Comments are of course welcome, but whether you comment or not, think about the questions and explore not only your answers but your reactions to your answers.
Ok, let’s imagine a race of people. They look similar to us; five fingers and five toes and two eyes and one nose (rhyming not intended, but kinda cute in a sickly way). These imaginary people live 500 years on average, and their average IQ hovers around 300. Both males and females of this race are twice as strong as the strongest living human, and they need to sleep only an hour and a half or so each night. Their facility with language borders on Shakespearean, each and every one. They learn calculus at the age of nine. They learn the principles of art in nursery school, and most of them can create art, be it music or painting or sculpture, that puts the greatest of our artists to shame. They view men and women as absolute equals, and nothing is more precious to them than their offspring.
Would you say that these hypothetical people are superior to homo sapiens?
What if I told you these imaginary superbeings were, each and every one of them, criminally insane? Murder isn’t a crime to them; in fact, if you are able to kill someone through stealth or a stand-up fight, you are praised. Mass-murderers are like sports stars to them, and serial murderers are revered artists. What if I told you that the only way these individuals could earn the right to procreate is by raping their chosen mate, male or female as the case may be? What if I said that they saw it as their right and duty to enslave any species that couldn’t fight off their military advances?
Would you consider them superior to us old homo saps?
An adventure is, by nature, a thing that comes to us. It is a thing that chooses us, not a thing that we choose. ~G.K. Chesterton
6 comments:
I will say u are truly a writer..
My comment is that this is life, where the stronger party will always be the winner and this had been the case throughout the centuries..
It may be cruel but if that's the way the culture work, everyone will follow it... And only when someone start to do changes then there may be hope.. Even then, change is not promised as it required a very very long time..
Ok.. i dont know what i am typing already...
No, because this "genius" species has no faculty of emotion, only that of reason.
And proponent of reason that I am, this seemingly improved species of human trades off emotion for something even more primitive: a need to survive.
elyrie: but i'm asking *you* to define superior :) my definition doesn't matter in this case
Isn't it a matter of perspective? They will see us as inferior, expendable.
We will see them as vastly superior, not necessarily based on the stats of their IQs and such but only in the fact that they have the capability to wipe us out, just like that.
Basically replace us on top of the food chain like we did with all the other species on our planet, but in an unnatural way.
Does this have parallels with Battlestar Galactica (2004)? Reading that, made me wonder.
Hi heartbreak. Not specificaly Battlestar Galactica. I've been reading sci-fi since I could read, practically. There are literally dozens, if not hundreds of plots that deal with similar ideas. It's one of the things I love about sci fi, the mind-stretching properties of the best examples of the genre.
Jas- I ARE A WRITER! And so are you, dear.
Screwy- they do have emotion. it's just not emotion as we understand it. They love their children. They feel a sense of reverence for the most diabolical of their number. They feel a sense of duty to conquer...
Hah! First bit of decent writing that I've seen in a blogsite for the past week! Up until this scandal, I have not visited any blogsites.
After being assailed by the profanities of Rockson's Talk Rock (although it was a refreshing breath of foul air - just hope he won't land in hot water!) your site restores my belief that Singaporeans are capable of better.
Way to go, man!
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