What Measure a Human?

[Benjamin]

(Disclaimer: The following is just speculation on my part and not to be treated as canon unless the GMs state otherwise.)

Whilst contemplating Agito Soma's evolution to D-Human gave me reason to wax the philosophic last night and this morning. Given the nature of contracts between Tamers and Digimon and Digital Enhancements, should any of the tamers be considered "human" anymore? Can a baseline human break the sound barrier, shoot lightning bolts, or bench press a Buick? By that metric, I would say no because those abilities are well beyond the human norm and therefore Tamers are not human anymore. If anything, I would say they bare more resemblance to metahumans from the DC universe ("meta" essentially meaning "beyond"), mutants from the Marvel universe, or even use the more generic term, "superhuman."

Take my character, Jace Allen, for instance, and account for his superhuman speed which allows him to move at relativistic speeds in theory. (author's note: How did I ever get away with that anyway?) He would have to undergo incredibly heavy modifications to be able to withstand friction and the physical stresses of hypersonic velocity to say nothing of neurological modifications that would allow him to think and react light-years beyond the human norm. Granted, these abilities came at a hefty cost. His speed is gradually killing him and is extremely likely that it is in the terminal stages now. There is also the fact that chemical energy derived from food would be insufficient for him to move as fast as he does--he would drive even a first world nation to famine if that were the case--and thus he would probably be linked to an external source like the Speed Force. The energy from it is likely destroying him at a cellular level, which will likely end in catastrophic organ failure and ultimately result in his demise. Or will it?

However, I digress, and I believe that Jace is no longer a baseline human at a cellular or genetic level.

There also may be a mental component to it as well depending on the subjects alienation from society, which may lead them to no longer identify themselves as human. Jace's upbringing is quite a troubled one despite his normally happy-go-lucky personality on the surface. His parents died when he was five years old and though his grandparents filled every material need he had, they never filled his emotional needs. This problem is further compounded by the social isolation he suffered in later life because any prospective friends turned him away out of fear that Zachary Valor would destroy their families as he did to the bullies' that tormented him at boarding school. While I am no psychologist, I would hypothesize that his childhood and teenage traumas led him to believe that he was not a human being, even on a conscious level. That would likely be a primary factor in his affection for western comic books and of superheroes in particular: they were once baseline humans but became something more by a twist of fate. So it should not come off as a surprise that he jumped at the chance to become a Tamer and bolt away from the social isolation he felt at home. Whereas Soma appears to fear a perceived lack of humanity because of his evolution, Jace embraces his lack of humanity because he never felt like a human in the first place and would probably react violently if anyone asserted otherwise.

So that is all I have to say on the subject at present. What are your opinions on the matter?

[Crescent]

Yeah, you do raise a good point when you start getting into SCIENCE >_>

And like I said earlier, you're effectively onto something in terms of alienation. Most characters have experienced alienation in at least one form or another. Were they perfectly adjusted members of society, then they very well may not have any valid wishes worthy of a contract.

[Akurei Nagisa]

I like the term "metahuman". It fits the Tamers--all of them--really well, and highlights that while they may have begun as normal humans, they aren't now. Albeit, most of them were outliers of normal humanity even to begin with, like Alma, who was a child genius! >_> HOW'D THAT WORK OUT FOR YA, LITTLE MISSY?

Alma: ; 3;

Interestingly, this means that Daedalus' secretive goals of advancing the human race have been sort of at +1 difficulty level from the beginning...which could be part of why the Artificial D-Humans they've made are some of the absolute farthest from humanity of the bunch, literal chimeras of Human and Digimon spliced together through a process that usually destroys the person they used to be, at least at some level.

Of course, even "Natural" D-Humans seem to lose something of themselves. <_< Take Soma! If you can get him before he dematerializes!

[Mooncrafter]

Well, Sariel and Synne becoming Natural D-Humans DOES have a temporary "loss" in the process, some are simply more unstable than others. In the case of Jace, not all will survive to the finish line.

Physicality and science dictates that they're not "human" anymore, but psychologically they still are. They make mistakes, they feel love and anger just like anyone else, which by this definition Digimon also qualify as "human" by our standards. (I've noticed especially when playing Mass Effect I'll describe character flaws as "they're only human" just to stop myself. We tend to personify intelligent creatures as imperfect, impulsive creatures as exaggerations of ourselves because that's all we know.) At that point there really needs to be a paradigm shift before the shame of their ascending to a new type of existence leads to suicidal tendencies in all of the D-Humans.

So by the perspective of how these characters think and feel, Cassandra has said it best. "A D-human is still human."

[MasterDJ]

...Well fuck now I wanna draw Jace and Soma.

And... I'm actually touched how the game has really made you think to this level.

[Benjamin]

...Well fuck now I wanna draw Jace and Soma.

Please do. It has been a while since I seen anyone draw Jace.

And... I'm actually touched how the game has really made you think to this level.

You can blame the years I spent pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in English. Reading everything from Plato to Le Guin.