Humans Scary to Ponies?

[Comet Tail 808]

Lots of people think ponies would be scared of humans like they were of Zacora.

 

But I think Zacora was really scary to them because of the hood, the seemingly glowing eyes, she came from the Everfree forest, and she was very pony-like but not a pony, was probably the biggest thing. See: Uncanny Valley.

 

The Uncanny Valley is where something looks very human, but not quiet. This graph from the linked wikipedia article charts "creepiness" (further down, more creepy, higher up, more appealing) and human likeness (further right is more human-like).

 

Zacora's big issue was probably landing close to the pony's uncanny valley, because she was so pony-like but wasn't actually a pony. Well, not a horse pony, anyways. I doubt she looked like a zombie to them, but all the familiarity, but with the stripes, different mane, eyes, ears, the differences were probably enough to make her look scary, coupled with the fact she came from Everfree and wore that hood.

 

A good analogy would be Klingons. If a human village that had never heard of Star Trek saw a Klingon come from the woods in dark robes, they would probably be quiet terrified, especially if the woods he came from had a terrifying reputation already.

 

But us humans, we probably would look more like a dragon like Spike than anything else. A scaleless dragon, like a lizard, but with a monkeyish face and a mane. My guess is, the mane along with the other alien features would make us a really odd sight to look at. Something that would attract a lot of curiosity, with some fear. Now, walk out of the Everfree forest onto a lone pony, and they'd probably be terrified, though. Come from somewhere a bit less creepy, and they'd probably just be really nervous.

 

What do y'all think?

[Dragonshy 2,305]

I'm sure humans would seem weird at first if they had never seen one before, but they may be accepting and nice to them too. Hopefully... I think we would be seen as a little bit useless though, because when some of them have wings and magic, we have nothing.

[spas-ticShotty 3,584]

I think the thing they would be most afraid of us is our society

 

That, or the fact that we are meat-eaters, which would make them freak out and think we eat them (I heard glue is made out of horses, is that true ?)

[~Chaos~ 3,967]

I'm sure they would be curios, seeing this odd looking being, but once they have made sure we were kind and harmless (for the most part at least) I'm sure they would warm up to us.

[Batbrony 16,054]

I'm sure humans would seem weird at first if they had never seen one before, but they may be accepting and nice to them too. Hopefully... I think we would be seen as a little bit useless though, because when some of them have wings and magic, we have nothing.

 

Whaddya mean we ain't got magic?!?! We got this, don't we!!!

 

I don't know about you, but I think that'd blow every ponies minds!!!!

[media=]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW3SSR6Nwas[/media]

Well... almost everypony.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Batbrony

[Random User 249]

I think the thing they would be most afraid of us is our society

 

That, or the fact that we are meat-eaters, which would make them freak out and think we eat them (I heard glue is made out of horses, is that true ?)

 

White glue is made of the skin, bones, and hooves of various farmyard animals. This includes pigs, cows, and horses.

 

I do believe the human race would be a frightening thing for the ponies, for fear stems from the unknown. Not to mention how the general human population can behave...

[Blackcat 205]

We wouldn't exactly be useless. Even without magic or wings, we're still a heck of a lot more dactyl creatures. That alone would make us more..."hand"y to have around

[Abstract 832]

Scared of us if we came to Equestria? I'm sure they would be intimidated with these strange creatures they had never seen before, but I don't think they'd be genuinely afraid.

 

Now, if they came to our world? They'd probably all have heart attacks.

[spas-ticShotty 3,584]

Funny how RD would probably boast of her flying skills, but wait 'till she sees the stuff WE have

 

Oh my god, flying triangle of death !!

 

Looks like RD isn't the only one (Or ones, in this case) who can pull of a Sonic Rai---sonic boom

[Starshine 16,333]

We are damn tall, some of us even twice of their average pony's height.

 

Our diet can be rather unnerving to them.

 

Our culture is also much more violent than theirs. All it takes was one look to our history book, they will run screaming.

 

Some of us eat lots of meat, the kind that those ponies call friends

 

We are hard-coded by our culture and genetics to conquer and enslave any lesser beings (cows, sheeps, whateverelse). Just because these ponies are sentient and cute doesn't mean our greedy brethren won't see them as an exploitable creature

 

Not to mention our seemingly impossible technologies. We have enough instrument of death to push the ponies to the brink of extinction in matter of days

 

So, yeah. Unless the Royal Sisters constantly protecting them from us, they will be deathly scared of humans and anything hairless bipedal.

[Lostwanderer 367]

I'm scared of human, we're pretty damn scary if you look at our society and how we think. TBH i'm half convinced bronies aren't human.

[Silverhoof 2,844]

Compared to a pony, humans are very alien. We walk on two legs. We use hands not telekinesis. and we have no real concept of magic.For most ponies, Spike is the only thing that comes close, but he's only two feet tall.

 

However. our faces share many similarities. Humans style hair in much the same way as manes are styled, Certainly ponies are an allegory for humans.

 

I think after the first initial shock, ponies would warm up to us quickly.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Silverhoof

[~Lawful Jordo~ 2,066]

Well, consider this. The height of the average pony in the show would be about 3 feet tall, so generally we would tower over the ponies. We eat meat and we are generally violent creatures. This would be terrifying to a 100% vegetarian and peaceful society. Once they realize we are sentient beings, they would most likely try and make contact with us, but we would probably leave a bad impression considering how different our nature is to they'res. Not to mention our technology is so alien to them, it might freak them out.

 

If anything, the majority of ponies would consider us dangerous, and treat us much like the dragons; Sentient beings they should avoid.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Eljordo

[Comet Tail 808]

I'm sure humans would seem weird at first if they had never seen one before, but they may be accepting and nice to them too. Hopefully... I think we would be seen as a little bit useless though, because when some of them have wings and magic, we have nothing.

 

Earth ponies don't have magic or wings, either, though

 

And really it's not that much of an inhibition from being useful in society...

 

Whaddya mean we ain't got magic?!?! We got this, don't we!!!

 

[media: Ipod picture]

I don't know about you, but I think that'd blow every ponies minds!!!!

[...]

Well... almost everypony.

Well, that's just 'cause they have hooves. We'd just have to adapt technology to work with hooves

 

(Actually, she shouldn't be pressing anything at all. The Ipods use a heat sensor for touch, and hooves are like nails, so they'd be as cold as the surrounding environment, so it wouldn't trigger the heat sensors. Ever try to use a pencil's eraser on an Ipod's touch screen? Try it. Or any finger-like room-temperature object. Won't work. Needs to be a lot hotter than the environment.)

 

White glue is made of the skin, bones, and hooves of various farmyard animals. This includes pigs, cows, and horses.

 

I do believe the human race would be a frightening thing for the ponies, for fear stems from the unknown. Not to mention how the general human population can behave...

 

I really wish I could dispute that, but being in the south, I've seen some of the worst. But, that's just the bottom of mankind, don't let them skew your view of the vast majority of mankind.

 

(Well, aside from the fact that half of mankind is Chinese, and half of the remaining non-Chinese half is Indian... lol)

*Indian as in the Asian country, not Native American.

 

But really it depends on what humans you're talking about... I'll write more about that in another reply:

 

We wouldn't exactly be useless. Even without magic or wings, we're still a heck of a lot more dactyl creatures. That alone would make us more..."hand"y to have around

 

Yet, despite what I said about hooves earlier, they still seem able to hold things and all...

 

Funny how RD would probably boast of her flying skills, but wait 'till she sees the stuff WE have

 

Oh my god, flying triangle of death !!

[image of B-2 bomber]

 

Looks like RD isn't the only one (Or ones, in this case) who can pull of a Sonic Rai---sonic boom

[image of jet fighter (F/A-18 Hornet) breaking the sound barrier]

 

 

Oh, well, they fly in the sky, sure, but they're really quiet pitiful compared to other flying machines we have. The fastest aircraft, the A-12 Oxcart (not the SR-71. It's darn near identical, and it takes an expert to tell them apart by looks alone, but it's still technically a different aircraft) cruises up to mach 3.35 at 95,000 feet.

Watch this video, it's an AWESOME video about James May, well-known from the show "Top Gear", going up to just 70,000 feet. At 50,000 feet, the atmosphere is so thin, you'd die of exposure just about the same as space. At 70,000 feet, the sky is solid black.

 

A-12 cruises at 95,000 at mach 3.35. Despite the air being less than 2% as thick, what little air there is still has enough friction with the aircraft to heat it's hull by several hundred degrees.

 

The fuel tanks were designed with cracks in them - the speed that it flies at, despite how thin the air is, generates so much heat that it seals the Titanium fuel tank cracks shut, despite their being made of the highest grade of Titanium in existence. The Titanium expands from heating, causing the cracks to close. If it was designed without cracks, then the intense heating, which causes the metal to expand, would cause the fuel tanks to rupture.

 

It goes a mile every few seconds.

 

 

Yet, still, it's pitiful compared to mankind's most advanced flying machine. Spaceships:

 

 

^ One of the best videos I've ever seen to convey the experience. I've seen one launch in person before, and let me tell you, NOTHING, no video, imax, anything will convey the experience of it, and seeing that thing shoot some-odd 30 miles into the sky at booster separation. Nothing.

Just see how these people react, and these aren't even space enthusiasts of any kind, just common laypeople who recorded it and put it on Youtube:

 

[media=]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM

 

While the fastest aircraft has flown at Mach 3.35, anything in Earth Orbit is going Mach 27.

_{*Note: The speed of sound is different up there. 290 m/s instead of sea-level 343. So orbital speed is 7,840 m/s for Low Earth Orbit.}

_{In terms of sea-level mach, that's mach 23, not 27.}

There's gravity in space. It gets weaker with distance but never goes off completely.

 

Now imagine the Earth is a plate. Drop a ball over it. It'll hit the plate. Now, toss the ball sideways as you drop it. It misses the plate. The "plate" is the Earth, and the "ball" is the spaceship. Earth Orbit is when you're going so fast, you "miss" the Earth, but gravity keeps you from flying off into space, so you just circle around it continuously. The speed for that is Mach 27, about 5 miles per second. In both those videos, you only see up to booster separation, which happens when the shuttle is going about less than 1/8th that speed.

 

But we've been a lot faster than that. To overcome gravity and go out to the moon, the Apollo astronauts had to speed up to mach 36, ~10,500 m/s.

_{*Sea-level mach 31.}

 

I've always thought that if RD was in our world, even though the Wonderbolts were based off of the Thunderbolts and Blue Angels, she'd be looking at Astronauts. They're the fastest and greatest, really.

 

We are damn tall, some of us even twice of their average pony's height.

 

Our diet can be rather unnerving to them.

 

Our culture is also much more violent than theirs. All it takes was one look to our history book, they will run screaming.

 

Some of us eat lots of meat, the kind that those ponies call friends

 

We are hard-coded by our culture and genetics to conquer and enslave any lesser beings (cows, sheeps, whateverelse). Just because these ponies are sentient and cute doesn't mean our greedy brethren won't see them as an exploitable creature

 

Not to mention our seemingly impossible technologies. We have enough instrument of death to push the ponies to the brink of extinction in matter of days

 

So, yeah. Unless the Royal Sisters constantly protecting them from us, they will be deathly scared of humans and anything hairless bipedal.

 

We could drive them to extinction, but it doesn't mean we would. Due to publicity and an ever-softening disposition throughout history, I don't think we'd repeat some mistakes of the past.

 

I mean, it's not like the U.S. just invades small countries and exterminates populations willy-nilly. It's not like we do that at all.

 

Compared to a pony, humans are very alien. We walk on two legs. We use hands not telekinesis. and we have no real concept of magic.For most ponies, Spike is the only thing that comes close, but he's only two feet tall.

 

However. our faces share many similarities. Humans style hair in much the same way as manes are styled, Certainly ponies are an allegory for humans.

 

I think after the first initial shock, ponies would warm up to us quickly.

 

That sounds pretty good. And yeah, our face shares similarities because their faces were anthropomorphized after ours

 

Good point on Spike, we're similar, but being only 2 foot tall definitely helps him seem less threatening and scary.

 

I mean, just look at insects. People think a lot of those are cute, but if they were six foot... That's nightmare fuel.

[Starshine 16,333]

 

 

We could drive them to extinction, but it doesn't mean we would. Due to publicity and an ever-softening disposition throughout history, I don't think we'd repeat some mistakes of the past.

 

I mean, it's not like the U.S. just invades small countries and exterminates populations willy-nilly. It's not like we do that at all.

 

 

 

Nah, I'm not talking about silly americans. I was referring to ye olde humankind as a whole. When we spotted any exploitable resources (in this case it's the land of ponies), or when we see anything that can be used, it's very hard for us to refrain ourselves to jump forward and put a leash on it.

 

At the first few contacts, there will be hugs and laughter from the ponies and the hippies. But if things gone unsupervised and the land of ponies are very accessible, it will only take months before our first excavator reached their green, jewel-rich land.

 

Not to mention some of us will certainly try to eat their talking cows just because they want to see if they taste good.

 

Yep, they will be scared of us

[Tom 891]

You raise some good points about the uncanny valley.

 

I think they would be terrified if they seen some of the atrocities that we have committed in the past. With wars and genocides the norm every few hundred years it'd be hard to claim that we are nice and civil people.

[The Awesome One 1,315]

I would like to show them this baby:

 

One roar of the engines at full afterburn and they're all deaf!

[Random User 249]

I really wish I could dispute that, but being in the south, I've seen some of the worst. But, that's just the bottom of mankind, don't let them skew your view of the vast majority of mankind.

 

I speak coming from the Washington DC area, so I know a wide variety of people. I still think the general populace is terrible. Humankind is sort of like a parasite when you think of it, devouring and depleting the world's resources as quickly as they can possibly muster. Not to mention the fact that humans have caused so many species of life form to become extinct, and still are. A lot are close-minded and full of hatred and stupid. I'd never wish for humans to find Equestria ever if it were to exist, because we'd end up ruining and tainting it.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Random User

[Whiteshade 1,426]

I'm scared of human, we're pretty damn scary if you look at our society and how we think. TBH i'm half convinced bronies aren't human.

 

Seems my plans have been revealed, someone in the syndicate is leaking >.>

[Abstract 832]

A lot of reasons posted in this thread are why I'm afraid of having kids. :/ Seems like the human race is doomed to destroy itself and everything good on this planet one day.

[DashPony 359]

They would probably be pretty freaked out by humans. A small group of humans in their world would probably cause a small panic, but eventually i'm sure they would learn to accept us. (as long as the humans were decent people). If the entire human race somehow ended up in Equestria though...... well I don't even want to think about that. Humans aren't exactly known for their kindness towards other species They would be terrified

[Tom 891]

I think if only a few humans, or just one were to go to Equestria nothing bad would happen.

They would be feared by some, but I think most of the ponies (e.g. Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy) would be acceptant of them.

[Comet Tail 808]

They would probably be pretty freaked out by humans. A small group of humans in their world would probably cause a small panic, but eventually i'm sure they would learn to accept us. (as long as the humans were decent people). If the entire human race somehow ended up in Equestria though...... well I don't even want to think about that. Humans aren't exactly known for their kindness towards other species They would be terrified

 

The difference is that ponies talk, primarily. And looking adorable certainly doesn't hurt.

 

You could make an argument about mankind's abuse and enslavement of minorities, but at the time it was seen as a necessary evil, much like driving is today. Lots of people have died in car crashes, it's probably up there as one of the leading causes of unexpected death, yet we keep doing it because it's necessary, hence a necessary evil.

 

And primarily, I really believe humans have moved on past dehumanizing talking, thinking, feeling entities that can rightly be called people, such as MLP ponies.

 

 

Nah, I'm not talking about silly americans. I was referring to ye olde humankind as a whole. When we spotted any exploitable resources (in this case it's the land of ponies), or when we see anything that can be used, it's very hard for us to refrain ourselves to jump forward and put a leash on it.

 

At the first few contacts, there will be hugs and laughter from the ponies and the hippies. But if things gone unsupervised and the land of ponies are very accessible, it will only take months before our first excavator reached their green, jewel-rich land.

 

Not to mention some of us will certainly try to eat their talking cows just because they want to see if they taste good.

 

Yep, they will be scared of us

 

Luckily, NATO is currently the primary world superpower. Someone may say "China", but consider this; we have "Made in USA" products - they're more expensive - but we could live without China. China, on the other hand, is rather dependent on our continued purchasing of services from their country. And militaristicaly speaking, NATO is most certainly the world leader.

 

In international politics, might really is right. So it really depends on how pacifist NATO, or rather, the U.S. is. Do we defend Equestria from other, more militaristic nations, or do we decide to be pacifist, "and just stay out of it"? It's one thing to regulate companies - we do that a lot, and we didn't drill Alaska which might have paid off our debts, and cut off the money supply for terrorist organizations and African warlords - for the sake of not putting some drills in a huge forest. So I have no concerns about what would happen to Equestria if it fell under NATO or U.S. jurisdiction.

 

But, if we decide to not put it under our own jurisdiction?... Other countries are a bit less friendly.

 

I would like to show them this baby:

 

[image clipped: Mig-31 Jet Fighter]

 

One roar of the engines at full afterburn and they're all deaf!

 

The space shuttle sets off car alarms from 7 miles away, and VIP seating was 3 miles from the pad - much closer and it would burst ear drums. but the Saturn V had a lot more thrust than that.

 

The most powerful machine mankind has ever flown:

[media=]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzCsDVfPQqk&list=PL3223D5897BE5B8C6&index=30&feature=plpp_video[/media]

 

I speak coming from the Washington DC area, so I know a wide variety of people. I still think the general populace is terrible. Humankind is sort of like a parasite when you think of it, devouring and depleting the world's resources as quickly as they can possibly muster. Not to mention the fact that humans have caused so many species of life form to become extinct, and still are. A lot are close-minded and full of hatred and stupid. I'd never wish for humans to find Equestria ever if it were to exist, because we'd end up ruining and tainting it.

 

A lot of reasons posted in this thread are why I'm afraid of having kids. :/ Seems like the human race is doomed to destroy itself and everything good on this planet one day.

 

Ah, pessimism about the human race, and anti-human sentiments, we meet again.

 

In an old thread, linked here, someone brought up this anti-humanist thinking again, and I like what I wrote there, so I'll quote it here. It was in response to a particularly malthusian statement about mankind being horrible. It's the reply to the last quotation in the post I made:

 

As Robert Zubrin wrote, ever-increasing population in a confined area leads to us disliking our fellow man and viewing every human being as an enemy to us. That's what I'm seeing here. This sort of pessimism, cynicism, animosity towards hope and hatred of mankind is the very thing me and other Space Enthusiasts hope to overcome with monumental achievements.

 

Irrelevant? Nothing? Would you call friendship and the mane 6 nothing and irrelevant? We are purpose to the universe. It can only know love, harmony, creativity, inginuity, hard work, it can only know those things through our presence. Those are things that no infinite amount of hydrogen gas, stars, and dust will ever amount to. The capturing of a planet into a star's orbit will never invoke the same meaningfulness and significance as a group hug of loving friends.

 

 

That's the side of humanity I want to carry on. It exists, it's there, and whatever evil there is in our world is completely invalidated by even the smallest bit of it. Freedom, human dignity, brotherly kindness, these things foster that good side of mankind and they can only exist if those malthusian ideas of competition are done away with. Humans are emotional beings, it's not enough to argue and reason it away, you have to really make people feel and believe that they're false. We've taken the first steps into the space age already, we've looked back on Earth as a small marble, and now we view it that way; limited. We're currently confined to that limited world. And now, unless we break open our boundries and make travel to outer space, farther and farther, unless we make that happen, then people will think in the malthusian kill-or-be-killed way. The only way to convince the world that malthus was wrong, is by eradicating that boundry of Earth's surface, and making our existence one that is unbound, with hopeful prospects of infinite growth into the future.

 

Shows like Terra Nova and other popular depictions of a "dying world", as Jake Sully called it in Avatar, are terrible warning signs that people are starting to think in a Malthusian way that is the enemy of the loving nobility of mankind as depicted above.

 

When is it "too late"? It's almost too late now. It's almost too late because there are so many people caught in the same mindset that you are, that mankind is irreparably evil, that we can't overcome our weaknesses and become better, that our bright future needs to wait to some unknown time in the future.

 

That's when it's too late. But I, personally, will never give up on mankind, because as much evil and darkness as there is, it is completely destroyed by even the smallest light, and like Sodom and Gomorrah, which God would not destroy for the sake of only a single righteous person, whatever evil there is in the world is rendered totally invalid by any good. For that reason, mankind is worthy to survive and spread to the stars.

 

And doing so will only foster an environment where that light can shine ever brighter.

 

Is it economic, cold, logical, strategic? No. It's emotional. Because humans are emotional, and everything we do is because of some emotion. If we don't spread out, then Malthusian ideas will kill any kindness, love, or harmony our world has. There are people who think Earth can't handle 9 billion people, and some who even want nuclear destruction of our species now. which would also mean death to the good side of mankind shown above, all the love and harmony of mankind. These Malthusian ideas must be stopped. And they only way to convince the world of their falsehood is to make it obvious that our resources and prospects are unlimited by breaking free of our lush but limited cradle, Earth.

 

I have zero tolerance for outright anti-human sentiment. There's bad, but there's also good, after all, we're the ones who came up with shows like MLP, and an idea is the beginning of everything. Ponies didn't create themselves then make the show on Earth, we made the show, we came up with the idea of Equestria, which shows without a doubt that we aspire to something of that state, even if there is disagreement on how to get there.

 

I would think that mankind would be inspired by Equestria if we were to discover it, and I've written a fair bit about that at the beginning of this post, though the weaknesses the ponies have are so human-like I wonder about how much we could corrupt them. It's not like they don't already know about little things like greed or deceit.

 

 

Anyways, it's a great topic, no doubt, but if anyone wants to reply then ask me to start a thread on it, this thread is more about if humans would be scary to ponies

 

Beg your pardon, simply couldn't let anti-human sentiment go by without a response of some sort.

 

And also, not having children is perhaps the worst possible response to seeing mankind in a poor state. WE make up our world, WE are the human race. Whether or not you have children, other, worse people will have children and continue the human race. So who would you rather rule the future?

 

Your own children, who follow your example, are often like you, and that you raise, teach, and lead -

Or the people who produce the most children, who can be vile, cruel, judgemental, and carry all the flaws of mankind in abundance?

 

'Cause if everyone who wants a better world doesn't have children, then we'll be a rather horrible situation. If you want a better world, it's up to you to make it happen. Bailing out and letting less noble individuals take over isn't going to help one bit.

Edited June 13, 2012 by EASA - Matt

[Starshine 16,333]

My browser is acting up again, so forgive me for the lack of proper quotes

 

Luckily, NATO is currently the primary world superpower. Someone may say "China", but consider this; we have "Made in USA" products - they're more expensive - but we could live without China. China, on the other hand, is rather dependent on our continued purchasing of services from their country. And militaristicaly speaking, NATO is most certainly the world leader.

 

In international politics, might really is right. So it really depends on how pacifist NATO, or rather, the U.S. is. Do we defend Equestria from other, more militaristic nations, or do we decide to be pacifist, "and just stay out of it"? It's one thing to regulate companies - we do that a lot, and we didn't drill Alaska which might have paid off our debts, and cut off the money supply for terrorist organizations and African warlords - for the sake of not putting some drills in a huge forest. So I have no concerns about what would happen to Equestria if it fell under NATO or U.S. jurisdiction.

 

But, if we decide to not put it under our own jurisdiction?... Other countries are a bit less friendly.

It's better if Equestria actually has a better means to defend themselves imo. My best bet is that Celestia will actually able to construct a permanent, indestructible shield around her land. That way they will have a slightly better standing in the international world.

 

But looking from Equestria's monarchy system, I kinda afraid that the U.S. will try to "bring democracy" to Equestria :­(

[Abstract 832]

*snipped for space*

 

I'm not really about the, "The human race is going to destroy each other", rather, we're going to destroy ourselves without meaning to. My main concern is how we treat the environment, our planet. We're doing a pretty horrible job of it, with increasing pollution, landfills, diminishing resources - all of these problems are of a great concern to me that nobody seems serious about doing anything to fix it. We take small steps, sure, recycling, researching new forms of energy; but I fear it'll be too little too late.

 

And BTW - I would indeed like a thread dedicated to such a topic, it could be some good discussion.

Edited June 14, 2012 by Abstract