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For those unfamiliar with the “humans are space orcs” concept, the idea was born from a series of subreddits and Tumblr posts that basically try to observe humanity from the perspective of an alien race that has never encountered our species before. Since becoming familiar with this thought experiment, I’ve found myself watching other people’s interactions and reflecting on my own behavior with a healthy amount of detachment. Taking a step back from the ups and downs of the human experience and trying to view the world from a third-person point of view is definitely a valuable way to gain some perspective on the way that we humans deal with each other and the world around us.
I’d encourage anyone reading this to dive into the world of “humans are space orcs” on the internet. You can give it a Google search, check out the subreddit, or check out the last post in this series.
Like all things, humans are neither wholly good nor wholly bad. There are undoubtedly improvements that we can all make personally and societally; however, there are some behaviors exhibited by humans that are simply heart-warming, cute, and kind. I feel that people often tend to focus too pointedly on the negatives of others and themselves, characterizing individuals and societies as cruel and dysfunctional. But when you remove yourself from the situation and try to look at things a bit more objectively, you’ll see that that’s far from the whole picture.
Humans have developed a capacity for social interaction that is not seen to the same degree anywhere else in the natural world. We have families, those families form neighborhoods, those neighborhoods form towns, cities, states, and countries. We have governments, sports teams, and social clubs. We come together to build things, to help each other, or just to share the thoughts that are appearing in our brains. The degree of complexity with which humans communicate is so rich that the entire human race could actually be viewed as a functioning similar to a single organism.
Looking at Humanity as a Single Organism
One interesting way to gain some perspective on the human race is by thinking about the entire human species as a single organism, with each individual constituting a single cell. In many ways, this is an apt analogy. Human beings trade chemical information all the time through pheromones, similar to how cells communicate chemically (although humans also communicate through spoken and physical language as well). We also work together to make up functioning units, the same way that cells organize themselves into tissues and organs. In this way, we rely on each other for survival and can accomplish greater tasks as a group while still retaining our individual autonomy, much like cells do.
Human societies, like organizations of cells, are also subject to breakdowns and disease, which result from miscommunication. No group of cells in the human body functions perfectly all the time, they fall victim to illness, and imperfect communication leads to the death of individual cells. In much the same way, human societies function imperfectly, causing widespread illness and leaving individuals to fend for themselves. People die every day as a result of the imperfect functionings of our institutions, from the poor government oversight to poor familial systems within individual households.
With that being said, we’re still here. The human race is still alive, and that means we must be doing some things right. It can’t be all bad. And I believe that if you inspect the ways in which our anthropological world functions, you’ll find that us human beings have come up with some pretty ingenious ways to organize ourselves and accomplish things that we never could have on our own. So, take the good with the bad. Acknowledge the shortcomings of humans as individuals and societies but also give credit where credit is due. We humans can do some pretty amazing stuff when we put our heads together.
Let’s take a step back and once again look at the human race from the perspective of an alien that’s never encountered Homo sapiens sapiens before. This will be a continuation of this alien’s observations from the last post in this series:
Day 4
I have observed that certain species inhabiting Earth will give birth to their offspring and then be unable to recognize their own kin only moments later. Other species will care for their offspring and then separate from them entirely. Humans, on the other hand, tend to recognize and care for those in their familial pod for their entire lives. And these familial pods are not strictly based on genetic similarity. Often a human will voluntarily add the offspring of another, genetically unrelated human to their own familial pod and care for it as if it were their own!
Additionally, human parents will seek the help of others for the development of their young. Groups of young humans will congregate in a single structure and learn essential skills taught by a small group of human adults. In this setting, the young humans are also able to form emotional bonds between one another, and these bonds can often last until adulthood! It seems that the human concept of “family” can be quite fluid and inclusive! Astounding!
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The human capacity for remembering other individuals is quite impressive as well. I observed two human beings who had not come in contact for many years share a moment of instant recognition. Despite their long duration of separation, the emotional bond that they had formed during their time spent together as youths seemed to be completely intact. Humans will often go long periods of time without coming in contact with members of their familial units; however, they occasionally will travel vast distances to reunite with their familial units, and when they do so, the modes of communication they employ are consistently very similar in characteristic. It seems that the emotional bonds and sense of collectiveness between humans are the strongest of any species on this planet.
Day 5
Humans seem to have learned the multiplicative power of collective rational thought, collaboration, and specialization. They will congregate to work towards a single objective, understanding that they can accomplish more as a group than they could as individuals. Certain humans will dedicate themselves to one part of the objective, other humans will focus on a separate part, and then they will appoint other humans to integrate the different parts into a single, functional whole. Oftentimes the humans will show excitement over the accomplishments of another specialized unit. What a selfless mindset! To exhibit pride in the accomplishments of another individual or group of individuals while admitting one’s own shortcomings is certainly a sign of empathy and compassion.
Through their collaborative thought and action, humans have realized great accomplishments. They have found ways to transport their four-wheeled mechanical vehicles over vast expanses of ocean. They have found ways to emulate the avian species of Earth and travel through the air. They have even exhibited the ability and courage to depart from their own atmosphere and journey to another planet, simply in the interests of curiosity and exploration! It seems that the human mind is driven to accomplish tasks simply to assess their viability!
While I at first believed that humans gathered simply for functional purposes, other forms of human aggregation seem to exist quite frequently. These beings seem to enjoy each other’s company even when no functional end is being targeted. I observed two humans sitting in close proximity to one another, not communicating verbally or nonverbally, and yet they seemed to both gain a sense of comfort and enjoyment simply from the other one’s presence. How cute!
Day 6
I was originally puzzled by the humans’ tendency to gather for no apparent functional purpose; however, it has become clear to me that there is, in fact, a purpose to these seemingly non-functional gatherings. That is the purpose of emotional nourishment, a very important endeavor to the human species. This emotional nourishment comes in varying degrees and intensities based on the nature of the gathering.
There are gatherings of the “pleasant” variety, in which humans simply enjoy one another’s company. There are gatherings for the purpose of emotional support, in which a group of humans will gather in an attempt to heal the emotional afflictions of another human. There are gatherings that exhibit a concept the humans refer to as “love” which is typically thought of as being shared by two humans, but can be applied to larger groups as well. This type of gathering seems to be the most sought-after and the most rewarding kind.
While the concept of “love” is often thought of as a collective experience, humans often apply this term reflexively as well. They apply the word “self-love” to actions that they perform to nourish their own emotional well-being. They smile at themselves when staring into reflective surfaces, they allot periods of time to self-reflective thought, and they stimulate their own mental activity with creative and expressive activities. I find it truly incredible that this sense of love, this recognition of the importance of emotional nourishment, is something that is enjoyed by the individual as well as something that is facilitated by the community as a whole.
