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Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) are the native sentient humanoid species of Earth. The species was instrumental in the founding of the United Federation of Planets.

Biology
Bilaterally symmetrical bipedal primates, Humans are a warm-blooded species with an average lifespan of around 120 years, although some individuals have achieved a much older age.

The Human species is one of the more distinct sentient groups present in the Milky Way Galaxy as, while they do not possess any dominant or noticeable bony ridges around their face or on their bodies as is common to many races throughout space, they do possess a great deal of phenotypic diversity within their species. Skin color, eye color, blood type, facial structures, hair color and hair type vary considerably between individuals and help to make nearly every single Human distinct in appearance from the next. The exception to this being in the case of identical twins, an anomaly that occurs in approximately 3 in every 1000 Human births.

They have two sexes, as is common to many humanoid species, the female of the species is fertile once a month after she reaches puberty (between the age of 12-16) until the onset of a biochemical stage known as menopause (between the age of 45-55). Human gestation lasts 9 months. The make-up of Human DNA structure is significant, as, with some modifications, it allows them to cross breed successfully with a wide range of other races across the galaxy, including Vulcans, Klingons, and Betazoids.

Humans are not as physically strong as some species, but they are resilient. They can survive with one lung or kidney (they have two of each normally), and surprisingly they can go days without water and weeks without food due to their bodies' ability to conserve water and live off stored fat respectively. Their bodies' efficient temperature regulation allows them to resist and survive cold temperatures that would adversely affect other species such as Cardassians and Klingons, or high temperatures that would be uncomfortable for an Andorian. It has also been noted that they possess more acute hearing than Cardassians.

Humans have iron-based blood. Each individual's blood has one of eight types depending on the presence or absence of three antigens called A, B, and Rh. The most common blood types among them are O+ and A+.

Overview
Humans are easily the most outworldly, idealistic and expansionistic race in the United Federation of Planets. Humans have no true speciality or extraordinary qualities and are average in both a technological and physical sense. Instead they are more idealistic, outgoing and cooperative than other races.

Because humans are the Federation species most interested in space exploration, they make up a large majority of Starfleet. The fact that Starfleet was originally a pre-Federation Earth organization also contributes to the human dominance of Starfleet. Humans also make up the majority of colonists on Federation colonies.

Human adaptability and their strong tradition of innovation and cooperation, have brought them to the forefront of the current Federation intersteller situation. It is for this very reason, however, that human society is constantly changing and evolving. This is seen not only on the isolated colonies, where the past traditions brought by culturally and geographically homogeneous blocks of colonies compete with new cultural pragmatisms demanded of frontier life, but also in the staid and settled core worlds as well. Fashion, speech and especially political views are constantly changing.

For species that are steeped in tradition and genealogical reverance as the basis of their societies, the human facination with the novel experience and their unending desire to innovate and explore, to discover for the sake of discovery are all difficult concepts to grasp.

Philosophy
Human philosophy has changed much over its history. It was dramatically altered after Zefram Cochrane's test of his warp drive, which initiated Earth's first contact with an alien race. Within fifty years, poverty, hunger, and war among the nations of Earth had been abolished. Racism and other prejudices soon followed. The discovery of extraterrestrial life and new philosophies such as the Vulcan concept of IDIC, placed Humanity's self-image in a new perspective.

The philosophy of most Humans revolves around self-enlightenment and the bettering of society as a whole. A Human's moral goal is the achievement of knowledge through peaceful exploration, as recognized in Starfleet's Prime Directive of non-interference with other cultures. Humans have found a sense of balance in their lives and attitudes. Compassion, courage, and intellect that have been developed into an ideal combination, with ambitions of further self-improvement.

It must be noted that all of this more specifically applies to Humans within the Sol system, as many Earth colonies are known to have developed vast cultural differences from other Humans and some have even fallen into anarchy, most notably Turkana IV.

Economic system
Earth's surplus economy began somewhere in the early 22nd century. In its final stages of developement towards the birth of the Federation, it caused such a major paradigm shift in humanity that it went from primarily a society that granted prestige according to one's wealth; which would now be largely irrelevent since anyone could share that standard of living, to a society that granted prestige based on what you "gave back" to society as a whole.

Everyone treats their job as an art form, not nescessarily because they always love it, but because by doing so it is the only possible way that they can gain prestige and get noticed in a society that expects this of them. That is why Starfleet is never short on personnel and is so omnipresent in Federation society; what better way to give back to the Federation than by defending its people, planets, and principles, and by at the same time expanding the Federation's knowledge base?

Resources must still be acquired and harvested; goods and services must still be produced or performed, and they can't all be done by individuals. People can have whatever they want, within limits, unless they can show that they can develope those things in such a way that it benefits Federation society. If they want a planet, they have to present the appropriate Federation controlling agency with a "business plan" that takes into account benefit to society (i.e. how does it "give back" or make society better?), energy and logistical requirements, safety concerns, etc. So even a major corporation, rather than being motivated by profits, must subscribe to the same principles of the Federation's citizenry as a whole; the pursuit of bettering itself and as a result bettering society at large.

The same applies to credits. All people have a basic energy allocations without charge, but if you exceeded those allocations then you have to use credits. The more dangerous, time consuming, or beneficial to society a job may be, the more credits a person will be allocated. Likewise, credits can be offered as a reward for a significant achievement of some sort. If someone could convince the Federation agency responsible for such things that they need more energy for a certain task, than they could be granted more credits as a "loan" that they would have to pay back by giving back to society or by providing a service to the Federation agency in question.

Crime of a monetary nature is largely eliminated within the Federation not because of security measures, but simply because people can't gain any prestige that way. The only thing of any value would be authentic (non-replicated) merchandise of a rare or illegal nature. But even then such things are ultimately pointless beyond admiring it yourself (or showing trusted friends - a rare commodity amongst criminals), since sharing it with the public would be impossible due to you being subsequently arrested for your crimes.

So humans in the Federation's citizens are motivated to better themselves and by extension society because that is the only way to gain recognition from others who are guided by the same principles.

Humanity's children
In recent centuries, humans have expanded on their desire to seek out new life by turning inward, and have begun to demonstrate their abilities to create new life in their own image.

The stronger, more intelligent and physically resilient 20th Century Augments may or may not qualify as a seperate species, but following his experience with Augments in the 22nd Century, Dr. Arik Soong abandoned genetics for cybernetics. His work was continued and fulfilled by Dr. Noonien Soong, who created the sentient Soong-type androids; including Lore, B-4 and Data, who proved capable of reproduction with his daughter Lal.

Holographic technology has also sprouted new sentient life, begining with the first self-aware holographic character, James Moriarty in 2365. The work of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman on Emergency Medical Holograms birthed The Doctor, humanity's most complex photonic life form allowed to develop to date.

Origins
Approximately 3.5 billion years ago, a group of amino acids combined to form the first proteins, in the region of Earth that would eventually become known as France. This first life on the planet would develop into, among other things, the Human species.

Evidence was discovered in 2369 revealed that many of the galaxy's humanoid races were descended from a single humanoid race, the originators of the form, who had seeded many worlds with DNA codes which directed the evolution of life towards a pattern similar to their own.

Alternate timelines

 * In an alternate timeline, Humanity was assimilated by the Borg in 2063 after the Borg prevented first contact between Humans and Vulcans.
 * In another alternate timeline, Humanity was nearly wiped out by the Xindi in 2154, who destroyed not only Earth, but Mars, the Alpha Centauri colony, and the Vega colony, so only 6,000 Humans survived. These Humans escaped to Ceti Alpha V. The alternate timeline was obliterated in 2165.

Trivia

 * The Borg designation for Humans is "Species 5618".
 * The Klingon and Ferengi words for Human are both spelled exactly the same (Human), although the Klingon is pronounced with a rough fricative, much like the "ch" in Bach or Loch. Klingons also refer to them by the name of their homeplanet Terra -tera'ngan, and the Ferengi change the pronunciation of the 'a' in human, pronouncing it as "hyu-mon".