6 ms·

This reminds me of a proposition put forth once (I think on tumblr of all places) that while humans are normally considered a "baseline" species in sci-fi, what

by Zikes 12y ago

This reminds me of a proposition put forth once (I think on tumblr of all places) that while humans are normally considered a "baseline" species in sci-fi, what would a sci-fi universe look like where humans were the superbeings? There were dozens of replies along the lines of: "I heard humans can survive losing a limb! Or even multiple limbs!" "Their strength and tolerance for gravity far exceeds our own!" "When one of their organs fails they can just swap it out with another compatible human that's died recently!" It's pretty funny to imagine, and it's a perspective not often seen.

noblethrasher 12y ago
I remember that. Here is the link by way of r/scifi : http://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1kl5ly/tumblr_for_once_has_a_great_idea_for_a_scifi_show/ http://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1kl5ly/tumblr_for_onc...
tehmaco 12y ago
A quick search turned up this: http://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/57702943181/mikhailvladimirovich-bogleech-its-funny-how http://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/57702943181/mikhailvladimir...
- shangxiao 12y ago
  There’s mounting evidence that our primitive ancestors would hunt large prey simply by following it at a walking pace, without sleep or rest, until it died of exhaustion; it’s called pursuit predation. Basically, we’re the Terminator. Isn't that how the bushman in The Gods must be Crazy hunted his prey?
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
    - aetherson 12y ago
      The important factor is "without sleep." And, in fairness, it's not entirely about "just walking." Though it's counterintuitive, humans really do have more endurance than most large mammals. Here's a wikipedia on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting
      - tim333 12y ago
        I have not come across the "without sleep" thing before and the Wikipedia link does not seem to mention it. The Wikipedia persistence hunting is to jog after them under the midday sun until the prey overheats. That stuff you can see on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o
    - benaiah 12y ago
      Not so, actually - humans are one of the best at endurance walking out of all land animals. Trained humans regularly beat horses at long distance races - there's am annual one held in England, for example. I'd give links but I'm on mobile.
      - Zikes 12y ago
        We're the only "animal" that collects water to consume later and doesn't need to stop to drink. I think that's a major factor in endurance hunting - we can replenish hydration lost by sweat whereas others cannot.
        aggronn 12y ago
        From wikipedia: > Although sweating is found in a wide variety of mammals, relatively few, such as humans and horses, produce large amounts of sweat in order to cool down. We don't beat them out necessarily because we can replenish more, but because we are much more efficient at cooling ourselves. Obviously water and tools helped us, but imagine trying to compete in a 5k wearing a rubber suit--you wouldn't come close to competing with those humans you're up against.
      - jimmaswell 12y ago
        Although ironically the locomotion is apparently not very efficient. I remember a good story where the efficiency of a human was compared to other animals and it was medicore, but on a bicycle it blew the animals out of the water, and it then said a computer was a bicycle for the mind. http://www.cyclelove.net/2013/03/steve-jobs-on-why-computers-are-like-a-bicycle-for-the-mind/ http://www.cyclelove.net/2013/03/steve-jobs-on-why-computers...
      - gabriel34 12y ago
        usually humans beat horses on high temperatures and vice-versa (we being better at getting rid of heat). I would like to know if these races allow for rehydration for both species, if humans run barefeet and if horses run with no cargo/horseshoes.
  - iLoch 12y ago
    That's how humans hunt their prey everywhere (before we had tools.)
  - jfb 12y ago
    It's called cursorial hunting; wolves do it as well.
pavel_lishin 12y ago
noblethrasher made a link to a reddit post where some examples of this are seen. The Damned, by Alan Dean Foster, is a great series dedicated to this premise. At first, I thought you were quoting directly from one of the novels.
dairem 12y ago
AE Van Vogt had a nice short story on those lines, "The Monster" . http://bookre.org/reader?file=292661 http://bookre.org/reader?file=292661
KaiP 12y ago
See http://www.reddit.com/r/hfy http://www.reddit.com/r/hfy for more stories with a similar tack
ekidd 12y ago
One of my favorite SF stories flips this premise: What if human beings were the wise, moral, responsible galactic elders? And we discovered low-tech aliens who observed: - "Humans have such good self-control! They can resist cannibalism and murder so easily!" - "Humans live for more than two years!" - "Humans have time to learn more than a thousand words!" - "But when you get right down to it, humans are remarkably dumb and unmotivated, compared to us." …and most importantly: - "Hey, can we get some life extension technology? If we lived longer, we could totally have an engineering degree by age 6." Vernor Vinge, "Original Sin." http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0312875843 http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0312...
- dredmorbius 12y ago
  The thought's occurred to me that perhaps we are the ancient Galactic intelligence.
- splintercell 12y ago
  > One of my favorite SF stories flips this premise: What if human beings were the wise, moral, responsible galactic elders? And we discovered low-tech aliens who observed: http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Star-The-Commonwealth-Saga/dp/0345479211 http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Star-The-Commonwealth-Saga/dp...
doughj3 12y ago
There was a recent prompt[1] in /r/writingprompts similar to this recently. [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2csvwk/wp_an_alien_race_encounters_the_most_terrifying/ http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2csvwk/wp_an...
The_Double 12y ago
That reminds me of this advertisement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwd8b0ycBg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwd8b0ycBg
- teh_klev 12y ago
  Which in turn reminds me of a 2000AD Tharg's Future Shock story from around 1980'ish.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
logfromblammo 12y ago
"They can survive in an atmosphere that's TWENTY PERCENT PURE OXYGEN. They actually need it to function!" "If you breach their outer surface, an aqueous solution squirts out. On top of that, the weather on their homeworld regularly involves pure water falling from the sky. They live on the surface anyway." "They progressed from tool use to apex species in only about 100000 generations. They went from writing to spaceflight in less than 500. They are about to create artificial intelligences based upon their own." "They are covered and filled with some form of microscopic biological material that completely overwhelms any compatible surface in a matter of days. Attempts to eradicate it result in rapid adaptation." "They have some form of mental superpower that allows them to defy logic and reason. All of their recent technology has resulted from generating seemingly random propositions and then gathering the evidence necessary to prove those false, rather than generating only propositions that conform to existing evidence."
jdietrich 12y ago
An interesting piece by the YouTuber Tom Scott, based on the conceit that humans are unique in having evolved through competitive natural selection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPqk-O-fD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPqk-O-fD4
cratermoon 12y ago
In Old Man's War there are aliens that are about 1 inch high. Their technology is roughly equal to ours, but when their biggest aircraft are about a foot or two long, it's not an even match.
- judk 12y ago
  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu
judk 12y ago
This would be any Earth-based story from the perspective of animals who interact with humans.

by Zikes 12y ago

noblethrasher 12y ago

I remember that. Here is the link by way of r/scifi : http://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1kl5ly/tumblr_for_once_has_a_great_idea_for_a_scifi_show/ http://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/1kl5ly/tumblr_for_onc...

tehmaco 12y ago

A quick search turned up this: http://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/57702943181/mikhailvladimirovich-bogleech-its-funny-how http://prokopetz.tumblr.com/post/57702943181/mikhailvladimir...

shangxiao 12y ago
There’s mounting evidence that our primitive ancestors would hunt large prey simply by following it at a walking pace, without sleep or rest, until it died of exhaustion; it’s called pursuit predation. Basically, we’re the Terminator. Isn't that how the bushman in The Gods must be Crazy hunted his prey?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
  - aetherson 12y ago
    The important factor is "without sleep." And, in fairness, it's not entirely about "just walking." Though it's counterintuitive, humans really do have more endurance than most large mammals. Here's a wikipedia on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting
    - tim333 12y ago
      I have not come across the "without sleep" thing before and the Wikipedia link does not seem to mention it. The Wikipedia persistence hunting is to jog after them under the midday sun until the prey overheats. That stuff you can see on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o
  - benaiah 12y ago
    Not so, actually - humans are one of the best at endurance walking out of all land animals. Trained humans regularly beat horses at long distance races - there's am annual one held in England, for example. I'd give links but I'm on mobile.
    - Zikes 12y ago
      We're the only "animal" that collects water to consume later and doesn't need to stop to drink. I think that's a major factor in endurance hunting - we can replenish hydration lost by sweat whereas others cannot.
      - aggronn 12y ago
        From wikipedia: > Although sweating is found in a wide variety of mammals, relatively few, such as humans and horses, produce large amounts of sweat in order to cool down. We don't beat them out necessarily because we can replenish more, but because we are much more efficient at cooling ourselves. Obviously water and tools helped us, but imagine trying to compete in a 5k wearing a rubber suit--you wouldn't come close to competing with those humans you're up against.
    - jimmaswell 12y ago
      Although ironically the locomotion is apparently not very efficient. I remember a good story where the efficiency of a human was compared to other animals and it was medicore, but on a bicycle it blew the animals out of the water, and it then said a computer was a bicycle for the mind. http://www.cyclelove.net/2013/03/steve-jobs-on-why-computers-are-like-a-bicycle-for-the-mind/ http://www.cyclelove.net/2013/03/steve-jobs-on-why-computers...
    - gabriel34 12y ago
      usually humans beat horses on high temperatures and vice-versa (we being better at getting rid of heat). I would like to know if these races allow for rehydration for both species, if humans run barefeet and if horses run with no cargo/horseshoes.
- iLoch 12y ago
  That's how humans hunt their prey everywhere (before we had tools.)
- jfb 12y ago
  It's called cursorial hunting; wolves do it as well.

pavel_lishin 12y ago

noblethrasher made a link to a reddit post where some examples of this are seen. The Damned, by Alan Dean Foster, is a great series dedicated to this premise. At first, I thought you were quoting directly from one of the novels.

dairem 12y ago

AE Van Vogt had a nice short story on those lines, "The Monster" . http://bookre.org/reader?file=292661 http://bookre.org/reader?file=292661

KaiP 12y ago

See http://www.reddit.com/r/hfy http://www.reddit.com/r/hfy for more stories with a similar tack

ekidd 12y ago

One of my favorite SF stories flips this premise: What if human beings were the wise, moral, responsible galactic elders? And we discovered low-tech aliens who observed: - "Humans have such good self-control! They can resist cannibalism and murder so easily!" - "Humans live for more than two years!" - "Humans have time to learn more than a thousand words!" - "But when you get right down to it, humans are remarkably dumb and unmotivated, compared to us." …and most importantly: - "Hey, can we get some life extension technology? If we lived longer, we could totally have an engineering degree by age 6." Vernor Vinge, "Original Sin." http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0312875843 http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Stories-Vernor-Vinge/dp/0312...

dredmorbius 12y ago
The thought's occurred to me that perhaps we are the ancient Galactic intelligence.
splintercell 12y ago
> One of my favorite SF stories flips this premise: What if human beings were the wise, moral, responsible galactic elders? And we discovered low-tech aliens who observed: http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Star-The-Commonwealth-Saga/dp/0345479211 http://www.amazon.com/Pandoras-Star-The-Commonwealth-Saga/dp...

doughj3 12y ago

There was a recent prompt[1] in /r/writingprompts similar to this recently. [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2csvwk/wp_an_alien_race_encounters_the_most_terrifying/ http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2csvwk/wp_an...

The_Double 12y ago

That reminds me of this advertisement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwd8b0ycBg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwd8b0ycBg

teh_klev 12y ago
Which in turn reminds me of a 2000AD Tharg's Future Shock story from around 1980'ish.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

logfromblammo 12y ago

"They can survive in an atmosphere that's TWENTY PERCENT PURE OXYGEN. They actually need it to function!" "If you breach their outer surface, an aqueous solution squirts out. On top of that, the weather on their homeworld regularly involves pure water falling from the sky. They live on the surface anyway." "They progressed from tool use to apex species in only about 100000 generations. They went from writing to spaceflight in less than 500. They are about to create artificial intelligences based upon their own." "They are covered and filled with some form of microscopic biological material that completely overwhelms any compatible surface in a matter of days. Attempts to eradicate it result in rapid adaptation." "They have some form of mental superpower that allows them to defy logic and reason. All of their recent technology has resulted from generating seemingly random propositions and then gathering the evidence necessary to prove those false, rather than generating only propositions that conform to existing evidence."

jdietrich 12y ago

An interesting piece by the YouTuber Tom Scott, based on the conceit that humans are unique in having evolved through competitive natural selection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPqk-O-fD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcPqk-O-fD4

cratermoon 12y ago

In Old Man's War there are aliens that are about 1 inch high. Their technology is roughly equal to ours, but when their biggest aircraft are about a foot or two long, it's not an even match.

judk 12y ago
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu

judk 12y ago

This would be any Earth-based story from the perspective of animals who interact with humans.