Its Funny How Science Fiction Universes So Often Treat Humans As A Boring, Default Everyman Species Or

It’s funny how science fiction universes so often treat humans as a boring, default everyman species or even the weakest and dumbest.

I want to see a sci fi universe where we’re actually considered one of the more hideous and terrifying species.

How do we know our saliva and skin oils wouldn’t be ultra-corrosive to most other sapient races? What if we actually have the strongest vocal chords and can paralyze or kill the inhabitants of other worlds just by screaming at them? What if most sentient life in the universe turns out to be vegetable-like and lives in fear of us rare “animal” races who can move so quickly and chew shit up with our teeth?

Like that old story “they’re made of meat,” only we’re scarier.

The paradox of tolerance is only a paradox if you think of tolerance as some sacred and unconditional moral duty. Some ultimate and absolute law with no exceptions, and if you ever slip into the sin of intolerance, you must repent yourself and beg for forgiveness. Yeah no fuck that. Tolerance is a social contract. You're in the game as an equal player for as long as you play by the same rules as everyone else, and if you don't, your ass is fucking out. You're not entitled to the same respect you won't give others.

"Oh so you all tolerate each other just because you tolerate each other, but if I want to destroy you, then all of a sudden you want to destroy me?" Literally yes. That's the gist of it. What's not clicking. This equation is so simple it barely counts as math.

This is about Amena applying to PUOMANT while ART becomes suspiciously (annoyingly) invested in construct education. Three gets its first solo mission. MB does *not* get to enjoy its serial in peace.

i had three fic ideas.  wrote one.  i still have three fic ideas.  this is not how math is supposed to work.

“Learning to be a Person”

Excellent take. There’s some crossover here with Wayfarers (Becky Chambers).

to the extent that becoming an adult is a kind of “learning to be a person” this is exactly what MB is doing in a very literal sense. As with the Aandrisk expression for coming of age, translated: “learning to be a person” MB’s task is not so much to turn into something it wasn’t before but to learn how to interact with others and itself on those unfamiliar terms, and to do so largely outside of a space that will leave room for it to do so slowly or safely.

for both MB and the Aandrisks - and in contrast to the incremental trial and error humans try to allow for adolescents - becoming its own independent person is a bit like trying to get on a merry-go-round spinning as fast as the other kids can turn it.

at least on Hashkath you’ve got a hatch family to provide a soft landing. In the CR though, MB’s facing the most gruesome of mulch-eating wipeouts if that jump misses.

Good thing it’s sturdy.

The Murderbot Diaries could be read as the coming-of-age story of a late teen/young adult.

(Spoilers for basically the entire Murderbot series)

-At the end of the first book, Murderbot strikes out on its own for the first time.

-It adapts to its new, wider world, tries out a few jobs, and learns about itself in the process.

-Eventually, it sees something that reminds it of its family and starts to miss them.

-It returns home, having learned a lot along the way.

-It experiences a family crisis that puts a new burden of responsibility on it.

-It begins its formal career, this time with help from friends and family.

-It meets someone and they decide to move in together, but Murderbot knows it can always visit its family.

A journey much like the one many of us experience in life. Maybe this is part of what makes Murderbot such a sympathetic character.

My early adulthood would have gone so much more smoothly if I had understood earlier that I was perceiving interactions this way while they were perceiving a literal different reality from my own in which they were requesting validation and received violence.

Allistic: Be honest!!

Me: *is honest*

Allistic: >:O