History Main / HumanityIsSuperior

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' has the Sebacean Peacekeepers as a ruthless space 'human' [[TheEmpire empire]] with [[TykeBomb 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 [[DisabilitySuperpower dull enough eyesight to fight it]].

** Technically there are faster, stronger and tougher races than humans but Humans are a "jack of all trades" species, faster than the strongest species, stronger than the fastest but fiercer than all. Ironically all three books deal with Humans who try to be more than just warriors.

*** The ''Excalibur'' has the same amount of firepower as a Vorlon Heavy Cruiser but has to wait for a minute before firing again.

*** "Reverse-engineering" might actually be a misnomer in this case, as we repeatedly see that in the engine core of Earth starships are crystals and in battle it's often mentioned that they are "switching" to another set of weapons. This implies that Earth ships are really made from just a mash-up of technology from various races, with certain systems remaining unchanged from their baseline models and the SGC simply rigged up some kind of universal interface to link them together.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' has Humanity surviving against near-impossible odds against the ScaryDogmaticAliens 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 AlternateUniverse where [[AllTheMyriadWays the good guys lose]].

* A recurring theme across the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels is that, white [[TheFairFolk 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.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* It's not overly arrogant to make this claim about humans compared to other species on Earth (at least compared to most other complex animals). We have the unique GameBreaker combination of sapience, dexterity, and language that's allowed us to invent ways to overcome our weaknesses in many other areas, while also making us extremely versatile.
** Perhaps one could also consider size as an advantage, as an ant colony (as a collective) seems to share both the above traits and a society VERY similar to that of humans, even going so far as organised warfare and slavery. But they are simply too small to have a lasting planetary impact.
* 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 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_hunting chasing an animal for a couple of hours until it finally collapses from overheating or lack of energy]].
* One of the arguments about Humans VS Nature, is thus: Humans don't adapt to suit the environment. Humans adapt the environment to suit us.
** Thats why its believable that one day humans could colonize even distant, hostile places like Mars and beyond. Any other animal, not so much.
* This is what we all think.
** At least on an individual level.
* Humans are also among the very few species with both binocular vision and strong manipulating limbs, enabling us to throw things. Other than a few of our close relatives, nothing else on Earth can do that.
** Except a squid or an octopus, maybe.
** To be clear, humans can throw ''effectively'' and indeed use thrown items as weapons. Other primates are quite capable of throwing things, they're just pretty inept at it. Some species have a charming habit of throwing their faeces, for example.
* Plus, when you consider the range of life on Earth, we're actually at the upper end of the size scale. Sure, whales and bears and elephants are bigger -- but they make up a tiny proportion of the planet's species.
* Humans are the apex predator on planet Earth. Not bad for an omnivore eh?
** Not only that, but we're one of the few creatures that can get away with hunting, killing, and even eating ''other'' apex predators. And that's despite the fact that our bodies are not really designed for predation given that our mouths make rather poor weapons by comparison.
*** Shark fin soup anyone?
** One human special ability appears to be one of endurance. Humans can sustain a steady pace for a long time, and are pretty efficient at radiating away the excess heat this generates... it has been theorised that early hominids could chase prey down until it died from exhaustion. Compare with species that must pant for example... they can't run ''and'' cool themselves effectively at the same time, and so will ultimately lose in a long distance race with humans.
* While all animals are capable of learning, no animal can match our ability to apply what we learn: mountain goats know the difference between round rocks and flat ones, but apart from knowing that [[TooDumbToLive jumping on a round rock is a good way to break your neck]], [[AliensNeverInventedTheWheel they haven't applied that knowledge into anything that can provide them a benefit]]. [[CoolCar We have]].
* How many animals are terrified of their own strength? Humans routinely wipe out entire species entirely by accident, and create environmental shifts as an unintended byproduct of manufacturing.
* In addition to our intelligence and learning, we're good all-rounders physically. There are plenty of other species that outperform us running, swimming or climbing. All three? Not so much.
[[/folder]]

** The Turians considered the Human Alliance as strong as they were despite a smaller fleet with less dreadnoughts. This is due to the fact how ''organized'' the Alliance is, even if their fleet is smaller, they can drop out a larger fleet than the one attacking them, destroy it, then jump back and lure their enemies into a pincer attack with far more ease. Not only that, the majority of people in the Human Alliance don't even serve in the Navy or have left Earth-and its been called the 'SleepingGiant' several times during the setting. Not only that [[spoiler: in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', they are, despite being invaded first by the Reapers, the only race ''still capable of fighting them'' even while their homeworld burns. Thessia, the Asari homeworld had fallen completely with zero resistance left to offer, the Turian homeworld is constantly locked in a siege which can't help the other worlds, and the Salarians...they really don't have a military CAPABLE of repelling the Reapers since they've devoted most of their time to BlackOps.]]

* ''{{X-COM}}'' in the titular series of games goes from a clandestine U.N.-backed organization (''UFO Defense'') to a self-sufficient paramilitary entity dedicated to preserving Earth's interests in space (''Interceptor'' and ''Apocalypse'') thanks to a tenacious penchant for reverse-engineering alien technology. Organizations outside X-COM, however, exhibit some HumansAreTheRealMonsters with their wanton discrimination against androids and [[HalfHumanHybrid alien-human hybrids]].
** SpiritualSuccessor series ''UFOAfterBlank'' has humanity recovering from being almost completely wiped out to successfully scaring the beejesus out of a superior alien species (in the first game), successfully destroying not one, but ''two'' alien invasion forces (in the second game), and successfully {{terraform}}ing Mars, despite the attempted intervention of ''four'' separate alien species (in the third game). HumanityIsSuperior almost taken to the extreme, if you exclude the fact that more of the principal characters are driven by desperation rather than heroics.
** The Firaxis [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown remake]] reveals that [[spoiler:the Etherials want to turn humans into SuperSoldiers to face an even greater enemy. All the enemies you fight are their previous, failed, attempts at marrying physical strength, cybernetics, intelligence, and [[PsychicPowers the Gift]]. Unfortunately for them, their plan [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]], provided you complete the game and destroy TheMothership]].

* It's not overly arrogant to make this claim about humans compared to other species on Earth (at least compared to most other complex animals). We have the unique GameBreaker 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.

* Perhaps most importantly, which species was it that [[spoiler: created ''{{Firefly}}'']]?

* Played with in ''MassEffect'': humanity's sudden rise to power has been unprecedented, as they're new to the galactic stage (having only discovered the technology everyone uses 30 years ago) yet have become more powerful economically, militarily, and population-wise than several pre-established powers like the batarians and hanar. They've also introduced several technological advances of their own to the galactic community, like space aircraft carriers and medigel. However, humanity is still MUCH weaker than the most powerful races in the galaxy: the turians, asari, and salarians.

** Actually, the Turians considered the Human Alliance as strong as they were despite a smaller fleet with less dreadnoughts. This is due to the fact how ''organized'' the Alliance is, even if their fleet is smaller, they can drop out a larger fleet than the one attacking them, destroy it, then jump back and lure their enemies into a pincer attack with far more ease. Not only that, the majority of people in the Human Alliance don't even serve in the Navy or have left Earth-and its been called the 'SleepingGiant' several times during the setting. Not only that [[spoiler: in MassEffect3, they are, despite being invaded first by the Reapers, the only race ''still capable of fighting them'' even while their homeworld burns. Thessia, the Asari homeworld had fallen completely with zero resistance left to offer, the Turian homeworld is constantly locked in a siege which can't help the other worlds, and the Salarians...they really don't have a military CAPABLE of repelling the Reapers since they've devoted most of their time to BlackOps.]]

** The Firaxis [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown remake]] reveals that [[spoiler:the Etherials want to turn humans into SuperSoldiers to face an even greater enemy. All the enemies you fight are their previous, failed, attempts at marrying physical strength, cybernetics, intelligence, and [[PsychicPowers the Gift]]. Unfortunately for them, their plan [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]]]].

** The Firaxis [[XCOMEnemyUnknown remake]] reveals that [[spoiler:the Etherials want to turn humans into SuperSoldiers to face an even greater enemy. All the enemies you fight are their previous, failed, attempts at marrying physical strength, cybernetics, intelligence, and [[PsychicPowers the Gift]]. Unfortunately for them, their plan [[GoneHorriblyRight works too well]]]].

** Perhaps one could also consider size as an advantage, as an ant colony (as a collective) seems to share both the above traits and a society VERY similar to that of humans, even going so far as organised warfare and slavery. But they are simply to small to have a lasting planetary impact.