this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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What the title says, I'm tired of the trope where humans are the least advanced in the universe.

I'd like to read something different where we're the more advanced ones (not necessarily the most advanced). As an example I quite enjoyed the Ender's Game sequels and the angle of us being the more advanced ones was quite interesting.

Do you have any recommendations?

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago (10 children)

This is a driving factor in a majority of Star Trek fiction.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Also > Hard to Be a God - by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Anton a man from a future human utopia in undercover mission on an alien planet that is populated by human beings whose society has not advanced beyond the Middle Ages.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (12 children)

Foundation or Dune pop immediately into my mind. Asimov has an interesting view of humanity. As does Herbert. No aliens really in those books though. Honor Harrington series is also about humanity’s dominance in space. Edit thanks saintwacko for the correction lol

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Interestingly, the trend in 1940s SF was for humans to always be superior to aliens; John W. Campbell, the editor for Astounding, particularly liked this view. Asimov hated this trend, so that's why the Foundation series has no aliens in it; as a result he could sell the stories to Campbell without having to write about the inferiority of aliens. It's also why Asimov wrote a lot of three-law robot stories at this time, as he didn't mind writing humans to be superior to robots.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (11 children)

The Bobiverse is a fun read. Highly recommend

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stargate SG-1 has a VERY interesting premise. Humans start from 0 and we see them gradually learning new technology and making alliances (Plus, the original cast is just stellar)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm in the middle of a 5th (or so) rewatch!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Richard Dean Anderson is a national treasure! :D

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Not sure if this is what you are looking for.

Iain M Banks Culture books centre around The Culture a human civ (but not earth humans) who are one of the most advanced civs in a milky way with tens of thousands of sentient races at various level of development.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Project Hail Mary (by Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian as well)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Chiming in to agree with this one.

It's definitely a... Nah, go read it for yourself, there are enough spoilers here already XD

Anyone somehow reading this comment without seeing the thread it's in, go read 'project hail Mary'.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The Culture series, Iain M banks.

Humana are part of the culture (although it is AI dominated) which is considered one of the most advanced groups in the setting.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. Though it is a very militaristic point of view that explores interesting societal topics as well as successes and failures of historical human governments. If you liked the training and world building of Ender’s Game, you might like this one.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Another along those lines is John Scalzi's Old Man's War. Humans are at about the same technological level as the other races in that series.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Star Trek sort of fits this. Sort of.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Farscape (tv show) is a great example of this. Sabacians are basically human cousins that developed outside earth and are nearly identical in appearance and even genetically compatible to humans. They are also one of the most dominant races of the universe and often the antagonists on that show. I loved Farscape.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If memory serves, wasn't it explained that Sabacians were humans with slightly altered DNA? They were altered to be more aggressive and more warrior like? I thought I remember hearing that during my 5rh rewatch. Or was it my 6th or 7th?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, I think you are right. What kills me is that with modern day effects it would be much easier to create a show like this again. It was wild with its creativity in a way that is rare today.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

The Three Body Problem - Humans and aliens engage in a technological arms race for survival. There are times where the humans are a weaker feeble species, but there are also times where humans one up the aliens in ways they couldn't have forseen. It's a great back and forth that puts humanity on a path for stellar exploration and survival all in one moment.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You may enjoy "A Call to Arms" by Alan Dean Foster (The Damned Series)

The short of it, humans are an uncontacted race in the path of an alien empire "The Amplitur" that is co-opting all of the galaxy. So the resistance forces, (aka "The Weave") decide they might as well reach out to us, since having unassimilated allies is now far more important than their first-contact rules.

Foster takes the basic premise that humans are unlike any other animal on earth, and so by that same token unlike any other species in the galaxy. This means our abilities in creativity, adaptation, survival and our predilection for violence (something every other civilized race evolved to avoid at all costs) all become keystones of how The Weave accept us as members of their alliance.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven is exactly what you want

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ender's Game may fit this, but the sequel Speaker for the Dead definitely does. Not to give away too many details, but it's basically about a space anthropologist making second contact with an alien race still confined to its own planet. I'd say the first book has humans and aliens more or less at parity, but in the second the humans are more technologically advanced. Both are more meditations on otherness more than anything.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Umm, Alien?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago
  • Proxima by Stephen Baxter
  • The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter
  • Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I absolutely adore Peter F Hamilton’s Void books in his Commonwealth saga. The earlier books in the commonwealth saga feature a weaker humanity but in the void series humanity is at the top of the food chain.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stagate comes to mind (we're not the LEST advanced, at least) but that's not a book.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Among other things, I find Statgate an interesting exploration of how we might advance by finding and co-opting others’ technology (or being given it in some cases ie the Asgard) rather than developing it organically ourselves.

But one area that’s not explored, sadly, is how that technology would change earth geopolitics. The US Air Force gets to the point of having actual starships but everything is directed outward toward alien enemies. In reality this kind of edge would change our world on the ground too.

If we gain technology through others, we will make big leaps very quickly and that has the potential to be extremely disruptive. I wish they had explored this more. Perhaps a case where earth terrorists get hold of some Asgard tech, or a government hostile to the US makes an alliance with the Ori or something.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. While humans are not the most advanced species in the galaxy, the books deal with the interaction between humans and vastly inferior (but absolutely fascinating) alien races.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The books of The Commonwealth Saga, by Peter F. Hamilton, have humans in the mix. They are neither the most advanced, nor the least, and the balance changes over the course of the books

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I’m as antiReddit as the next person, but r/HFY is exactly that. My favorite from that sub was the series Billy Bob Space Trucker. Highly recommend.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

C J Cherry - Foreigner series. Humans more advanced but only a small community stuck on an alien planet, and may not understand the natives as well as they think (and vice versa )

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Revelation Space series humans are pretty techy. We are Bob also.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think these stories are good. Best part is these are series so if you dig them, there's a longer road to travel.

Old Man's War John Scalzi

Lazarus War Jaime Sawyer

The Lost Fleet Jack Campbell

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A classic: Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh. In it, the planet known to humans as Pell’s World is populated by the gentle, sentient but technologically naive Hisa. The Hisa are exploited by humans as a manual labor force. Some humans decry this exploitation and work to establish a more compassionate, cooperative relationship with the Hisa.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

A lot of the aliens encountered in Rick and Morty are quite dumb. Then again so are most of the humans. It’s a tossup.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How about The Road Not Taken by Harry Turtledove, kind of?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

James Cameron's Avatar comes to mind

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K Le Guin

Humanity sends an envoy to a planet which is in the industrial era

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

HFY fare is a coin toss.

The Jenkinsverse rapidly goes from humans being assumed nonsentient (because our planet is a deathtrap) to cheating our asses off with galactic-standard technology. For example: teleportation is possible, but only between pre-set endpoints, and with a lengthy charge-up. So humans crammed obscenely large capacitors into standard hulls and instantly bip between microsatellites. Our ships have no staying power, but they're absolutely infuriating to fight.

Our main problem is being 99% confined to one vulnerable rock.

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