I've been playing Mass Effect and the designs of the different species got me thinking up my own aliens species. (might do a write up in the AMAW), but it also got me thinking of what an intelligent (equivalent to our own at least) extraterrestrial lifeform would really look like.
In sci-fi many aliens appear to take on a very humanoid form, with just extra bumps on the forehead or pointy ears. But is this an accurate assumption of what ET would look like? Most scientists say no. But some claim based on a phenomena in evolution known as convergent evolution that some forms are inevitable to arise. For one interesting example bats and dolphins independently developed near identical genetic paths for sonar.
"It seems to me that if something like a bipedal primate (or the equivalent thereof) has a certain inevitability to it because of how evolution unfolds, then it would have happened more than once here. In his book Nonzero, Robert Wright argues that our existence precludes other terrestrial intelligences of our level from arising, but Neanderthals were as close as one can get to a counterfactual experiment, and they had half a million years to themselves in Europe without our interference, and showed no signs of cultural progress whatsoever in that time (tool kits stayed the same, no symbolic art, etc.). So that seems to me a bit of data against that argument."
This part sounds less like an argument against intelligent extraterrestrial life taking humanoid form and more an argument against intelligent life developing at all. But this isn't the arguement, based on the math alone there are likely thousands possibly millions of intelligent lifeforms in this galaxy alone.
Now one argument was that based on what we have seen in convergent evolution it's much more likely to see a starfish or millipede like alien then a humanoid one.
The chances of ET looking like a sea star, a millipede, or a spineless clam are far greater than ET looking like us. The fact that weâre our favorite species and thus depict aliens looking like us tells us more about our egos than evolution.
But this point doesn't take into account the physical requirements of our form of intelligence to form.
So what would such a lifeform require?
Of course they would need a well developed complex brain structure. This would likely have to take a similar form as ours. This brain would have to allow for creativity to invent, make and use tools. It would also have to allow for this creativity to be used in a similar communal fashion as our ability to work together in such an intellectual way has been shown based on studies of other prime mates to be a major factor in our ability to grow and develop our knowledge. Out of these abilities we should see consciousness emerge.
Another requirement would be fine motor skills. They would require the physical capability to manipulate objects, to fashion and use tools. In us we adapted hands, tentacles like those of an octopus could also preform this function.
The species would also require a means of moving around. Depending on the environment this could vary greatly but if we are talking about a terrestrial Earth like environment then legs of some sort would be likely. It would need this so as to explore the world around it.
So ET would have a well developed brain, likely hands or tentacles to manipulate objects, and some means to move itself around.
My thoughts on the matter is that the humanoid form would be at least one of several very likely forms an intelligent extraterrestrial lifeform would take. It wouldn't likely just be bumpy headed people, but the basic form would likely be there. There would likely still be great diversity with number of limbs, fingers, etc., and the proportions and shape of those limbs. But the basic humanoid structure would still be able to be made out. Overall the closer to an Earth like environment we got the more likely an intelligent lifeform would appear humanoid.
Your thoughts?
P.S. This is not a topic to argue Creation, or try to argue against evolution. This topic works under the assumption that such life does exist as the mathematics probabilities show thousands even millions of other intelligent lifeforms to likely exist just in this galaxy alone.
So my guess is that any life forms we come across will be highly superior.
it wouldn't be so much that we are likely to be on a bottom rung as the limitations that are faced with making contact. Right now we either have to make contact with them threw a transmission of some sort, or they have to come to us. If they can come to us then they are far more advanced. If they can detect our signals they might be on par or more advanced.
Scientists have hypothesized that if we are to come across life on another planet, it will most likely be insect-like, only more developed than what we have here.
However, I can't remember the facts upon which that theory is based, and I'm too lazy to search right now.
You sir have terrible movie tastes. Couldn't you at least sympathize with the alien monster things?
You serious? June 2009? Wow, jokes were out about him ON the day he died, lighten up
I remember hearing about him being melted down, to make various puns.
it wouldn't be so much that we are likely to be on a bottom rung as the limitations that are faced with making contact. Right now we either have to make contact with them threw a transmission of some sort, or they have to come to us. If they can come to us then they are far more advanced. If they can detect our signals they might be on par or more advanced.
If they are intelligent then they would probably be able to notice our signals, but they might not have the equipment to decipher them, also I can't help wonder what would happen if we came into contact with a similar life form but could not understand each other( languages and all that) But past all that, if they do manage to come to us I would imagine they would not come all this way for peace.
Scientists have hypothesized that if we are to come across life on another planet, it will most likely be insect-like, only more developed than what we have here.
I'll try and look around but if someone comes up with a link I would like to see it. Also do you remember if this applied to intelligent life or just life in general?
If they are intelligent then they would probably be able to notice our signals,
Not necessarily, for intense if we just go back 100-150 years or even less we wouldn't have had the ability to detect such signals. Even now picking up an extraterrestrial signals would be iffy at best.
if they do manage to come to us I would imagine they would not come all this way for peace.
I think H.G. Wells had a good idea of aliens; spider or crab like beings with a large brain, and many hands. He argues that modern humans use their brains and hands to advance themselves. Humans no longer have the need for sprinting, or large amounts of physical labour because our technology has replaced manual labour.
Life probably exists, but it is most likely a worm or some bacteria.
I think H.G. Wells had a good idea of aliens; spider or crab like beings with a large brain, and many hands. He argues that modern humans use their brains and hands to advance themselves. Humans no longer have the need for sprinting, or large amounts of physical labour because our technology has replaced manual labour.
I can agree with the first part of the use of hands and brains but not so sure of getting rid of large amounts of manual labor. Not sure of the large spider or crab like aliens as exoskeletons prove to be a limiting factor in size in an Earth like environment. It is possible such a creature could develop in lower gravity or if it only had the basic body structure and lacked the limiting features.
Life probably exists, but it is most likely a worm or some bacteria.
Yes that is very likely, but the question is what would the intelligent ones look like?
Also thinking of the post about insects, I would think bacteria would be a much more abundant form of life in the galaxy then insects.
but not so sure of getting rid of large amounts of manual labor. Not sure of the large spider or crab like aliens as exoskeletons prove to be a limiting factor in size in an Earth like environment. It is possible such a creature could develop in lower gravity or if it only had the basic body structure and lacked the limiting features.
His book book War of the Worlds described aliens from Mars or planet with lower gravity and less atmosphere. When humans dissected them, they found aliens could talk, but Earth's atmosphere was too heavy for their sounds to be heard. Wells also said that the Alien society used its technology to eliminate starvation and plague. Which ironically, killed them. Because they had eliminated disease on their planet, they had evolved to have almost no immunity system, so Earth's most basic lifeforms toppled highly advanced organism.
Which raises an interesting point, will our technology actually affect our evolution?
Which raises an interesting point, will our technology actually affect our evolution?
I think it already has, even with basic technology. For example instead of growing heavier coats of hair we developed the knowledge to fashion skins of other animals to wear.
I suppose this brings up another point about intelligent life. Rather then developing to be stronger or faster compared to other animals in there environment wouldn't they instead develop ways to out think and come up with tools to make up for these short comings?
If so how would this effect there appearance? For instance some of you have said they will have bigger better sensory organs then us. But instead they might develop tools that give them better eye sight or better hearing.