Information AboutTerran |
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As with "terrestrial", everything on Earth is arguably Terran, that is it is just as legitimate to say "of terran origin" as "of terrestrial origin". Some, such as Hugo De Garis , make the distinction that those who want to leave Earth or destroy it may be of terrestrial origin but are not in fact Terran. He defines a ''Terran'' in political opposition to a '' Cosmist ''—the latter being those who wish to build Artificial Intelligence beyond human capabilities and leave Earth. That distinction seems to be derived from earlier usage of ''terran'' by many Science Fiction authors as a synonym for '' Earthling '' or '' Human '' or '' Terrestrial ''—most notably in the context of alien encounters with humans. It is particularly useful in contexts—such as most popular science fiction television shows—where there are humans or near-humans from other planets, necessitating a term for inhabitants of Earth that is more specific than ''human''. This usage is probably related to the term '' Martian s'' for natives of Mars . Sometimes ''Terran'' and ''earthling'' are used for joke impact, when aliens cannot tell humans from other highly active-and-possibly cognitive terran entities, for example '', an alien ship seeking humpback whales to talk to is causing tremendous harm to Earth, as humpbacks are long extinct and it increases in volume to get a response; on previous visits, the aliens apparently recognized them, and not humans, as the species worth engaging in conversation. A similar theme was expressed in '' Visit To A Small Planet '', when aliens who visited Earth were convinced it was ruled by cars, with human parasites in them. The term ''Terran'' has specific applications in some science fiction stories. For example:
In modern science fiction, ''Terran'' is more common than ''earthling'', since the latter term tends to carry a '' universe, humans from Earth are the '' Tau'ri '' (a term which does contain some of the same sounds as ''Terran''). In the strategy game Imperium Galactica , humans are referred to as ''solarians'' - a reference to the formal name of our sun, Sol . |
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