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Sick of the human race...
- Thread starter Tenebrous
- Start date
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Human_exceptionalism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism
Usually, these two concepts are also employed in making certain gender, sexuality, age, ability, race, nationality, values, etc. to be "exceptional". The White Heterosexual American Adult Male is usually the icon of Human Exceptionalism in entertainment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocentrism
Usually, these two concepts are also employed in making certain gender, sexuality, age, ability, race, nationality, values, etc. to be "exceptional". The White Heterosexual American Adult Male is usually the icon of Human Exceptionalism in entertainment.
I haven't seen all of the planet of the ape films, but aren't humans there sort of either enslaved by apes or they are like some sort of a highly evolved faction of subterranean cultists that worship a nuke?
Perhaps fiction from the height of the cold war has more messages about humanities destruction.
Perhaps fiction from the height of the cold war has more messages about humanities destruction.
soulassssns
Banned
I'm a human fanboy. 😜
Talos Principle explores this idea pretty well. I can't say much more without spoiler tags but it approaches humanity's hubris very smartly.
Alright if you're still curious:
Really smart game.
Alright if you're still curious:
Humanity is extinct due to some unknown event that is clearly framed as their own fault, all the people that could have helped weren't able to do enough in time. You play as a robot trapped in a simulation meant to foster a human personality and you browse vast, damaged archives of human knowledge.
Meanwhile, you are tormented by another AI and there are some VERY interesting issues raised. The most memorable to me was if humanity wanted to create an AI that continued their will and preserved humanity, why would they model the artificial intelligence to behave exactly like humans did, emotions and flaws included? It's not only logistically difficult to do but also extemely arrogant and self-defeating.
Meanwhile, you are tormented by another AI and there are some VERY interesting issues raised. The most memorable to me was if humanity wanted to create an AI that continued their will and preserved humanity, why would they model the artificial intelligence to behave exactly like humans did, emotions and flaws included? It's not only logistically difficult to do but also extemely arrogant and self-defeating.
Really smart game.
The Artisan
Member
what phrase? race? i mean it's fine if you want to use the words as is. i won't, because to me it's incorrect.
but they shouldn't be used as synonyms. they aren't. do we also have a cat race, a dog race, and a rabbit race?
no. human is a species, not a race. that's the way I perceive it anyway.
EricTheCleric
Member
The Cthulhu mythos makes it very clear that our victories are temporary and only delay the inevitable. When the stars are right, the old ones will reclaim what is theirs, and enslavement and madness are all we can expect. Modern books often allow us a little too much hope, but the originals were pretty blatant that with far more humans worshipping the old ones than opposing them (because realising they exist shatters our world view), it's not going to end well.
For a decent modern take on those themes, Charles Stross's 'The Laundry' books, that feature a British intelligence agency using 'maths=magic' to prepare for when the old ones do return, is one of my favourites, they are really funny too.
Warhammer has a similar thing with the greatest powers being the chaos gods, and humanity (in both fantasy and 40k) is clinging on only through constant sacrifice in the face of inevitable loss. Also, other races point out that humans seem to be pretty vulnerable to being corrupted by chaos, and form a healthy chunk of it's armies and champions. I wouldn't say it's great fiction but it's certainly two settings where humans aren't looking to finish first.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
OP, I agree with your sentiment. The "humans are special and superior to all other species" thing is a boring, lazy, overused trope. It's like how so much sword-and-sorcery fiction was cookie-cutter good vs. evil with no moral nuance until the popularity of authors like George R. R. Martin gradually overturned that.
Games are especially bad with this, and I can't think of any serious space sci-fi settings that avoid the trope, while novels have moved past it. Try Iain M. Banks' Culture novels for a good example of a universe where humans aren't magically special.
Games are especially bad with this, and I can't think of any serious space sci-fi settings that avoid the trope, while novels have moved past it. Try Iain M. Banks' Culture novels for a good example of a universe where humans aren't magically special.
TouchMyBox
Member
Humans in John Scalzi's Old Man's War series are pretty much the space assholes of the universe (more specifically the predominant human faction).
This is why diversity is really important. When only humans are involved in the creation of these works, we get a really unbalanced view of things. What you're basically asking is "why do humans make all the entertainment?" It's natural that as humans, we would create works which showcase humanity in the forefront, because that's what we understand best.
It's time for the industry to give aliens a chance to make more games. That way we'll see more balanced representation in science fiction works. I look forward to the day where a Quarian writes and directs a game, to give us further insight into how they might view the rest of the galaxy.
It's time for the industry to give aliens a chance to make more games. That way we'll see more balanced representation in science fiction works. I look forward to the day where a Quarian writes and directs a game, to give us further insight into how they might view the rest of the galaxy.
I haven't yet completed it so I'm not sure how it all plays out, but I like the way Grey Goo has humanity as an enemy (at least in the beginning). Fairly mild spoilers, since I'm not that far:
From what I've played so far, the humans are dicks and the alien race, the Beta, are chill. It's also a really fun game, if you're into RTS.
The humans are actually to blame for the Goo being created. Something about their space-charting AI and nanomachines.
From what I've played so far, the humans are dicks and the alien race, the Beta, are chill. It's also a really fun game, if you're into RTS.
I hate you for two reasons.
1) You beat me to posting TV Tropes links.
2) You posted TV Tropes links, ruining my evening plans.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
A superhuman experiment has to call one down first. So it doesn't solve the human in the spotlight problem.
This trend stems from humans being more relatable than any made-up alien civilization so humans are a lot more likely to be the protagonists. And since it's pretty rare in fantasy/science fiction/games for the protagonist to lose, we get the phenomenon where humans are going to win out in most fiction.
It's pretty common in strategy games with multiple factions for the human faction to be not particularly strong. In some of these, the main human faction are also the villains so it's sort of what you're looking for. Unfortunately, these generally still have other human factions to cheer for. Yet other games don't have a narrative at all like most 4X games. Still, there are games like Age of Wonders where the campaign centers around either the dark elves or the high elves or the Disciples games where there's a different campaign for each faction.
Really enjoyed that, thanksDon't understimate us OP.
Don't understimate us OP.
lol this is great.
Astral Dog
Member
True, when the Aliens make their own videogame they will portray humans in a different light.
Its a videogame made by humans for younger, teenaged humans entertainment, not for other species.
humanity
FriedConsole
Banned
Thankful this wasn't another OT suicide thread.
Lots of strategy games use humans as 'the average' in strength, toughness, speed, intelligence etc, not to make us mundane, but to show up the strengths and weaknesses of other races more easily to their 100% human audience. If you use 'like a human' as a baseline, it makes 'slightly tougher than a human and 'much tougher than a human' much easier to understand in terms of comparing abilities across multiple fantasy races.
The downside of this approach is that it limits the imagination of what is alien to what can be directly comparable, often having other sentient races as intelligent, autonomous bipeds with individual desires and dreams and even military formations and vehicles much like we have, but with extra boney bits or pointy ears. I like seeing fantastical races and their approach to exploration, negotiation and warfare depicted as truly alien, rather than just assigning a human cultural value to them (e.g. they have a nomadic existence, let's make them pointy-eared Space Bedouin!).
Peter Hamilton's Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained books have an antagonist known as MorningLightMountain, which is a single plantlike organism that has choked out every other thing on the planet due to an almost psychotic ego that doesn't like the idea of other organisms existing. It can detach clones of itself with a limited amount of free will, and set up working groups of those 'motiles' to tirelessly engineer what it needs. Ultimately it's a truly alien antagonist with a motivation that it is both scared of and hates other sentient life, due to it's own nature of being a non-social creature with a single higher commanding intelligence, and so it doesn't see the need for negotiation, second opinions, advice, give-and-take, alliances etc. It offers some nice weak points too once characters start to work out how it solves problems. When it thinks it's world is the only thing that exists, it's happy, but when it realises the galaxy is full of other planets that it hasn't spread over, it's insecurity is what drives it. It's both an utterly evil and tireless foe from our perspective, but well done because Hamilton describes how it gets to that point from it's starting struggles for territory with it's own species.
Don't understimate us OP.
I enjoyed this
Principate
Saint Titanfall
That's why StarCraft is great or rather was great, the humans were largely douchebags and the Protoss were the actual heroes in the story (En Taro Tassadar), too bad the sequel was so shit.
Yes.
Besides, for a lot of people other races are just different targets to fight or interact with in order to achieve something, but they are worthless on their own (sadly).
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
That's why you should play as a dwarf whenever possible.
Also incredibly stupid that the new Mass Effect you have to be some shitty human colonist instead of being able to play as a Krogan or something. 2 and 3 were already completely packed with unjustified "Humans r the best" crap.
Also incredibly stupid that the new Mass Effect you have to be some shitty human colonist instead of being able to play as a Krogan or something. 2 and 3 were already completely packed with unjustified "Humans r the best" crap.
Same reason why aliens always have to probe us and AI wants to kill us: immaturity of the literary experience and form. Basically, through understanding we evolve our form of expression and elevate our art form. Most people sadly do think The Terminator scenario and aliens coming to rape us is realistic- hence why the horror genre uses it. It's the same reason I think in the future, society will look back in amusement that we had sitcoms and TV shows where the primary hook was sexual orientation and nothing else.
We need to mature, and education is the way. Literature reflects the understanding of a culture/civilization.
Pai Pai Master
Banned
I like to sex up humans
Bioware seems to think other races are largely different options for sex too, which is probably why even the romancable alien girls have an idealised figure for a human female, even their AI character in ME3. Also the cover-based-combat is set up for similar-sized humanoids that can crouch. It would be nice if they allowed larger allies that are strong but can't hide as easily behind smaller bits of cover, or vice versa.
I mean, they sort of did. The human joined the savages and brought them his great enlightenment because on their own the navi were too dumb to win, or whatever. God, fuck that whole movie.
That seems to be more of a thing with fantasy strategy games than science fiction ones. I think it's because fantasy games care more about physical attributes like strength and quickness while science fiction ones tend to be determined more by the gear you use.
That seems to be more related to science fiction titles, and I'd agree that truly alien aliens tend to be pretty uncommon. My favorite of these is still Star Control II where non-biped villains like the Ur Quan can still be relatable in their pathos and utterly non-human creatures like the Mycon and Orz can run around doing pursuing their own agendas.
CedarFever
Neo Member
For books you could try out Marko Kloos' series that begins with "Terms of Enlistment". It's military fiction and three books in, humanity is steadily losing an interstellar war.
You might also give Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series a look.
You might also give Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series a look.
