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Why Is Humanity Dominant?

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Why Is Humanity Dominant?

Dr. Victor Banderas,
Department Chair, College of Xenoscience, University of Brundisium

As a xenobiologist, one of the most common questions I'm asked is the question of human dominance. It pleases me that people are willing to ask such a question instead of ingesting human supremacist talking points straight from a Big Three propaganda broadcast. It shows an interest in other sapient species that is sadly not present among the vast majority of humankind.

Several factors have contributed to overwhelming human superiority in the Milky Way. None of them involve any ethical, moral, supernatural or genetic superiority on the part of mankind. Sapient aliens have the roughly cognitive capabilities of humans, if expressed in a variety of unique ways that are, well, alien. Species such as the cerafi, gusano, cannck and strigoi have all developed faster-than-light travel independently of mankind. Aliens have provided humanity with new technologies and many improvements to preexisting technology. In some cases, aliens are more advanced than human civilization. Gusano and ilya'novrodon tabulator technology is much more advanced than their human counterparts and many cerafi energy weapons are coveted by smaller human organizations.

So how did humanity become so dominant? While thousands of different factors have contributed to this, it can be explained with one word: luck. Humanity was fortunate enough to arise at the perfect time and place to put it in the position of galactic dominance. One of the key factors was time. Human civilization is one of the oldest in the galaxy, so naturally humanity has had more time to develop. This has put us far ahead of quick-developing species such as the sicurrids and our advantage is great enough that we can maintain it for the foreseeable future. Humanity is also fortunate that the Collapse occurred as it did: after the creation of interstellar empires. Many alien species, both older and younger than humanity, have impeded their progress through warfare and were unable to climb back to pre-war levels before their discovery.

This advantage extends to the physical traits of Earth itself. All of the dominant species of the galaxy are “terrestrial,” meaning that they evolved on continental landmasses and not within atmospheres or oceans. This allowed them to master metallurgy and mine for radioactive materials much more easily, a feat almost impossible for fluidic species such as the seabrides and the medusa. Metallurgy is a necessity for spacefaring and the creation of industrial society that can compete with humanity’s.

Lastly, humanity’s history of constant warfare has aided its advance. The geography of Earth is such that large states can form, but enough natural barriers, such as oceans, deserts and mountains, prevent these states from uniting early. Constant war between human states put an enormous strain on technological development: if one state gained the advantage, its neighbors must either match or outmatch it. An example of this is in effect can be seen in the vokicid. The vokicid were united early in their history because their homeworld’s geography was the “inverse” of Earth’s: large inland oceans on a dry world as opposed to continents and islands on a global ocean. Vokicid civilization stagnated as a result, and while the first vokicid empires arose only a few centuries after their human counterparts they still had not developed faster-than-light travel when they were discovered in 2685.

Human dominance is the result of the toss of the cosmic dice. Luck is the only true factor there is, contrary to the claims of human supremacists all over the galaxy. And there is no evidence to say that humanity is indeed the most advanced species in the Milky Way; a growing field in the xenosciences is that of detecting advanced alien species which have managed to successfully hide from humanity. Even if humanity is dominant, the Milky Way shares the universe with billions of other galaxies, each of which could be housing alien civilizations far beyond our understanding. To completely dismiss alien development is arrogant and ignorant. Human supremacy has no place in academia, or indeed the galaxy.
Originally posted January 25th, 2012. I like human-dominated science fiction. It allows me to write familiar and relatable characters and societies, and lets me to keep my aliens, well, alien. 
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