Question Break Answers 5

Anonymous asks:

Have you noticed anything odd about Ven, in terms of his personality, that is due to his not growing up on Earth? I suppose it begs one to wonder how much of humanity is nature versus nurture. While John, an android, seemed in every way human (excepting the odd feat of superhuman strength), is there anything about Ven that seems somewhat out of place or unsettling?

Well, my anonymous friend, that is a good question. Have I noticed anything odd about Ven? I guess my first answer would be “are you kidding me? Yes?” but then you have to go and bring up this whole nature versus nurture thing. And you also seem to imply the question of whether John is more human than Ven by Earth standards. Such weighty questions! Makes me think my readers are way smarter than I am.

So I’ll take this one at a time.

Does Ven constantly surprise me with his oddness? Yes. He doesn’t understand my slang, he doesn’t get my cultural references, and he thinks everything I do is very backwards. He is unfazed by aliens who are so different from us that humans cannot communicate with them except through a complicated computer program that was developed by a species who happens to be capable of communicating with both humans and the other aliens; however, he has a most backward and ignorant view point when it comes to androids. He talks to his ship’s Artificial Cognizant like she’s a real person, but he treats John sort of like I treat my microwave. Is he different from me? Goodness yes. Would he be incredibly out of place on Earth? Yes. But at the core of your question, I think you’re asking me if he’s inhuman.

I think the answer to that is no.

Sometimes I don’t understand Ven. We have this insane cultural gap between us. But at the end of the day, I think he’s just human. He’s a human who was raised in an incredibly different environment, but he’s still human. Ven was raised on the human colony. For the most part he grew up around humans, of all different Earth cultures. These Earth cultures fused together and were influenced heavily by the cultures they encountered in the Universe through entertainment, trade, and vacations. This strange non-Earth culture does affect how Ven acts and behaves. But I wouldn’t call it unsettling or out of place when it comes to his humanity. Behind everything he does is a very human motivation.

In Ven’s mind, I’m the one who’s inhuman. Here I am prizing an android over his existence. I hold my android brother in higher regard than I hold any human. However, I think that’s human too. Some humans hold other human’s lives as the highest value. Other humans like trees better than they like people.

Does Ven unsettle me on a daily basis? Yes. Would he seem insanely out of place on Earth? Yes. But is he still human? Yes.

As to nature versus nurture, I think the core of Ven’s values would be the same whether on Earth or the edges of the Universe. He’s insanely loyal. He’s very intelligent. He’s too good looking for his own good. He takes his duty very seriously. And he loves his freedom. What is more human than that?