Warning: shocking Russian alien autopsy video reveals anatomy of extraterrestrial species in gruesome detail:
Life Sciences Alien autopsies
- Thread starter Second Summer
- Start date
Blobbenstein
.......
beancounter
The Fire That Burns Within
There probably is life elsewhere in the universe. The likelyhood that they resemble us in anyway is virtually impossible.
Therefore it must be a fake.
Therefore it must be a fake.
OP
OP
Well, I didn't exactly mean to imply it was real, or to the extent I did, it was in jest 
However, the idea of alien autopsies in the first place though, does that sound credible? If someone had the technology to travel between the stars, and came upon this planet, would they be so clumsy as to crash into a mountain or be shot down by what must be to them ancient weapons technology?
Or if humans really were a threat to them, wouldn't they just send robots?
Or indeed, why travel themselves all the way here, at least in the first instance, when they could send robots?
Of course, maybe for whatever reason it makes more sense to build organic biological robots or cyborgs. Which could explain the fake appearance of that unfortunate alien in the video!
However, the idea of alien autopsies in the first place though, does that sound credible? If someone had the technology to travel between the stars, and came upon this planet, would they be so clumsy as to crash into a mountain or be shot down by what must be to them ancient weapons technology?
Or if humans really were a threat to them, wouldn't they just send robots?
Or indeed, why travel themselves all the way here, at least in the first instance, when they could send robots?
Of course, maybe for whatever reason it makes more sense to build organic biological robots or cyborgs. Which could explain the fake appearance of that unfortunate alien in the video!
Blobbenstein
.......
Blobbenstein
.......
beancounter
The Fire That Burns Within
Blobbenstein
.......
why not separate planets?
If the environment is similar, similar gravity, temperatures etc, why wouldn't you have similar evolutionary trees?
To get a humanoid, you might go from a rat-like creature to a squirrel-type, to a monkey type etc....I think it would be one of the main pathways to a spacefaring species.
beancounter
The Fire That Burns Within
It appears that a lot of people think that the humanoid form is ideal for an intelligent species. But to me, that view seems to be tainted with an unhealthy dose of anthropocentrism.
I blame that belief on a specific StarTrek TNG episode...
)In any case, here's a few articles discussing the topic.
http://speculativeevolution.wikia.com/wiki/Intelligent_aliens
http://theweek.com/article/index/246918/5-scientific-theories-about-what-aliens-might-look-like
http://scifi-real.com/what-would-aliens-look-like/
Blobbenstein
.......
I wasn't really talking about just intelligence, but spacefaring.....and I wasn't talking about ideal either, but I do think that humanoids would be quite common as a species responsible for an industrial civilisation.
FortyTwo
Custom Title
But every planet is so radically different...
In order to find out the probability of a humanoid civilization developing on another planet, you'd have to multiply together the following factors:
probability of conditions of planet being similar to Earth * probability that life similar to Earth's develops * probability that organisms develop the need to move out of water * probability that extinction event occurs with wide enough scope to wipe out the larger organisms that develop as a result of extended evolution * probability that fingers are needed * probability that upright stance is needed * probability that nothing wipes these creatures out * probability that these creatures develop intelligence * probability that these creatures' intelligence is greater than those of potential rival races on the planet
That's a lot of chance involved. We met those criteria, but one tiny adjustment could very easily have spelled the end of this specific appearance we have taken on. It's far from impossible, but far from likely that a given alien race would look humanoid.
Blobbenstein
.......
if we(and other primates) were wiped out, then something like the squirrel would evolve into moneys...it just feels like a natural progression to me.....you have to free up some appendages in order to use tools. If you started off with four legs then that means that the species will be bipedal
Maybe it's not the only form that a space faring species would take, but I bet it is the most common.
Maybe it's not the only form that a space faring species would take, but I bet it is the most common.
FortyTwo
Custom Title
Or they would evolve into squirrels that just happened to require more elaborate structures. Maybe they would gain an extra finger on each hand to help them build. Or maybe, in time, extra arms, if some mutant strand appeared and somehow worked better.
Or, maybe, squirrels wouldn't evolve any more at all, because they'd end up in equilibrium and would be perfectly capable of surviving in their environment without further adjustment.
Remember that evolution doesn't work toward the common goal of what we call intelligence. It's a pretty mindless process that is really just a more elaborate way of saying "things die because they don't work anymore." What we call intelligence isn't always needed for survival. Our existence relies on a bunch of flukes (unless you take a spiritual perspective with an intelligent creator which I'm shying away from as we're just referring to evolution here and not any kind of outside motivation).
So, if all humans were wiped out, you could very easily end up with an Earth that never spawns intelligence again. Or, it could end up spawning tons of intelligent races at the same time, each one radically different from the others. It all depends on the environmental conditions at the time.
Blobbenstein
.......
well, if the squirrels did develop a branch of primates, there might still be squirrels.
Do you really think a mutation of an extra arm/s would be how a species would progress..? An extra arm would disrupt the rest of the physiology, be uncontrollable as the brain would not have evolved to control it, and it would probably be prone to injury from getting in the way, as well as taking up the body's resources. Plus, if you've ever seen squirrels, you will have seen that they are acrobatic enough with just the four limbs.
I think some people don't want to think about bipeds all over the Universe, for some reason; maybe they think it's boring.
Do you really think a mutation of an extra arm/s would be how a species would progress..? An extra arm would disrupt the rest of the physiology, be uncontrollable as the brain would not have evolved to control it, and it would probably be prone to injury from getting in the way, as well as taking up the body's resources. Plus, if you've ever seen squirrels, you will have seen that they are acrobatic enough with just the four limbs.
I think some people don't want to think about bipeds all over the Universe, for some reason; maybe they think it's boring.
Last edited:
FortyTwo
Custom Title
Mhm. Divergent evolution.
Do you really think a mutation of an extra arm/s would be how a species would progress..? An extra arm would disrupt the rest of the physiology, be uncontrollable as the brain would not have evolved to control it, and it would probably be prone to injury from getting in the way, as well as taking up the body's resources. Plus, if you've ever seen squirrels, you will have seen that they are acrobatic enough with just the four limbs.
No, not really. It was just an example. Works better if you think of it before four limbs became the prominent structure of intelligent animals of our planet, because we've got a good thing going here, even if that good thing is due to specific conditions and chance. Oh, keep in mind that right on Earth, insects and spiders have six and eight limbs, and similar conditions for them could have led to them becoming intelligent. Same with octopi, who are already our closest contenders for intelligence other than primates.
Nah, no aliens are boring. Unless it's fiction, in which case, yes, too many bipedal aliens do tend to get annoying after a while. I just don't think it's likely in real life that a given alien race would have a similar body structure to ours, given the variety that exists in environments and the specific environmental conditions that led to our form.
(bold emphasis mine)
Some time ago, I read "Out Of The Silent Planet" by C.S.Lewis. Lewis' writings are kind of unusual as far as science fiction goes because he frequently incorporated elements of his Christian faith in his novels. Anyhow, this story involves several humans who manage to travel to Mars, and meet up with three unrelated sapient species there: Sorns, Hrossa, and Pfiffiltrig(sp??). Each of the native Martian sapient species evolved having somewhat different abilities and natural aptitudes, learning to live together. For example, the Sorns were the most technologically advanced of the three species.
Similar threads
