Okay. As you're all probably aware, in anything that involves aliens everyone usually has a 'hat' with humanity either being hatless or given one which doesn't suit us at all. Mostly though we're hatless. So I was wondering if a) there was any sci-fi out there where we had a hat that was actually believable, and/or b) we could come up with some possibilities (try to avoid HFY, I know it's hard but please try). In the case of the latter, for the sake of keeping things simple lets assume a standard space-opera type setting with the usual types of races that tend to populate such settings.
We become crazy in large groups. One person=smart. Ten people=smarter. Hundred people=Paranoid, panicky animals.
Hmmm...so...the less humans there are the higher our intelligence is as a species? That.Explains.Everything.
Music. Can be emotionally manipulated by patterns of sound. Sense of humour. Inexplicably pleased by incongruities. Narrative. Have a strange compulsion to try to fit events into certain frameworks even when contrary to reality; enjoy subjecting themselves to blatant and implausible falsehoods. Logically, aliens that do their research on us will conduct all their diplomacy via comedy musicals.
I'm throwing money at the screen but nothing is happening! I think a pretty common one is that we're just smart enough to be dangerous. If we were any dumber, we couldn't do whatever, and if we were any smarter, we'd have the sense to not try. Gah, that came out terrible, but I think I got the point across, right?
The existence of gangs would imply that it tops out at much lower numbers. Personally, most of the dumb crap I've seen people do is done when in company of 5 or 6.
Does 'prone to rapid advancement' count as HFY? I'm always a fan of the idea that humanity's ability to go from the first manned flight ever to putting a man on the moon in under a century is something unique and special to humanity.
.....So being rich and educated correlates to wisdom? I mean, sure, when you are those things the stupid crap that you do isn't bound to be downright criminal , but really?
Not to mention whether or not alcohol or other intoxicants are involved. I've seen drunk people do some really stupid things in my time, not to mention the time the girls who lived in the flat next to mine at uni went at each other like a bunch of alley cats (waking up most of the people in my flat in the process) over a minor incident involving a mobile phone when coming back from a night on the town. I wouldn't say that that was HFY since it's kind of true. Plus, no matter how you look at it going from a few feet at Kitty Hawk to men on the moon in under seventy years is rather impressive.
The Damned Trilogy by Alan Dean Foster - Humanity's Hat is that we're the best warriors around. Star Trek - We're PERFECT which many fans think undercuts the whole IDIC ideology of Trek. Babylon 5 - Humanity are cultural gluons; we can get radically difference races and cultures to work together for a common goal. Star Wars - Humans are numerous and outnumber every other species to the point that the Empire AND the Rebellion are 90% humans or better. Farscape - Sebaceans are genetically engineered humans. Their hat is being militarily dominant. The actual humans are primitive, but this has at times been an advantage for the human protagonist. Stargate - Again. Humans are more numerous than pretty much any other species.
rapid tech advancement has only happened in the last century or so. Not an inherent human trait as much as an organisational issue. Otherwise, places like the middle east, Africa and South America would be keeping up with the US, Europe or Japan.
The Quintara Marathon: Humanity while presently subjugated are easily the fastest breeding sentient species, and are expected to eventually dominate the galaxy by sheer numbers. Letter To a Phoenix: Humanity is the only species which is insane enough to destroy its civilization in war, and is therefore the only immortal species. Other sapient species grow, become powerful, then decay and fall into extinction; humanity always blasts itself into primitivism then rebuilds from nothing. The Warm Space: Humans, in a society full of uploads and AIs with liquid helium cooled cryogenic brains are the only subgroup of Terrans who can safely travel hyperspace due to it being too hot to effectively refrigerate the coolants the machines need for their brains. The Bully and the Crazy Boy: Humans are irrational, willing to do things like suicide attacks, or surrender a space station then blow it up once the occupation troops arrive. The Brain Wave: Humans have evolved in a region filled with an effect that suppresses the efficiency of the functions of the brain; when Earth leaves that region humanity becomes by far the most intelligent species in the galaxy as the intelligence of everything on Earth shoots upwards. Other species have just reached our level and never evolved further intelligence any more than we have.
well, there is the "humans advance crazy fast", which is more "humans are upstarts / new kids on the block" which ties into "humans are good underdogs" and all that jazz. but... i think that might be it. one mad scientist goes out and changes the world (Tesla is a decent example). all the other hats "crazy fast" "crazy warriors" "crazy team-builders" and all go back to one thing: Humans are crazy.
Actually, I am pretty sure war and conflict fuels technological inovation as much as anything else does. If anything, the technological stagnation point would be far back when the Song collapsed or the Dark Ages.
NASA invents stuff just fine. They aren't military. The only reason it seems like that is because people will actually agree to spend money on military more than pure science because most people are dumbfucks.
