The consistent misuse of sentient on this page really bothers me. A cow is sentient, a goldfish is sentient. Human like awareness is sapience
I'm thinking that we should expand this to be more than just a sci fi trope. More and more gritty, dark fantasy series like The Black Company and The First Law are exploring an analogous experience of fantasy worlds where humans are the only sentient species. A Song of Ice and Fire/A Game of Thrones arguably even counts, since the Others appear to be undead.
Hide / Show RepliesThat seems more like a different trope to me. Might want to take it to YKTTW.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanIf I recall, Star Trek had an explanation for this. The other species of the galaxy were waiting for mankind to pass a sort of rite of passage, inventing warp technology. This could work as a Hand Wave In-Universe for mankind's isolation.
The "Subversions, aversions and inversions" section is confusing. Firstly, aversions aren't notable, and the few listed appear to be "this work starts off with aliens not existing, but then it turns out they do", which is closer to a subversion. Which is better than listing every work with aliens as an aversion. Secondly, "inversion" seems to mean "this work is set on an alien planet with no human contact" which I'm not sure is right, any more than a work set on Earth or local space with no mention of aliens either way is the trope. An inversion would be if alien explorers found no evidence we ever existed (and were looking in the right place).