Person Tests

[Clonus]

I'm looking for tests that someone...not necessarily a human...would give to newly encountered aliens to decide whether or not they qualify as whatever the test giver would class as "people". Any suggestions?

[The Weapon]

Ask them to come up with a test to determine whether something qualifies as a person.

[L. Marcus]

I'm looking for tests that someone...not necessarily a human...would give to newly encountered aliens to decide whether or not they qualify as whatever the test giver would class as "people". Any suggestions?

That begs the question on how to define a person. I don't think anyone has the definite answer ...

[GhostDancer]

Ask them to come up with a test to determine whether something qualifies as a person.

Magnificent.

[Clonus]

"The" answer? I'm not looking for "the" answer. I'm looking for "an" answer.

 

To give an example in "Little Fuzzy" they assumed aliens were people if they could either "talk" or "build a fire".

 

Other tests that I've seen include:

 

Discover faster than light travel.

Practice art for art's sake.

Put an animal in a cage

Be telepathic.

 

 

[Tasha]

"The" answer? I'm not looking for "the" answer. I'm looking for "an" answer.

 

To give an example in "Little Fuzzy" they assumed aliens were people if they could either "talk" or "build a fire".

 

Other tests that I've seen include:

 

Discover faster than light travel.

Practice art for art's sake.

Put an animal in a cage

Be telepathic.

 

 

Well like "Little Fuzzy" and Piper's SciFi universe. Any test would probably reflect the biases of the Species giving the test. ie A Herding Herbivorous Species might think that parts of being herding makes one more Intelligent than loners who hunt. I would suggest trying to get into the heads of the Alien then come up with a test.

[Lucius]

There was an interesting situation in The Mote in God's Eye.

 

The alien civilization consisted of several closely related species who each specialized in an aspect of what we think of as intelligence. So they had a couple of species - a "caste" of sorts, in more of an insect sense - who made tools and were good with using them, but had no concept of language. The Humans were led to what was obviously a workshop, thought the challenge was to make something, and each did so, leading their captors to conclude "We can't waste time trying to talk to these things, they're all mechanics! Why did they send a ship into space with no talkers aboard?"

 

 

In Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, one of the short stories features an alien who cannot even articulate what it is his species looks for, but is very definite that Humans don't have it. Despite this, he substitutes his culture's test with his own, because Humans do have something he had always assumed could only go hand in hand with the mysterious "attribute" his people value: "You love"

 

 

One of my favorites is in Spell for Chameleon, a fantasy novel. A Manticore has approached a wizard with the question "Do I have a soul" and was told "Only creatures that have souls are concerned about them." Best line that author ever wrote, and a pity he completely forgot it in later books of the series.

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Can you ride a palindromedary?

 

[IndianaJoe3]

You could use analyzing a mathematical sequence (prime numbers, Fibonacci sequence, etc) and predicting the next values as a test.

[Sundog]

My test would be, can it communicate and debate the existence of an item of which it has no previous knowledge or evidence, without the provision of evidence? Even if the answer to the debate is "No, X does not exist", it would I think still be proof of sufficiently advanced reasoning capacity to comprehend theoretical concepts, which would be sufficient to call it a "person".

[Christougher]

I had a slightly different test in a superhero setting featuring intelligent animals, aliens and artificial intelligences. The test was what it took to become "an accepted member of society", and the answer was "asking for the right". It demonstrated understanding there was a culture and that there were some conditions placed upon being a member. Once you understood and accepted that, the rest was just details.

 

Chris.

[sinanju]

Well, there's always the test the Bene Gesserit used DUNE. You stick your hand in a box. The person doing the test then threatens you with a weapon which will indisputably kill you instantly if used, telling you that if you are about to experience horrible pain--but that if you take your hand out of the box, you will die. They aren't lying. You experience horrific, agonizing pain as your hand is subjected to (what feels like) horrible damage. If you yank your hand out of the box, you die. If you don't, you prove your humanity by being able to overrule your animal instinct (to avoid pain) with your conscious mind in order to avoid the real danger (the weapon).

[Lawnmower Boy]

Answer True or False:

 

i) Do they have stuff worth taking?

ii) Can they stop you from taking their stuff?

iii) Can you stop them from taking your stuff?

iv) Can you talk them into not taking your stuff?

 

Marking method: For each question in sequence, end the marking if a "false" is encountered.

 

Score: 4 Congratulations, you've met people!

Score: 3: Run Away!

Score 2: Score!

Score 1: Who cares?

[bigbywolfe]

Answer True or False:

 

i) Do they have stuff worth taking?

ii) Can they stop you from taking their stuff?

iii) Can you stop them from taking your stuff?

iv) Can you talk them into not taking your stuff?

 

Marking method: For each question in sequence, end the marking if a "false" is encountered.

 

Score: 4 Congratulations, you've met people!

Score: 3: Run Away!

Score 2: Score!

Score 1: Who cares?

By "a 'false'" do you mean if the answer is "no"?

[JasonPacker]

I'm fond of really arrogant civilizations or peoples who even go so far as to have a rating scale. A Class V being independently invented FTL and is capable of possessing psionics, while a Class I may have a rudimentary grasp of abstract concepts, makes tools and uses fire (if appropriate to their world).