Are humans the smartest race?

[Polyphase Avatron]

I just thought of this. Everyone says the humans are so worthless because they can't match up in power to the other races, but do they make up for that by being more intelligent?

Think about it: An interstellar civilization composed of many species working together for who-knows-how-long has their technology surpassed by a few human scientists (Bulma makes better armor, Dr. Briefs makes a better spaceship, Dr. Gero makes androids that are stronger than Freeza, etc.) Humans were also the ones to invent capsules which no other race has, they can easily reverse-engineer and improve on alien technology, both Bulma and Pilaf built Dragon Radars which Freeza's forces never had, that guy from Jaco's manga built a time machine, and of course Bulma built a time machine in the future, etc. There's also the Dr. Slump crossovers featuring Senbei and his inventions, and all of the technology created by the Red Ribbon army, etc.

In comparison:

- Saiyajins just use technology stolen or given by other races
- Namekians built a pretty good spaceship, but other than that they don't have many technological achievements
- Freeza's empire has a lot of good technology, but like I mentioned that was created by many different species from many different planets working together, and humans have built superior stuff
- Kaiohs and Kaioshins seem to rely on magic and their powers more than technology - and they are not particularly competent either
- Tuffles built the scouters and if you count GT and the OVAs they might surpass humans in their technology, but if you don't they don't have that much going for them.

So are humans the smartest/most technologically adept race in Dragonball?

[Kamiccolo9]

I think it's more likely that it's just a few humans who are dramatically more intelligent, rather than the species as a whole. I mean, aside from Gero and Bulma's family, what have humans actually done that the other races haven't?

[FortuneSSJ]

Bulma created a time machine.
Bulma/Dr Briefs created spaceships with gravity training.
Dr Gero created Cyborgs/Androids.

We can say they are the smartest, but take this into account:

I think it's more likely that it's just a few humans who are dramatically more intelligent, rather than the species as a whole. I mean, aside from Gero and Bulma's family, what have humans actually done that the other races haven't?

[predazunn]

IMHO: 2nd most intelligent. Humans are the most versatile in their intelligence but nothing tops creating the dragonballs. It may not look like 'technology' but I never really got the impression that namekians were magical beings, they just intelligently use their ki. If ALL human could use ki I think they'd be the best. If we also take super into account, that namekian book sounds like another proof of their intelligence.

[FoolsGil]

Humanity isn't a race of scientists, so no.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

If anything, humans are the stupederist race of all. These are the people who couldn't see through "Demon Junior"'s disguise until the turban came off, and accepted Hercules claims regardless of the evidence to the contrary. Bluma's family, Gero, Roshi and (kind of) Videl are the only intelligent ones

[predazunn]

If anything, humans are the stupederist race of all. These are the people who couldn't see through "Demon Junior"'s disguise until the turban came off, and accepted Hercules claims regardless of the evidence to the contrary. Bluma's family, Gero, Roshi and (kind of) Videl are the only intelligent ones

Very good point, Kudos

[h0kuten]

The Tuffles were probably the most intelligent race. They invented intergalactic travel and scouters. However, the Saiyans apparently defeated them in combat and stole their technology, which was eventually upgraded by Frieza's empire -only to eventually be upgraded again by the events of Fukkatsu no F.

The Tuffles are the underlying cause for all the advance gadgets we see in Dragonball.

Humans? Well, humans have been known to be cannibals. A live rat won't eat a dead rat.

What's that tell ya?

[Cetra]

Whis' race is obviously. Or dragons.

[VegettoEX]

If you want to take it into Jaco territory, they seem well aware of the existence of time travel. Since it's banned on an intergalactic level, I would assume that means it's been done before somewhere else out there. Sure, they could have just banned it on a theoretical level, but they seem to have a reason for having banned it, and Jaco seems worried/upset/surprised that Omori got as far as he did with the invention.

The universe is huge, and as much as I would say it applies to "real-life", it applies in Dragon Ball as well: to assume humanity is the smartest and the bestest at everything is incredibly arrogant and likely wrong.

[GTX]

The dragons obviously, their knowledge has no limit their authority has no limit, even kaioshin cannot stop dragon god races to do mass revives

[Doctor.]

In a world where people still believe Satan's shenanigans, I'm inclined to say no. Obviously there are a select few humans like Bulma, her father and Dr. Gero, whose brilliance greatly surpasses the rest of the human race and rivals the greatest geniuses in the universe, if not surpass it.

[TKB21]

If anything, humans are the stupederist race of all. These are the people who couldn't see through "Demon Junior"'s disguise until the turban came off, and accepted Hercules claims regardless of the evidence to the contrary. Bluma's family, Gero, Roshi and (kind of) Videl are the only intelligent ones

Out of curiosity, why was Videl thrown in the mix?

[irreality]

I think humans as a race lack common sense (although that might apply to the whole DB universe), but I think humans as a race in DB are very smart technologically. People take isolated examples of brilliance as if engineering happened in isolation: Dr. Briefs might have had the initial encapsulation idea, but people rarely see products from idea to world-spanning corporations alone: those sorts of projects take collaboration from thousands of smart people working together. And he wouldn't have had that idea without the science of the time progressing to the point where that idea was possible. Dr. Gero probably also built his inventions on the shoulders of giants -- there might be other scientists in the DB world doing great things with genetic engineering and robotics that are just not relevant to our plot on which he built his work (he was known in the community of scientists, which means he collaborated with them at some point). No denying Bulma is a genius, but if Omori had worked on a Time Machine years before, maybe some of that research was published and she had access to it when building her own machines. As a race, DB humans are pretty smart and futuristic compared to regular humans.

That said, even the smartest among them can't see the obvious in front of their faces. I'm still baffled that Bulma didn't realize Trunks was her son before she was explicitly told.

Are they smarter than other races? Probably not -- but it might help that their relative "galactic isolation" has prevented major upheavals in their society and allowed them to develop mostly on their own.

[Kamiccolo9]

Humans? Well, humans have been known to be cannibals. A live rat won't eat a dead rat.

What's that tell ya?

Uh....yeah they will? With gusto. Almost every carnivorous or scavenger creature will eat its own kind.

I'm not sure what this has to do with intelligence, anyway.

[ekrolo2]

They take Mr Satan seriously, they're anything but smart.

[irreality]

Humans? Well, humans have been known to be cannibals. A live rat won't eat a dead rat.

What's that tell ya?

Hannibal Lecter's intelligence is never in question in "Silence of the Lambs" just because he is a cannibal. But let's not digress into other media. Although "humans" like Yajirobe do dine on sentient beings, so would Saiyans like Vegeta. None of them, as far as I'm aware, dined on their own kind.

[LuckyCat]

Freeza's forces have medical machines that, as of RoF, can literally reassemble tissue to such a degree that the tissue of the living being's memory is intact. I would say that's a pretty big breakthrough. They practically have immortality without the dragon balls.

I know OP is trying to disqualify Freeza's forces, but remember humans also have the benefit of other species' technology to be advanced (i.e. Namekian, Saiyan, that Giro thing in GT)

[soulnova]

You know, I would like to know if Future Bulma got the research of the time travel machine directly from Omori or Thighs during the Android Era.

Since Jaco came out, my head canon goes something like this: after the initial Android attacks Bulma checks on their island but the Androids already killed them. She finds Omori's research papers by mere chance and takes it with her.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

If anything, humans are the stupederist race of all. These are the people who couldn't see through "Demon Junior"'s disguise until the turban came off, and accepted Hercules claims regardless of the evidence to the contrary. Bluma's family, Gero, Roshi and (kind of) Videl are the only intelligent ones

Out of curiosity, why was Videl thrown in the mix?

She was the only high school student to see through Gohan's disguise.