Like The Idea That Humans Are Not Push Over

[Grant]

In most scifi I have read, watch, and play for years, humans are usually shown as the underdog or peace loving idiots (like in Star Trek). Humans thrived on competition throughout our history. Heck, look at how much our technologies advanced in the past 2 to 3 centuries. It wasn't because we all came together and pass out flowers. It came out of nations feeling the need to outperform each other during the European Imperialism, the World Wars, and the Cold War.
So when coming to face resource shortage on Earth and threat of aliens, humanity will surely seek to improve itself greatly because it is require for the survival of our species.
That why I say Mass Effect portrays humans quite well. The Alliance made sure to develop their fleet as much as possible since the war against the Turians. Moreover, humans seek to join the Council only because they pose a great threat, but yet humanity still have the guts to demand to be treat as equals of the first three species or else they refuse to obey the Council at all. In fact, the Asari council woman nearly piss herself when Commander Shepard (player choice) and Ambassador Udina threaten to leave the Council (therefore withdrawing human's request to join it), because the Turian Council member initially refuses to go after Saren.

[Sticky Wicket]

Just as an FYI: to reference Star Trek (since you mentioned it) Your attitude is like that of a Klingon/Cardassian/Dominion etc etc. Those races nearly annihilated themselves because of their lust for war and conflict and in the end the Federation (and humans) prevailed utlimately because of the desire for peace not conflict.

[ED ~]

Wanted to add also that humans life span are pretty much low compare to other species which makes us seems to rush everything while we can in the view of other creatures.

[mirHL]

Originally posted by Li_Shin:

Humans thrived on competition throughout our history.

Not really.
Check Guns, Germs, and Steel for how different cultures thrived with way different answers to this supposed question of the human nature.
Of course there is just the survival of the fittest then, and this is why the West came to dominate, but what this actually means all depends on the context. It could entail "arming yourself like there was no tomorrow", just like even "living in peace with nature" or whatever.
You don't want to end up like on Tuchanka.

[Valden21]

OP, always being willing to fight isn't what got Humanity to where it is in the Mass Effect universe. What got us there is how quickly we're able to adapt alien technologies to our own use. The Prothean research station is discovered in Antartica in 2148, and the mass relay near Pluto is discovered a year after that. According to Captain Anderson, those two discoveries ALONE are responsible for humanity's technology and science jumping forward by 200 years. A 200-year leap in less than two years, because of what we were able to learn. No other intelligent race in the Mass Effect universe accomplished that. The Citadel Council picked up on that, and they saw that humans combined everything that all three Council races prize over everything else.

During the First Contact War, the turians saw that humans are skilled soldiers and combatants when it's necessary. That's what got their respect. However, what got the respect of the salarians and asari was how willing we are to trade and work with others for everybody's benefit once the fighting's over.

[Grant]

I didn't say we are thrive on war, I say we thrived on competition. War is just one mode of competition. For example, Apple would not have develop large cellphones into mini-PCs within 2 decades if there wasn't other companies competing against them.
A better example is the Qing Empire to the British Empire.
Both fought wars constantly, but the difference between the two empires is that Qing never really face a true external threat politically or economically. It was the sole major power in East Asia, dominating with its huge military might and economy. Meanwhile, the British Empire was strong but it face stiff competition in the form of France and other rising mainland European powers.
Guess what happen between the start of their empire in the 1600s and the mid-1800s? Qing got comfortable and remained technologically stagnant. The British, however, became one of the leading industrial power in the world. So when the two countries faced off, the British easily crush the Qing.
In Mass Effect, humans are a competitive race. They established colonies on worlds that even the Council races dare not do so, and against the wishes of the Council. Despite being newcomers, humans not only have the willingness but the power to demand to be sit as equal to the top Council species. Sure humans wanted a seat on the Council, which means trading and working with others to an extent, but only because it means human have an actual say in the Council. Compare that to many species who contributed to the Council for much longer and obey the Council for centuries like idiots, but never getting a seat on the Council. Humans didn't want a seat on the Council so they can spread "love" like in Star Trek, they did it because it means they gain an advantage in the political and economical competition between the species. If humans follow the Federation civics of Star Trek, they would have meekly obey the Council like sheeps until the Reapers come and harvest all of them. The only reason why the Reapers' plans were discover because an ambitious Commander Shepard and his human allies chose to chase down Saren despite repeated opposition from the Council.

[manniepants]

Did we watch the same Star Trek? In every series and especially in the movies the main characters are often at odds with Federation/starfleet. Captains Kirk and Picard often went against the orders of their superiors and was almost always depicted as the right thing to do. Whenever they weren't off doing their own thing, almost always breaking all the rules along way, any offical federation business they took part in was portrayed as tedious and over formal. If anything, Star Trek portrayed the Federation as well meaning but bogged down by bureaucracy and often held back by their own strict adherence to the rules as well not being immune to corrupted officials.

Seems to me like Mass effect has much more in common with start trek than it does with other sci fi universes. Sorry for the rant, i just see the "federation is a hippie utopia" thing too much and it strikes me as a very surface level interpretation of the series.

To note, I do also like how humans are portrayed in Mass Effect. Kind of a happy medium between Star Trek and something extreme like The Empire from star wars or even the Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40k and it comes off as much more realistic because of that

[Valden21]

OP, the point I'm making is that to survive in the Mass Effect universe, an intelligent species has to be willing to work with and to get along with other intelligent species. Part of the big reason the Protheans got curbstomped by the Reapers is that they thought they could fight the Reapers off without anyone else's help, due to them being on top. They were wrong, and now there's almost nothing left of their civilization. It's by working with members of other species that Shepard found out what Saren was up to; all of his best leads came from a non-human.

Humans in the Mass Effect universe are competitive, but most of them recognize that there's a set of rules, and they're willing to work WITHIN those rules to get their seat at the table. In other words, most of humanity in the Mass Effect wise enough to understand that we have other tools than a hammer, and smart enough to recognize when to bring them into play. The volus and elcor are willing to follow those structures as well, and so far, it's been good for them. The series is full of examples of how not playing nicely ends badly for the groups that try it. Take the batarians, for example. The main reason the batarians are pariahs to almost all the other intelligent races is primarily because of how the batarians acted in the past. Three different times before humanity came on the galactic scene, batarians attacked worlds belonging to other Citadel races; the fight between humans and batarians over colonizing the Skylian Verge was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Now, the batarians don't have an embassy on the citadel, and most of them become criminals or mercenaries. Humans won those colonization rights because by and large, we're able to see when working with others is a good thing, and because we're able to play nice during those moments.

[Ceejay]

Originally posted by Not Nice:

Originally posted by Li_Shin:

I Heck, look at how much our technologies advanced in the past 2 to 3 centuries..

Modern history is a lie built upon lies. A lot of our modern tech has existed for centuries. It's just been in the hands of just the elites.

One can easily argue that our technology has actually slowed down. Still don't about the pyramids.

You better get your tin foil hat out quickly before the government melt your brain...

[Exarch_Alpha]

Salarians.... pfffft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JRLCBb7qK8&t=7s

[mirHL]

And you are paranoiac.

[unweptbuzzard16]

FYI: The federation in star trek represents multiple races and species of aliens, And the vulcans aren't war mongers not to mention other species.