History Main / WhatMeasureIsANonhuman

[[quoteright:200:[[LightNovel/KyouranKazokuNikki https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cit_kyouran_kazoku_nikki_-_catgirl_vs_mandrake_-_will_it_blend.jpg]]]]

** WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/StarTrek

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/{{Machinima}}

** Earlier still, the entirety of the Visorak arc. The protagonists are changed to beastmen, which they find horrifying, but they have to learn to appreciate their new forms for what they are before the DeusExMachina will turn them back. There are also the Rahaga (who are eventually revealed to be [[BalefulPolymorph transformed Toa themselves]]) that go around trying to save the wildlife from the evil army. Said evil army is made up of GiantSpiders whose name means [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "stealer of life"]] in their own language... [[spoiler:and the arc ends when one of the protagonists disbands the army and points out their former ruler was a tyrant. But not before his partners kill a bunch of them. Later, the Order of Mata-Nui trick a different team of Toa into bringing a rock that summons the Visorak to a volcanic island, killing all of them. The Toa are outraged that they were just duped into committing genocide, despite the reasoning of the Order that the spiders were AlwaysChaoticEvil.]]

[[caption-width-right:200:Proposed alternate measure: Advertising/WillItBlend]]

* Robots and Artificial Intelligence stories examine this quite a lot in their plots, for example in the writings of Creator/IsaacAsimov. The {{Three Laws|Compilant}} obviously put a robot's survival below a human's, even below human commands. Good robots and other MechanicalLifeforms are considered people most of the time. Killing one is generally the karmic equivalent of killing a human the same way -- except that it is easier to show them getting hurt (think of poor Bishop in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''), which gets awkward. MechaMooks and bad robots almost always have a very low value in this regard, even if they demonstrate [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots obvious personalities, emotions]], and [[CreativeSterility humanlike intelligence]]. Regardless, robots are the most frequent victims of the "[[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt How Did You Know That Mook]] [[NotEvenHuman Wasn't Human]]?" "[[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt I Didn't!]]" trope. It's JustAMachine, after all. It probably helps that when a robot dies WeCanRebuildHim more easily than [[CameBackWrong bring back a human]] (which is a source of superiority as well: human life is more complicated, probably because robots are almost ''always'' written as not having [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls]] even if they are sentient), making them more expendable.

* Robots and Artificial Intelligence stories examine this quite a lot in their plots, for example in the writings of Creator/IsaacAsimov. Good robots and other MechanicalLifeforms are considered people most of the time. Killing one is generally the karmic equivalent of killing a human the same way -- except that it is easier to show them getting hurt (think of poor Bishop in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''), which gets awkward. MechaMooks and bad robots almost always have a very low value in this regard, even if they demonstrate [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots obvious personalities, emotions]], and [[CreativeSterility humanlike intelligence]]. Regardless, robots are the most frequent victims of the "[[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt How Did You Know That Mook]] [[NotEvenHuman Wasn't Human]]?" "[[HowDidYouKnowIDidnt I Didn't!]]" trope. It's JustAMachine, after all. It probably helps that when a robot dies WeCanRebuildHim more easily than [[CameBackWrong bring back a human]] (which is a source of superiority as well: human life is more complicated, probably because robots are almost ''always'' written as not having [[OurSoulsAreDifferent souls]] even if they are sentient), making them more expendable.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/{{Toys}}

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/{{Theatre}}

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/AudioPlays

** If a SoapboxSadie is present, you can get a major talking-to for this, but it's never really taken seriously, like the character, and is often played for comedy.

** There are some exceptions in the very, very rare works where the zombies are not entirely mindless and retain a bit more personality and/or self-control. One example of this (albeit one that some viewers found ridiculous) is the ''Film/DayOfTheDead2008'' remake. It is eventually revealed that certain zombies not only don't eat people, but are completely non-violent. Because of this, multiple characters argue over whether or not it's okay to kill them. They ''are'' [[CarnivoreConfusion zombies]], but they aren't hurting anyone. More on this in the Film section.

This is often one of the reasons why HumansAreTheRealMonsters. It can get especially awkward, however, when it happens in works of fiction where many of the ''heroes'' aren't human either, leading to uncomfortable FridgeLogic.

This also tends to happen in a metafictional way: many animated series and video games can [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get away with horrific violence and onscreen deaths]] that the censors would've put a quick stop to (or at least given the work a higher rating) had the victims been human. [[MechaMooks Robots]], the undead, and the like can be brutally impaled, dismembered, and decapitated onscreen, using this trope on the MoralGuardians even if the work itself averts or subverts the trope in-universe.

* As far as other fantastic races, it often seems that the morality of killing the race depends on how much they resemble humans either culturally or physically. [[FiveRaces Dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings]] all look relatively human, and so killing them is bad, but the bestial-looking [[AlwaysChaoticEvil orcs, goblins and trolls]] are evil and should be killed. Other races who obviously are not human, but possess cultural traits such as music or clothing styles that the human audience can easily recognize or identify with, are also given preferential treatment over whatever evil races exist.

* [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/{{Fanfic}} Fanfiction]]

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/{{Meta}}

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/WebComics

* [[CloningBlues Clones]], [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse parallel universe duplicates]], and other {{Doppelganger}}s are [[ExpendableClone often considered expendable]], even if they absolutely ''are'' biologically human and sentient and independent individuals with personalities. Restoring an AI from a backup copy is often treated like a DisneyDeath. This is all provided at least one "instance" of each character survives. ("Sorry, but we only need one flannel shirt-wearing comic relief guy.") [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00383.htm The thing is]], it should be more like [[AngstySurvivingTwin a twin sibling dying]], but it tends to be treated more casually instead, like ImmortalLifeIsCheap. This can vary, however, as while the ''story'' can kill them freely without consequence, many writers prefer to let their deaths affect the ''characters'' with all the pathos such a close death could incur. Whether actually treating it like a sibling/twin death, a warning about the path they could be taking(in the case of an Evil clone/alternate self) or the consequences of failing(with alternate universes or BadFuture selves).

This also tends to happen in a metafictional way: many animated series and video games can [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get away with horrific violence and onscreen deaths]] that the censors would've put a quick stop to (or at least given the work a higher rating) had the victims been human. Robots, the undead, and the like can be brutally impaled, dismembered, and decapitated onscreen, using this trope on the MoralGuardians even if the work itself averts or subverts the trope in-universe.

* The value of the life of a non-human [[AnimalMotifs animal]] in fiction, distressingly, tends to relate directly to how much humans like said animal. Thus dogs are protected by ImprobableInfantSurvival but [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakes]], spiders and [[BugWar insects]] are trampled without a second thought. Sadly, this is TruthInTelevision. To paraphrase an old Denis Leary routine about the Endangered Species Act, "You ''know'' how this is going to end! Eventually, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters only the cute and cool animals will get to live!"]]

* The value of the life of a non-human [[AnimalMotifs animal]] in fiction, distressingly, tends to relate directly to how much humans like said animal. Thus dogs are protected by InfantImmortality but [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakes]], spiders and [[BugWar insects]] are trampled without a second thought. Sadly, this is TruthInTelevision. To paraphrase an old Denis Leary routine about the Endangered Species Act, "You ''know'' how this is going to end! Eventually, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters only the cute and cool animals will get to live!"]]

!!Examples belong in subpages:

Intelligence, emotions, [[MoralityTropes moral compass]] and whether the character in question is [[TheUndead actually alive in the conventional sense]] are usually what dictate the morality of the situation. But more often than not, it's also based upon the human-like [[SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism physical]] and [[HumansAreSpecial psychological]] traits the character has (an issue further explored in [[http://www.fanboy.com/2010/01/are-humans-biased-to-thinking-that-only-humanoids-are-intelligent.html this blog post]]). The sliding scale usually goes something like this:

* [[CloningBlues Clones]], [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse parallel universe duplicates]], and other {{Doppelganger}}s are [[ExpendableClone often considered expendable]], even if they absolutely ''are'' biologically human and sentient and independent individuals with personalities. Restoring an AI from a backup copy is often treated like a DisneyDeath. This is all provided at least one "instance" of each character survives. ("Sorry, but we only need one flannel shirt-wearing comic relief guy.") [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00383.htm The thing is]], it should be more like [[AngstySurvivingTwin a twin sibling dying]], but it tends to be treated more casually instead, like ImmortalLifeIsCheap.

* [[CloningBlues Clones]], [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse parallel universe duplicates]], and other {{Doppelganger}}s are [[ExpendableClone often considered expendable]], even if they absolutely ''are'' biologically human and sentient and independent individuals with personalities. Restoring an AI from a backup copy is often treated like a DisneyDeath. This is all provided at least one "instance" of each character survives. ("Sorry, but we only need one flannel shirt-wearing comic relief guy.") The thing is, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00383.htm it should be more like a twin sibling dying,]] instead it's a more casual ImmortalLifeIsCheap. See also AngstySurvivingTwin.

* [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]], [[{{Kaiju}} Giant]] [[{{Robeast}} Monsters]] and BigCreepyCrawlies are generally treated as huge pests and exterminated as such without much controversy, typically in self defense. There are some exceptions. If you are a monster, the more you resemble a more conventional specimen of the creature you are based upon, the fewer people you directly harm, and (most importantly) the more personality you have, the better your chances are for surviving. Some human or other will recognize that you are merely misunderstood and may try to help you. Of course, if you eat ''that'' human, you're pretty much boned.