I like the idea of humans not being the only species with a need to unecessarily bond and form ‘packs’ and whatnot, or the only species to enjoy putting themselves in danger for the adrenaline rush, or the only species to recreationally poison themselves, or even the only species to have parties.
You know what I love, though?
Crowd psychology and the concept of group flow.
I love the idea that humans are the species that is in love with group flow. Sure, any alien can listen to music and enjoy it, maybe even go to concerts in large groups. But humans are the only non-telepathic species where going in a large group enhances the experience simply because you know that dozens or hundreds or even thousands of other people are all getting in the zone with you at the same time for the same reason. Any alien can go to a concert, but they marvel at the sight of hundreds of humans singing along to their favorite artist not because it makes the song objectively better, but because it enhances the experience.
I love the idea of aliens trying to figure out mob psychology, looking at sports fandoms and the riots that happen if a team fails to win a game, and asking themselves and other humans how it gets to that point. Because they can put the same human in front of the same game and get two entirely different results based on whether the human is alone or not. A lone human may break a bottle or curse, but they will likely not do more than that, unless they go online to rant. A human in a group that feels the same way can do much more damage.
I love the idea of aliens trying to figure out the aspect of performative grief for dead celebrities, not understanding that it is not only practice for when a death comes closer to home, but that it is a form of bonding, a call and an echo of “I feel this way too. This person mattered to me too,” across thousands or millions of people’s screens and faces and pens.
I love the idea of aliens taking a look at frat parties and nightclubs and karaoke and being so confused, because they can understand that intoxication might be fun, sometimes, or that singing or dancing with strangers can be fun, but the sheer chaos of an out-of-control college party is terrifying to them. There is nothing here that people will enjoy come the morning, but somehow that doesn’t matter, because in that moment, with those people, the humans are connecting as they sing their drunken songs or eat their terrible food or dance the night away. There is a sense of belonging even in this awful mess, for those who know how to find it.
I love the idea of aliens looking at conventions and wondering how it is that there is such a difference in a person wearing a costume in the privacy of their home and wearing it to a large con, how the endorphin levels soar even when the human is not receiving compliments, just because the convention is an echo chamber of “I love this show, this character, this franchise, this life.”
I love the idea of aliens coming to earth and understanding the meaning of bonds and enjoying music and knowing fiction and surviving our weather and planets and everything and still not being able to understand how a room full of strangers with no telepathy can feel so connected and in-tune simply by sharing an experience. The feelings aren’t always positive ones, but they are there, and there is a comfort in sharing them with endless people you’ve never met.
Anyway, that’s my contribution for Space Australia.
Humans would be cute in space. I mean, lets say we’re the new guys to space travel. Sure we can go to the moon but I’m talking leaving our galaxy to go explore type of shit. We’re the space babies so every other space species sees us as bumbling children. Our eyes reflect the stars that we see in awe. Its cute. We basically turn into mini Markipliers. “Its so cool”
So they incorporate us as much as they can. They want the space babies to learn what they can about space. And how can you deny something that gets so excited just to see an asteroid right out the window? We collect meteor fragments for Christ’s sake!
They stop seeing us as babies and more as angry children though after a certain incident. There’s a planet that they see. Hector 6.
“Ooh lets go land on that one! It’s a pretty purple!” The human says with their face pressed against the glass of the window.
“We can’t.” The captain responds.
“Why not?”
“The people there are incredibly hostile due to a hostile environment. The creatures are scarier than they are.”
This is where a human’s curiosity becomes so overwhelming, their ‘fuck it’ sense comes into play. Somehow they land on the planet anyway. The group of humans try to go explore but are stopped repeatedly. But like any child, they find a way. The aliens onboard are freaking out cause 'where are they? They’re gonna get killed!’ Only for the humans to return with trophies from the planet. When questioned about it, they just respond nonchalantly. “They weren’t that bad” or “I’ve seen tougher.” Their curiosity was so grand that they fucked up any creature that tried to stop them. That’s when the aliens stop seeing is as helpless babies and more as children with anger issues. We like to fuck things up.
In 500 years NASA could be a travel company
You set off explosives. Recreationally. Somehow I lack the capability to be surprised by you anymore.
Alien: Despite this being a Level 27-F deathworld, I have had a pleasant time here. Thank you for your persistent invites, Human-Dave. However, I am concerned. There are packs of humans gathering here at this large body of water, but isn’t it time for their circadian rhythms to knock them unconscious?
Dave: *unfolding two chairs* Yeah… But all the alcohol will do the same job soon enough. *reaches into a cooler and takes a beer out as he sits down*
Alien: Um… Are those humans over there supposed to have access to those missiles? They’re not in any uniforms; in fact, they lack the usual amount of clothing humans tend to wear.
Dave: Fireworks, man.
Alien: *as soon as they hear “fire”* Excuse me?
C r a c k l e
C r a c k l e
C r a c k l e
*everyone at the lake begins drunkenly bellowing and chanting “USA” in disturbing unison, and someone falls off the back of a truck*
Alien: So, this is how I die.
Quite a few have been saying:”But what about laughing?”, in the comments of my ‘Weird Human Reactions to Fear: the Singing Edition’ post. My question is: do you know why humans laugh when shit gets real?
Laughter is our brain’s Blue Screen of Death.
Where a computer would throw up an error and possibly crash, our brains go:”well, shit”, and hit the big red button labelled: ‘LAUGHTER (and possibly applause, but probably not applause)’. Since we need our brains 24/7, we don’t have the luxury of error messages. So our brains buy some time to figure out what’s going on by making us laugh in the weirdest situations.
Imminent doom? Laugh.
Absolutely livid? Laugh.
Distraught? Laugh.
Pretty sure you’re gonna die? Laugh.
I mean, we can’t be sure the aliens don’t have brains that work the same way, but seeing as other animals on Planet Earth don’t really have that either… that’d probably freak them the fuck out too.
Not only do the gangly bipeds sing when they’re scared, they could just as easily start laughing.
have you ever stop to think that we don’t just synthetize antivenom, but we fucking brew it from the venom itself? like, oh, you got bitten by a rattlesnake? fear not, here, inject a bit more venom which have been scienced to antagonize itself.
and it is not just that- we science venom for medicinal purposes. we take stuff that is uber toxic to us, science a bit with it (well, it takes years and a great effort from our scientists) and TA DAH, here is a brand new uber effective drug against blood clots.
heck, we BREED venomous snake to extract their venom to use for medicinal purpouse!!!
it is the same principles at the base of vaccines - take what’s dangerous and use it to make yourself stronger.
this is the most DeathWorlders thing I can think of. aliens don’t stand a chance.
Are cats considered holy in human culture? I do not understand.
Scene: space, a spacecraft, this mostly Tizrah crew has a few humans
•A bell sounds, signaling the humans aboard that its time for them to eat • The humans, scattered about the ship, make their way to the mess hall • another crew member, tizrah-Sine, takes count of the humans eating • If a human doesn’t come to eat and socialize, ze might be sick • This crew takes care of their human crew mates • Sine doesn’t see human-Harlo • Sine goes off to find Harlo •Harlo is sitting in the lounge •cat-Dubby is sitting on Harlo
S: Harlo, Why is it that you didn’t come to eat when the bell rang? H: I can’t just get up, Dubs is sitting on me S: Do you not have the strength to remove the cat from your lap? H: I could, but it’s just not right S: What do you mean? H: Its not okay to disturb a cat thats lying on you S: … S: … S: The cats peace is more important than food? H: Its fine, Food can wait until Dubs gets up
•Dubby wanders off not long after this conversation •Harlo joins the other humans •The other humans agree with Harlo’s actions •Sine reports this to zir supervisor • A note is made in the ships guide to humans
- A human might not get up when sat upon by a cat. It is not viewed as acceptable to disturb the cat. Humans will still disturb cats in other situations. This situation is somehow special.
4th Dimensional sensitivity? This will cause the Invasion to become far more difficult.
The concept of deja vu. Like it doesn’t happen that often to humans so it’s pretty normal if aliens didn’t know that can happen to a human. Maybe it only happens to humans and aliens misunderstand the entire concept.
One time on an away mission we encountered it first. It was with human-Chloe, our pilot. I and a few others were with her sent to explore an unknown asteroid belt. It was fairly dangerous but we had learned that human instinct, their so called ‘gut feeling’ was quite handy at times. So the captain assigned her with us. I still don’t know how the human gut is involved in their logical thinking, something that to known knowledge happens in their brains, but who knows with that species.
We had mapped the outer rings and were busy with the inner parts of the belt, all went well. Human-Chloe cut some close edges, she calls it efficient manoeuvring, I call it nausiating, but we finished mapping the belt and were ready to fly back. I was watching human-Chloe closely, trying to brace myself for her ‘efficient manoeuvring’ when I noticed her shift uncomfertable in her chair. ‘Is everything okay human-Chloe?’ I asked. She turned around and brushed it off. ‘Oh, just deja vu.’ ‘What is that? Are you alright?’ I asked. Humans are know to be able to brush of major pain when they are busy. I looked outside anxiously. We were flying through a dense astroid field, human-Chloe needed to be in top condition for this and her frowning didn’t reasure me at all.
‘I just feel like I’ve experienced this before.’ Human-Chloe explained. She made a sharp turn, way to sharp if you ask me. ‘It’s nothing to worry about.’ I didn’t dare question her any further, instead held on for dear life as she nearly crashed into some astroids. I never knew humans were sensitive to the fourth dimension. But it would explain why human-Chloe wasn’t worried at all when cutting close edges. If she knew what was going to happend then that would explain why she was such a good pilot. This was great news, fourth dimentional sensitives on our crew! I knew there was more to that ‘gut-feeling’ of theirs.
When we got back I immediately went to update the system on our human knowledge. Weird they never mentioned it before, maybe humans think everyone has that. I can’t wait to ask human-Chloe how their 4D sensitivity works in detail!!
Please invade the earth. You’ll take better care of it than humans.
Is this an order to attack? My team and I are on a scouting mission, we are not prepared for combat. Recent data suggests humans are more dangerous than we previously believed. What is your ranking? Who approved this?
I have become pretty obsessed with Humans are Space Orcs/Space Australia posts, and here’s what popped out of my brain: Disobedience. Humans can be told “Under no circumstances are you allowed to do this”, be threatened with punishment, and STILL DO THE THING! We have a specific phrase for when something we wanted to do has negative consequences: “Worth it” Even more, it’s EXPECTED that children will be disobedient. “Rebellious phase” and all that. Parents will tell their kids “Don’t run on the sidewalk you’ll fall and scrape your knee” and the kids RUN ANYWAY. And they fall and scrape their knee. And then THEY DO IT AGAIN THE NEXT DAY. Sometimes being told not to do something makes us WANT TO DO IT MORE! (Same vein as morbid curiosity, i.e. ‘That’s a bad thing which makes it more exciting’)
Now imagine the aliens trying to deal with it: “Human Clara, I can see you are looking at that rocky cliff. Do not climb it, it is very perilous” “Well, I was just thinking about it, but now…” “Thank you for seeing reason Human Clara… Human Clara? Human Clara get down from there!” “Haha, nope!” *falls* “… Worth it.” “Human Clara there was no gain from this it was not 'worth it’”
Okay, so going off the whole space Australia thing, imagine aliens would think of ACTUAL AUSTRALIA. Humans are batshit insane, we do some crazy shit, but a decent amount of us are shocked by the mere concept of living in Australia. That place is no joke, it’s a death trap of a continent that somehow became a badass country. You don’t fuck with Australia.
Alien: what is a kangaroo?
Human: oh, it’s an animal from Australia. They hop around and the carry their kids in pouches. They may be cute, but don’t get them angry, they can kill you.
The…the human is actually WARNING them of something? The human is AFRAID?
Human: that’s just Australia for you, though. Literally EVERYTHING on that continent can kill you, so I guess it’s not THAT off. Be careful if you ever go to Australia, though. It’s a very dangerous place.
And this all of the aliens avoid Australia at all costs because if the fucking HUMANS are scared then it must be the most dangerous and frightening place ever.
I am not an alien scout looking to learn all I can about humanity before the inevitable invasion.
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