profitable trade. Humans love to trade. Not all of them are trustworthy, but in general, if you deal fairly with them, they will view you as a friend - and Humans can make surprisingly loyal and helpful friends.

 

If Humans want something you have, and you can't arrange a beneficial trade, be aware that they are quite likely to attempt to get it by stealth or trickery.

 

If the Humans need, or just want badly enough, something you have, and they have failed to trade for it and failed to steal it or trick you out of it, get your weapons ready. They will probably next attempt to wrest it from you by force. And they're STUBBORN. You should have tried harder to make a trade....

 

 

Plus they will most likely convince themselves it was theirs by "right" and it is your fault they had fight you for it