Humanity Is Superior: Difference between revisions

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Human(oids) are explicitly stated to be superior in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' due to their ability to access Spiral Energy, because their physical shape is the most efficient form for using it.

== [[Film]] ==

** Whilst they aren't all force-sensitive like some species they do have a very high number of these compared to other species and have produced the strongest of force users the galaxy has ever witnessed.

** Slightly inverted in the EU novel ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Old Republic]]: Revan'', where it's revealed that the old Sith Empire, while didn't discriminate against humans (those who weren't slaves), had the True Sith holdings all the power (the Emperor and several members of the Dark Council are shown to be True Sith). The humans are still the majority even in the Empire, though. In fact, the True Sith discriminate against other True Sith who aren't Force-sensitive.

== [[Literature]] ==

* In the novel ''Pandora's Planet'', Humans are, on average, smarter than the aliens who invade Earth, only being beaten because half the time the Humans were fighting each other.

* Humans in ''The Damned Trilogy'' by [[Alan Dean Foster]] are faster, stronger, tougher, and fiercer than every other sentient species, bar none. They're also the only species with the ability to resist the [[Psychic Powers]] of the Amplitur, who have brainwashed entire species into being happy slaves. So, the discovery of humanity by the Weave of free species at the beginning of the first book marks a critical turning point in their war to remain free. Unfortunately, humans are feared by the other sympathetic alien species precisely for those qualities and the uncomfortable question comes up that if they win the war, what will happen to human/alien relations then?

* In [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''Rowan'' series, Humans are the only ones with [[Psychic Powers]], which not only give them [[Casual Interstellar Travel]], they allow them to handily defeat the hostile [[Bug War|insectile aliens swarms]]. The Mrdini, who have been restricted to slow [[Generation Ships]] and which have to kill off (and it's implied, ''eat'') excess population to finish the trip, and use [[Heroic Sacrifice|mass kamikaze tactics]] to fight the Hivers, are both grateful and pissed when they meet this [[Mary Sue]] species.

* [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Posleen War Series|Legacy of the Aldenata]]'' series has humans as one of only two (out of six) races physiologically capable of killing. Naturally, we're better at it than the other one.

** There's also an element of religion as well. The Aldenata learned to Ascend on a philosophy that is similar to Buddhism combined with psychic powers. They convinced everyone the only way to do it was that path. The revelation that less enlightened races are conquering the galaxy using ascended powers is causing some problems with those ideas...

* In [[Fred Saberhagen]]'s ''[[Berserker (Literature)|Berserker]]'' novels, the [[Technical Pacifist|technically pacifistic]] Carmpan race (they are literally pained by even indirect performance of a violent act against any species, but have no trouble giving humans militarily useful intel) found in humanity the potential "[[badass]]ness" to be effective Berserker-killers, and so trained and equipped us to be just that.

* The Colonial Union in [[John Scalzi]]'s ''[[Old Man's War]]'' and sequels is very much like this.

** At least until you start to get a wider view of the 'verse in ''The Last Colony.'' Turns out that, despite humanity's quick expansion immediately after venturing out into the universe, in the last century or two humans have settled into the same [[Status Quo Is God]] back-and-forth as the rest of the local races. The [[Plot Armor|necessity]] of allowing the viewpoint characters to survive gives a very distorted view, one [[Orwellian Editor|encouraged]] by the government.

** Subverted in that many alien species are [[Human Aliens|humans in anything but name]], and are only written as aliens as an excuse to write dystopian settings (dystopian Earth humans would not be accepted by Soviet censorship).

* Turtledove's ''[[Worldwar]]'' and ''Colonisation'' series both play this straight and divert it. When the aliens come they overrun most of the world using superior (presumed modern) technology, but are unable to full conquer Europe, America and some of Asia due to a combination of lack of numbers and human tenacity, and the fact that the aliens were expecting Crusades level technology. Humanity is also far more variable than the aliens (their homeworld has been civilised for ~50,000 years), and so manage to make up most of the difference in about 50–60 years, and by 100 years after the initial invasion are way ahead, including some sort of faster-than-light drive (as seen in ''Homeward Bound'').

* A recurring theme across the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels is that, white [[The Fair Folk|the Elves]] are prettier, more graceful, and have stronger magic than humans, they lack wisdom, intuition, and the ability to create new things—areas in which humans will always be superior, giving them the upper hand over Elves every time.

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the human power [[The Federation|(Earth Alliance)]] likes to give off the ''impression'' of punching well above the weight of such a young power with their militaristic bluster and gigantic ships), but considering their humiliatingly poor performance against the Minbari, Babylon 5 being taking nearly as much damage from a Centauri cruiser's ''warning shots'' in "Acts of Sacrifice" as it took from a massive Earthforce assault in "Severed Dreams", Sheridan describing Centauri fighters and pilots as decisively superior to Earthforce's own in the same episode, and the [[Bad Future]] in ''[[Babylon Five The Lost Tales]]'' where Galen shows Sheridan a possible timeline where the Centauri easily stomp the Earth Alliance and bomb Earth's cities to dust, they're nowhere near the top of the Younger Races, let alone the Middle Children such as the Minbari and Streib or the First Ones. [[J. Michael Straczynski]] himself describes the Earth Alliance as being in the "lower third" of the ''Babylon 5'' food chain, and they helped win the Dilgar War by tipping the balance in an alliance with several other races, not because they were as powerful as the Dilgar. Also note that the Narns are near or at parity with the EA despite being around a century newer to the galactic scene. The Earth Alliance is a subversion—a race that on first impression seems exceptionally powerful, but is militarily a paper tiger that uses bold impressions, clever diplomacy, and extensive trade networks to build clout rather than force of arms.

** [[Let Me Get This Straight...]]: Humanity is a lower tier power that regularly has a seat at the table with the most powerful races in known space. In fact, they usually provide the table, too. While the Earth Alliance may not be superior in a strictly military sense, it's a little harder to make the broader point about humanity.

* ''[[Farscape]]'' has the Sebacean Peacekeepers as a ruthless space 'human' [[The Empire|empire]] with [[Tyke Bomb|hardcore soldiers]]. But the quote is from John Crichton, the only true, Terran human in this part of the universe. The instance quoted though was a subversion - the alien was attacking them through their eyes, and Crichton was the only one with [[Disability Superpower|dull enough eyesight to fight it]].

** Sebaceans are eventually revealed to be an engineered offshoot of early humanity (with generally enhanced lifespans, physiology, and healing) that were used as a peace-keeping force in an ancient interstellar U.N.. The do have one major flaw; they don't sweat efficiently and at high temperatures they shut down. Essentially anything near body heat temperatures causes them to fall into a coma- giving Crichton a serious advantage when Moya is invaded by a team of Peacekeeper commandos.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' and ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has Humanity surviving against near-impossible odds against the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] who've annihilated many other species who attempted resistance. This is mostly limited to humans from Earth since the Goa'uld has enslaved humans and the Wraith cull entire civilizations. Even with humans from Earth this is occasionally subverted with an [[Alternate Universe]] where [[All the Myriad Ways|the good guys lose]].

** Let's review: in 1994, the Tau'ri used the stargate to go to Abydos; on this trip, they confronted the Supreme System Lord Ra and killed him. Three years later Apophis paid a visit to us using the Stargate and pissed off a few people. We just declared war to an interstellar empire while only having limited resources due to keeping the Stargate a secret. Twelve years later the Goa'uld are gone, the Ori are gone, the replicators are gone, the Wraith are in the middle of a civil war and the Tau'ri are a major intergalactic superpower while no one on Earth has any clue about what's going on out there. In a span of ten years, we progressed from petty civil wars on our planet to bearing the legacy of two of the greatest races which have ever lived with ourselves becoming the Fifth Race(actually, the sixth if we count the Ori). All in secrecy and with limited resources. If we would have the whole planet's support, we could crush the Wraith and thus surpass the Ancients themselves.

** Not only that, but humanity is also a ''very'' successful species throughout its history, building at least four "Great And Bountiful Human Empires" (the third of which spanned ''three galaxies''). Even in the 21st century, UNIT forces take it to the Tenth [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Sontaran]] Battle Fleet, cleaning their clocks in ground warfare, and by the 41st century they are going toe-to-toe with the resurrected ''[[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Dalek Empire]]''.

** And wiping the floor with the Cybermen in the Cyberwars.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** The rest of the universe definitely disagrees with him since the humans needed their alliance with the high elves and dwarves to beat back the Horde. It's very clear that currently, no singular race would ever be able to rule over the rest of Azeroth.

* {{spoiler|The Fal'Cie}} in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' believe that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] ''and'' that Humanity Is Superior. Their entire scheme revolves around taking advantage of both of these traits to manipulate humans into {{spoiler|destroying Cocoon (which would doom the Cocoon Fal'Cie and the human populace) in order to bring back The Maker}}.

== [[Web Original]] ==

{{quote|"{{spoiler|[[Satan]]}} is dead. Humans killed him with their weapons. With their weapons, not with magic, for magic and superstition is powerless in the face of human science. We are powerless in the face of human engineering. They have won this war and nothing we say or do can change that. Hell is changed forever and nothing we can do will change that either. The humans have told me they wish me to be the new leader in Hell, answerable only to them. I have agreed. If you do not like the idea of me as your leader, don't tell me." {{spoiler|Abigor}} gestured at the Marines and their vehicles. "TELL THEM!"}}

* The story of [http://www.orionsarm.com/xcms.php?r=oaeg-view-article&egart_uid=483ae5827604f Glarion: The Glorious Conquerer] from ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' is a deliberate contrast to the rest of the setting where humanity is anything but superior. Terragen civilization on a whole ''is'' superior in many ways to all xenosophonts it has contacted though, but there have been still more advanced civilizations discovered elsewhere - just not contacted yet because of the distance.

== [[Real Life]] ==

* It's not overly arrogant to make this claim about humans compared to other species on Earth (at least compared to other complex animals). We have the unique [[Game Breaker]] combination of sentience, dexterity, and language that's allowed us to invent ways to overcome our weaknesses in many other areas, while also making us extremely versatile.

* We also have superior endurance and bodily temperature control compared to practically every other animal in warmer climates, not to mention a more efficient means of locomotion. One of the oldest hunting techniques involves simply [[wikipedia:Persistence hunting|chasing an animal for a couple of hours until it finally collapses from overheating or lack of energy]].

* This is what we all think.

** At least on an individual level.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Mary Sue Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]