Forums → WEPR → What would intelligent aliens really look like?

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.

I came across this article on Michael Shermer's views and a discussion he had with Richard Dawkins. Shermer's stance on aliens is that they would not look like us. I found it over all to presenting both sides well.
http://www.science20.com/skeptic/michael_shermer_what_aliens_can_tell_us_about_evolution

I have a couple issues with Shermer's argument.

"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.