this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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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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[–] uberrice@feddit.de 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Project hail Mary was cool in the fact that it was just so... Different. Won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but I think it'll tick your boxes.

[–] undercrust@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

Was just going to suggest this same book! Very interesting take on what makes for a "more advanced" species.

[–] PowerSeries@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Loved that book.

[–] Firipu@startrek.website 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The culture series? It's not outright said they're human, but they're clearly human. And they outscale basically every single thing in the universe. Or at least in the first few books. Might change later.

[–] emr@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In Excession it felt more like

spoilerThe Culture is a race of intelligent starships that keeps humans as pets.

[–] Magnetar@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

"Never forget I am notthis silver body, Mahrai. I am not an animal brain, I am not even some attempt to produce an AI through software running on a computer. I am a Culture Mind. We are close to gods, and on the far side."

[–] that_one_guy 2 points 1 year ago

This is absolutely the right take on The Culture.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks, will check it out.

[–] Max_UL@lemmy.pro 5 points 1 year ago

If you haven’t read The Culture by Iain Banks, it’s among the best and most enjoyable sci-fi ever, in my opinion. The humans of the culture are quite near the most advanced in the universe, but there are entities more advanced, their own AI ships, prominently, but other species too that chose to “sublime” and exist outside of the normal universe, but because of that such ones are ever barely around. The humans of the culture could evolve that far too, but didn’t choose to do so yet in the series.

[–] that_one_guy 1 points 1 year ago

My understanding is that the 'humans' of The Culture are a genetic melange of several different, but similar species who decided to merge with one another. They essentially chose the best genetic traits of each species and ran with those. It should be noted that Earth is not a part of The Culture, if it matters to OP that the humans in the story are Earthlings or not.

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[–] wccrawford@lemmyonline.com 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Bobiverse series eventually features some aliens. I don't think that's a spoiler at all... But they aren't space-faring, so I dunno if that counts for what you're looking for.

[–] Mr_Buscemi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

I just downloaded the 2nd audiobook and plan to start tomorrow. This series is really nice. The narrator is one of my favorite after hearing him narrate Project Hail Mary.

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[–] SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Seconded. In @davidbrin@mastodon.social Brin's series humans are basically the only race that managed to uplift themselves making them a galactic oddball.

[–] SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

I inspired myself to reread it. So far, I'm pleased with my own recommendation

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds interesting, will check it out. Thanks.

[–] SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago
[–] Skotimusj@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One of my favorite Sci-fi series books is the Ender's game saga. I think this might meet your specifications. Don't watch the movie! The book, as is often the case, is way better.

[–] bet@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm glad I got to enjoy Ender's Game before I learned about the author. I remember enjoying it, but teeth-grinding rage at the aims the author supports is going to prevent me from enjoying rereading it, or recommending it to anyone.

[–] Skotimusj@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

I am glad I don't know about any of the authors politics. Now I will actively avoid information about him so as not to tarnish a good memory.

[–] maniel@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Road Not Taken by Harry Turtledove, about aliens trying to invade Earth and finding out there the less advanced race here

[–] Magnetar@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

A fun little short story.

[–] Spuddlesv2@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, author of The Martian.

[–] Oneeightnine@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Came here to say this. Although I'm not sure the aliens are 'primitive' as much as they're more advanced in certain areas and behind in others?

[–] Spuddlesv2@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] maniel@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

First my bump

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[–] bleistift2@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In “The Gods Themselves” by Isaac Asimov humans and the aliens are about equal (at least for the purposes of the story), though they don’t share the same universe. I find the idea he explores interesting, but if you’re looking for a story on how humans treat ‘lesser’ beings, this isn’t for you.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks, will check it out!

if you’re looking for a story on how humans treat ‘lesser’ beings

Not really, equal sounds great as well, I'm just tired of reading about the oh-so-powerful aliens which we manage to beat not because we're better but because of our unbreakable spirit. Same deal with elves in fantasy literature, who are just oh-so-perfect that they care more about being perfect than survival of their own race. It just reeks of bad writing to me at this point.

[–] embit@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago

Joe Haldeman - The Forever War

[–] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

Will check it out, thanks!

[–] argv_minus_one 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In most any Star Trek episode where the Prime Directive is relevant, the humans have encountered primitive (pre-warp) aliens. Usually, some disastrous problem has befallen the aliens that the humans' technology can easily solve, and the humans must struggle to decide whether to help and bear the consequences (both legal and practical) of intervening, or leave the aliens to their fate as the Directive demands.

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I know referring people to Reddit is generally considered bad form around here, but check out reddit's r/hfy. It's mostly amateur stuff, but the subreddit centers around people writing stories about humans being good at something. I haven't taken a look at it in a while, but some of the series I used to enjoy are: First Contact (the ralts_bloodthorne one), the Deathworlders (spawned the Deathworlders trope on TV tropes), Debris (ausnerd), Transcripts (squiggle story studios), They Are Smol (this is a god-tier scifi shitpost series by tinypracinghorse) along with its companion series The Smol Detective (frank leroux), and anything by regallegaleagle like Memories of Creature 88, Billy-Bob Space Trucker and Material Differences.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks, will check it out when I have time, though I'm really looking for professional books (though I'm sure at least some of those you mentioned are definitely better than one of the worst sci-fi/fantasy books I ever read).

[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I say "amateur" in the sense that they're free, tend to be released a chapter at a time (which means sometimes series go unfinished if the writer gets bored), and typically aren't connected to a publisher. The writing quality itself can vary significantly with experience though, ranging from beginner to expert. Tbh, the ones I've listed are a lot better than 90% of the "professional" books I've read.

First Contact (by ralts_bloodthorne) and The Deathworlders are absurdly long at this point, so if you're wanting something to keep you occupied for a long time, check those out.

Transcripts is very unique, and while the writing isn't the best, it's very wholesome. I don't know how much I want to reveal, except that the differences between aliens and humans are "all in your head". It brings up a number of subjects I haven't really seen pondered in scifi, like how would an alien society with a significant empath/telepath population (significant enough to require telepathic translators) handle emotional outbursts? What are the moral issues of using cloning and gene editing to create individuals for a specific purpose in a society that is highly advanced in biotech but never figured out silicon? What if the society no longer has the base gene code for their member species because their previous masters destroyed it all in an act of spite? Are living machines morally acceptable?

Like I previously stated, They Are Smol is a shitpost and a good one at that. The first book is a little rough and the second one (the prequel aka the invasion of earth) has some serious emotional whiplash. However both are worth reading and written fairly well, just don't expect 10/10 writing. The companion series, The Smol Detective, is a bit more serious but still kinda silly. It spoofs a lot of detective stories like Columbo, Sherlock Holmes, etc.

Regal Legal Eagle's stuff is stellar, on par or better than pretty much any scifi I've read or watched. That said, Billy-Bob Space Trucker is his first book and is a bit rocky, especially at the beginning. However, it's still worth reading for going full 'MURICA (written when "'murica" was a funny meme and not, "oh god what is going on").

Debris is good and uses scifi as a lens for our current political climate (a human testing the first ftl capable ship experiences unexpected speeds and finds himself hundreds, if not thousands, of light-years from earth. He's rescued by an alien freighter along with the debris of his craft, which is where the story starts). I wouldn't say it's really treading any new ground, but I'd say it's still worth reading.

I can provide links if you'd like!

Edit: I also wanna say that /r/hfy stories (the good ones a least) tend to be a lot more... Colorful? Like, First Contact for an example, plays with the idea that humans, having become incredibly technologically advanced, only die if they have to. So stuff like Star Trek, Star Wars, Warhammer40k, Bolos, etc, are all semi-canon within the First Contact universe because different communities have reserved planets, stars, sometimes entire stellar clusters, for the purpose of LARPing these series with real weapons, full governmental systems, etc.

Like, something about a lot of hfy series tends to make them feel more real and engaging, whereas I've found a lot of published sci-fi works tend to end up feeling a little dry and humorless. Like, scifi is super serious business and we can't discuss serious topics with a humorous tone.

[–] shaknais@mastodon.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@rikudou
For a deeper philosophical spin on the idea, you might try "The Mote In God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks, will check it out!

[–] PhictionalOne@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

r/HFY has a plethora of such (short) stories. HFY stands for Humanity Fuck Yeah. Sadly I am yet to find an active HFY community/magazine on lemmy/kbin

[–] harmless64@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi.

Terran Republic series by Charles Gannon has humans more advanced than one or two, but definitely not at the top of the pack.

Sector General by James White has humans as part of the large alliance of races. The alliance is more advanced than some of the races they encounter.

Foreigner series by C J Cherryh has humans far more technologically advanced, however the small number that reach the alien world have to learn to live peacefully with the aliens.

Most of the Stars wars books have humans as very advanced.

[–] Lowbird 2 points 1 year ago

Fuzzy Nations is a retelling of Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. Having read both, I can report that I liked Fuzzy Nation 300% more. But if someone likes one they may as well try the other.

Little Fuzzy is kind of hilariously western, with everyone smoking and gun-toting :P it's also decidedly more sexist and less interesting in the way it handles the aliens and the legal fight around them. Very dated. But it can be fun anyways.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know it's not exactly what you asked but "To sleep in a sea of stars" by Christopher Paolini has humans at almost comparable with the aliens they interact with. Humans are slightly outclassed by the aliens in ship speed but the rest of the technology seems roughly comparable, with humans having better missile tech. It feels more like humans will lose a war of attrition if something major isn't done, not being completely outclassed.

I just enjoyed the book so much I'm recommending it regardless of the tech differences not quite aligning to the question.

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 1 points 1 year ago

Funny thing, this is the book which prompted me to write the original post. I'm halfway through, but:

spoilerthere are the ancient ones which so far seem to be basically god-like and the jelly ones are better than humans as well, though not by that much.

[–] ComradeR@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

If you is talking about the intellectual aspect The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a good one. The only thing that aliens are more developed than humans are in the technology, but their smartness are kinda average and similar to human standards. Sometimes they're even stupid.

[–] Lowbird 1 points 1 year ago

If you are willing to venture into fanfiction, there are some tags on archiveofourown.org - like "humans are space orcs", " earth is a deathworld", "earth is space australia" - for fics that feature overpowered humans relative to the aliens. Most of these are so AU that you don't need any knowledge of the ostensible source material. The trope seems popular particularly with My Hero Academia and Minecraft youtuber fandoms, for whatever reason.

Generally, the scifi worldbuilding is usually really light, including names "made alien" by adding apostrophes and that kind of thing - but they scratch and itch that almost nothing else does. And they're free! So maybe worth a try at least. Just make sure to filter by kudos.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

Little Fuzzy books by H. Beam Piper.

1st one is public domain:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137

[–] Turun@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

https://old.reddit.com/r/hfy

Yeah, sorry for promoting reddit here, but this subreddit is exactly what you are looking for. And I mean exactly. It is a collection of stories about humans being awesome, usually in a fantasy or sci-fi setting.

If you do not have a life I can recommend The Deathworlders, which was started there and is also available as an ebook on https://deathworlders.com/ . A personal favorite of mine is "Amelia's Last Battle" and "Humanities Debt", which are two short stories and do not take a year of dedicated reading to complete. I have also read "Bought and Sold", "sexy space babes" (contains nsfw), "Chrysalis", and more.

I can also recommend going through their wiki, which has a list of all completed stories. This is probably the best page to start: https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/wiki/ref/must_read

The only caveat is that people there are amateur writers. Some stories are never completed and the quality differs between "well, at least they're learning how to write" to godlike (e.g. the Deathworlders)

Edit: I see plenty of people already recommended the subreddit XD
I hope mentioning some of the stories I enjoyed does add value here.

I saw you mentioning that you want professional books. I can understand that the format (reddit posts) is not suited for offline reading or printing. This can be very annoying, I agree. But in terms of quality: there are some really good writers there. Buying the book in a physical store or on the internet doesn't change the words that are written.

[–] unfnknblvbl 1 points 1 year ago

Academy series, by Jack McDevitt. Although there are more advanced species mentioned, they've all died off.

Alex Benedict series, by Jack McDevitt again. There's only two species of intelligences in this series, and they're of roughly equal status.