# Humans are Terrifying



## Devor (Aug 24, 2013)

I saw this on Facebook.

People are just scary.  Some language.

I found this tumblr gold and had to share it.


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## Ghost (Aug 24, 2013)

Very cool, Devor. It sets my mind whirring with ideas and offshoots.

Now I feel like a badass, even though I'm sitting at my computer desk in my suburban home and the last time I took a risk is when I decided to take expired ibuprofen.


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## Sia (Aug 24, 2013)

On the gross nte, we will eat anything.  Including hen menstruations (what eggs are), we deliberately rot milk and then eat it (cheese, cream, yoghurt), we also intentionally let fruit juice rot before consuming it (Cider, Perry). As for horror, how about being child-eaters? Wasp larvae is a delicacy in some places... how horrified must the adult wasps be? 

Heck, just go read this: Fridge/Humans Are Cthulhu - Television Tropes & Idioms


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## Guy (Aug 24, 2013)

Great link! I got a good laugh out of it, but it's something that's crossed my mind. I had an idea for a story in which demonic possession of humans is very rare simply because the demons fear us. I never looked at it in the detail this guy did, but I've noticed that, despite the fact that lots of other critters have us outclassed in strength, speed and natural weapons, we're the dominant species while many of them are endangered (not to mention extinct). Teeth and claws? Thanks to our ability to work metals, we have an endless variety of those at our disposal. And the loss of one generally doesn't result in getting a body part ripped off. Of course, who needs claws and fangs when you've got a .458 Winchester Magnum? 

Venom? again, we have an endless variety at our disposal. Threat display? Hell with that, we got fire. Not only did we figure out a way to build massive nests (cities) we figured out a way to instantly annihilate them with a single push of a button. 

I've suspected for some time now that if there's intelligent life in the universe it's deliberately avoiding us. Their galactic maps have a picture of our solar system with a giant red slash across Earth and they avoid us the way we avoid the bad sections of town. I even have a plan if they ever abduct me, and that's to go absolutely bat**** berserk and slaughter the crew. I mean, look at those scrawny necks. I'm pretty sure I could literally rip a grey's head off. It would be like Alien except the alien would be a bipedal talking ape.

"That which does not kill us will get stabbed in its mother ****ing sleep."
That is hilarious! I so want a T shirt that says this!


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## Nihal (Aug 24, 2013)

I believe this tumblr post was based on the "Humans are Cthulhu" posted by Sia. Some particular ideas pop up in both texts, but less elaborated and more out of the blue on this tumblr.

Anyway, it's an entertaining reading. In only disagree on the POV described for dogs, cats and animals living in urban environments at the TV Tropes. They have no way to know these environments are "unnatural", they're born and raised in it, it would look more like we're the masters of this particular habitat of the world and that's all.

Heh, and my favourite part of the tumblr post chain: "OH GOD THE HUMANS FIGURED OUT DOOR HANDLES OH GOD OH GOD"


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## Queshire (Aug 25, 2013)

Yes! YEEEEEES!!!!! I love this! Humans are ****ing awesome! You know everything that they mentioned on there? Thanks to technology we've jumped LIGHT YEARS ahead of all that!

On a more serious note, let's try a thought experiment. How would you guys use this type of stuff in a story? One of the big things they mentioned was how humans are evolved from pursuit predators. I don't know enough about all that, but it makes me think about having Elves evolve from like birds with brittle bones, a lot lighter than you'd expect, and so on, while having dwarves evolve from some burrowing animal like maybe the naked mole rats.


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## Nihal (Aug 25, 2013)

Heeey, elves likes tree and stuff, being tall and slim is a nice adaptation to forests. Now, being short requires less digging to create new tunnels. =P

Jokes apart I have my own race initially inspired on huldras (still trying to decide about tails...). Between their adaptations they have ridiculous long ears (elves?), slightly movable (like some humans can do) and with a fluffy layer of fur covering its outer edge, resulting not only in a better hearing–in the sense of frequencies–but the ability to perceive vibrations very well. Sounds play a bigger role in their lives than on ours. They have a _sort of_ retractable claws, fur on their back and stuff. Oh, and like humans they're pursuit predators, but with claws and sharper teeth.

However, they don't have big cities, their reproduction rate is lower and while they hold crafting in high regard (it's harder to do manual labor with claws) their technological advances are greener for their survival as a species is deeply linked to still having a forest. They take pride in having "beast" characteristics when compared to the puny, fur-less humans. And... wait for it... they don't write. All the knowledge is passed orally, it's a cultural thing.


To define their point of view I started as if they were humans, but with a different set of skills and necessities. They still like to create and transform things, including their environment, but in a different way, otherwise the side effects would quickly take its tow on them. Most humans do stupid stuff because "it will never happen with them", can it be a disease that would manifest itself only many years later or destroying the environment, that would strongly affect only the next generations.

They're not perfect, being still egotistical and full of prejudices as humans are, also doing their own stupid things.


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## Sia (Aug 25, 2013)

Or hey, how about our breeding experiments on wolves? Stopped certain wolves from growing up completely.  Oh look, those wolves are useless now, right? Wrong. They're used for hunting, rescues, guarding livestock,  helping the infirm and all manner of things. Canis Lupis Familiaris.  That's a dog, for those of you who are stuck.


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## SagaciousFool (Aug 25, 2013)

^Excellent point.

I was thinking that humans are the best species to plan any sort of series around because of our capacity for evil. Not not to say that all humans are evil just that fact that there are evil traits within human nature that makes us so easy to get corrupted by power. On top of that there is capacity for doing good too, makes us an interesting group.

 I think it is a bit lame in fantasy stories where all of a species is good and another species is completely evil. It shouldn't be so homogeneous. Good and evil exist in the hearts of everyone imo.


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## Saigonnus (Aug 25, 2013)

SagaciousFool said:


> I was thinking that humans are the best species to plan any sort of series around because of our capacity for evil. Not not to say that all humans are evil just that fact that there are evil traits within human nature that makes us so easy to get corrupted by power. On top of that there is capacity for doing good too, makes us an interesting group.
> 
> I think it is a bit lame in fantasy stories where all of a species is good and another species is completely evil. It shouldn't be so homogeneous. Good and evil exist in the hearts of everyone imo.



I think using Humans is simply the easiest choice of all the races to work with. Since I am one, I automatically have the human POV as it were when writing, so I can easily figure out how a human in the story would react to a given stimulus or situation. Another demi-human race like Orc probably has different motivations and circumstances so would probably think a bit differently compared to a human faced with the same stimulus. You have to work harder and flesh out the race more completely than you do for humans since we have 4 million years of history to exploit for solutions to problems.    


As to your latter thought, I agree with how elves (with the exception of drow) are mostly portrayed as being "good" and goblins, orcs etc... are "evil". I believe that for "realism" there should be a measure of duality in all of those races and how they are portrayed within the story. Think about a fairly typical portrayal of goblins, a tribal sort living in the remote and harsh wilderness, are they truly evil if they raid villages and settlements for food? Depends on the reason I would think.

Humans would probably think so based solely on the actions of them attacking them, but what about the goblin's POV? Humans (like they have tended to do even in the real world), force them into a disadvantageous position, exterminate them, force them into lands that aren't conducive to growing crops and in general making their lives next to impossible because they can't "take the chance" that the Goblins could overtake their own importance in the grand scheme of things. I would call humans the more evil in that context and would sympathize with the poor abused Goblins who have no choice but to do what they can to feed their family.


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## SagaciousFool (Aug 26, 2013)

I have never thought of it like that. It would interesting to examine the personal psychology of an elf that can live for thousands of years versus an orc that would very uncommon for it to make it to 60. 

The elf might have an increased fear of dying and it would take them longer to recover from the death of someone close because they don't deal with it often. An elf community might avoid conflict at any cost if because of this death anxiety, so I imagine they wouldn't be skilled warriors. At the same time though there sense of community would be very strong because of the long-term relationships they develop. Their religion might be more egocentic focusing on the idea of immortality.

The orc, on the other hand might deal with natural and unnatural death everyday, so they would be less afraid and mystified by it. Death would be treated with respect but it wouldn't be an affair of great mourning. An orc mother might become less attached to her children because of the high infant mortality rate. An orc community might value the impact and reputation one leads behind more than the relationships that they build. Orc religion would be closer to nature believing that in death all orcs return to the same source to be reincarnated into as new orcs or animals perhaps.

It is fun to speculate.


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## Sia (Aug 26, 2013)

Anyone else feel like they're a member of a race who  are ... well.... bastards... yet?


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## Nihal (Aug 26, 2013)

SagaciousFool said:


> The elf might have an increased fear of dying and it would take them longer to recover from the death of someone close because they don't deal with it often. An elf community might avoid conflict at any cost if because of this death anxiety, so I imagine they wouldn't be skilled warriors. At the same time though there sense of community would be very strong because of the long-term relationships they develop. Their religion might be more egocentic focusing on the idea of immortality..



I don't think so. Having a long lifespan means you have higher chances to die due other causes than old age, also, it doesn't eliminate external threats. In a world ravaged by war—what most fantasy worlds are, based on our own wars—one defenseless community of nature-lovers who don't die and monopolize certain resources and areas would be an easy prey to stronger communities, which would be, basically, everyone else.


@Sia Didn't you know it already? =P


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## Saigonnus (Aug 26, 2013)

SagaciousFool said:


> I have never thought of it like that. It would interesting to examine the personal psychology of an elf that can live for thousands of years versus an orc that would very uncommon for it to make it to 60.



This really depends on how you envision Elves and Orcs in your story, why be Tolkienesque and make the former immortal when you could give them a lifespan only double that of the regular human? Or even have the same lifespan? Why couldn't Orcs or Goblins be a longer lived race? I would think whatever the case may be; and depending on their societal structure, they'd have reactions from being LESS worried about dying of natural causes and worried the same as anyone else about the other causes of death... to not caring much at all (if for example death is treated like the ultimate ending, like with the Klingons) about any form of death, it simply happens.


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## Sia (Aug 26, 2013)

^ Just not something I consciously think about most of the time, is all.


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## JamesTFHS (Aug 31, 2013)

that was awesome


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## Nameback (Sep 1, 2013)

Sia said:


> On the gross nte, we will eat anything.  Including hen menstruations (what eggs are), we deliberately rot milk and then eat it (cheese, cream, yoghurt), we also intentionally let fruit juice rot before consuming it (Cider, Perry). As for horror, how about being child-eaters? Wasp larvae is a delicacy in some places... how horrified must the adult wasps be?
> 
> Heck, just go read this: Fridge/Humans Are Cthulhu - Television Tropes & Idioms



The TVTropeness of that article makes it completely unreadable to me.


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## Saigonnus (Sep 1, 2013)

To get back to the topic. Humans ARE examples of the best and worst aspects of life in general. We have waged war on people for resources, religion, politics, territory and using some of the worst things ever created or found in nature to bring about death and destruction on a level that is barely comprehensible. We have brought about the extinction of other humanoid life forms (a long time in the past) and dozens if not hundreds or thousands of animal species. Cultures have risen and fallen in the fires of industry and combat and we have oppressed our own kind for little to no reason. All of these things are how the typical "Orc" or "Goblin" is portrayed, so in a sense we ARE Orcs or Goblins.   

On the plus side is our ingenuity and creativity. We look at a given thing/place and if we don't have a use for it NOW, we think of things it could be used for and make it happen. Unfortunately as a side effect to this we often think first about it's application as a weapon THEN consider what sort of civilian application it might have.


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## Abbas-Al-Morim (Sep 7, 2013)

Elves are basically an abstraction of all the good qualities of men, while Orcs are an abstraction of human evil.


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