When discussing "importance", it’s essential to define the context. I know that in the context of the entire universe, pretty much all life is worthless. We are all organisms on a little planet that orbits a bog standard star set in one of many billions of galaxies. One day our sun will expand and that will be the end of us. But of course, you can’t judge worth in that context. Whatever criteria we imply to worth, we can’t get away from the fact the it is we human beings who are defining it. And so I come to my first point: imagination. Humans have the power of imagination, and as far as I’m aware (please correct me if I’m wrong) Pokémon do not. The power to visualize things that we do not directly experience is what caused humans to flourish in the first place. It is an incredible ability in the world and it leads me to my second point, which is cognition. We humans, as well as possessing imaginations, are also self aware. We have the ability to question our own existence, and we have concepts such as ethics and compassion. Pokémon (certainly "lower" Pokémon such as Octillery) do not possess such concepts. The concept of free will is one that has taxed philosophers for millennia, but it is clear that we are not automatons like most Pokémon are. My third point is potential. When a human is born, it has the potential to go on and do so much more than any other Pokémon can. It could grow up to make contributions to science, medicine, the arts, etc, enriching not just its own life but the lives of all around them, human and non-human. Pokémon can make a difference, but not consciously and not on the same scale that humans can. In this respect, both humans and other Pokémon have “worth”, but humans have much more worth than Pokémon, making them more important. So in summary, humans are more important than Pokémon because of traits such as imagination, intelligence and technology. I’d love to hear any arguments to the contrary.