system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Mass Effect] How did humanity become so powerful/influential so quickly?

I have not played the first 3 ME games in awhile and I am confused as to how we became such a big part of intergalactic politics. What separates us from any of the other species? What makes us so special that a human is able to become a specter in such a short amount of time relative to the other species who are part of the council?
gpt
"Being average" is often humanity's hat in a lot of fictional settings. Some species are better at war. Some species have better tech. Some species breed faster, or are individually more powerful. Each of them is superior to humanity in one particular thing, but overall we don't do so bad. 

Thing is, a lot of things in life are more like pentathlons, with a gauntlet of different challenges. Some species will dominate a particular sport but it's the generalist that's going to reach the finish line first.