Space-travelling aliens - Earthlike?
Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:27 am
So, I have pondered about the possibility that intelligent aliens exists. Let's assume they do, as they are mathemathically likely. Let's dive in!
If these aliens would ever visit us, I have heard famous scientists say that we are too locked-in on aliens being similar to earthly beings and that we should be open to the possibility that otherworldly organic life looks very different from ourselves.
Frankly, I find this unlikely. See, evolution was a very slow process in which we had rather inefficient beginnings. The first organisms had primitive limbs, eyes and inefficient movement. What evolved early was bilateral symmetry. An identical right side and left side. Even when AI:s have created shapes to orient in 3D-space freely, they eventually become bilateral as having uneven body structure shifts center of gravity and makes it hard to move. Furthermore, almost every animal has a head, as this reduces nerve length from our main organs to the brain and increases reaction time, as well as gives many organisms the possibility to evade the sensory organs actively in battle and to point them in other directions for detection. A mouth also seems very likely, as digestion is almost a given for movement. Coeloms or mouths are needed for nutrient internalization. Solar energy would likely not provide efficient enough wattage per square feet to keep an organism moving at a pace wherein it is not consumed by other organisms that digest matter instead.
Dolphins and elephants are very smart animals, but they do not have a society. This is mainly due to their intelligence being somewhat different, but for the dolphin specifically, it would seem that they do not have a sufficient limb for manipulating objects. This is a must for any social animal to build complex structures. Besides, they live in water, which makes general chemistry challenging. The starting point of a civilization, the fire, is also hindered by the environment. So it would seem most likely a space fareing organism is located on land. It needs to be social, as it is impossible to reach a point wherein an organism creates something posessing the complexity of a intergalactic space ship without previous collaboration.
Enough examples for now. in summary, I would expect a bilateral organism with a head, a coelom, an anus, one or several arms with digits or manipulative pins (or something similar), for it to be land-living or floating, most likely eyes and a mouth for communication placed on a head. It sounds very earth-like because things end up that way out of pure efficiency in every step of the way. Whilst an organic space-travelling alien might lack a few of these traits, the more of them you remove, the less likely I would consider this species to be if they visited us via space ship. This theory excludes robotic/manufactured life.
What do you think about this theory?
If these aliens would ever visit us, I have heard famous scientists say that we are too locked-in on aliens being similar to earthly beings and that we should be open to the possibility that otherworldly organic life looks very different from ourselves.
Frankly, I find this unlikely. See, evolution was a very slow process in which we had rather inefficient beginnings. The first organisms had primitive limbs, eyes and inefficient movement. What evolved early was bilateral symmetry. An identical right side and left side. Even when AI:s have created shapes to orient in 3D-space freely, they eventually become bilateral as having uneven body structure shifts center of gravity and makes it hard to move. Furthermore, almost every animal has a head, as this reduces nerve length from our main organs to the brain and increases reaction time, as well as gives many organisms the possibility to evade the sensory organs actively in battle and to point them in other directions for detection. A mouth also seems very likely, as digestion is almost a given for movement. Coeloms or mouths are needed for nutrient internalization. Solar energy would likely not provide efficient enough wattage per square feet to keep an organism moving at a pace wherein it is not consumed by other organisms that digest matter instead.
Dolphins and elephants are very smart animals, but they do not have a society. This is mainly due to their intelligence being somewhat different, but for the dolphin specifically, it would seem that they do not have a sufficient limb for manipulating objects. This is a must for any social animal to build complex structures. Besides, they live in water, which makes general chemistry challenging. The starting point of a civilization, the fire, is also hindered by the environment. So it would seem most likely a space fareing organism is located on land. It needs to be social, as it is impossible to reach a point wherein an organism creates something posessing the complexity of a intergalactic space ship without previous collaboration.
Enough examples for now. in summary, I would expect a bilateral organism with a head, a coelom, an anus, one or several arms with digits or manipulative pins (or something similar), for it to be land-living or floating, most likely eyes and a mouth for communication placed on a head. It sounds very earth-like because things end up that way out of pure efficiency in every step of the way. Whilst an organic space-travelling alien might lack a few of these traits, the more of them you remove, the less likely I would consider this species to be if they visited us via space ship. This theory excludes robotic/manufactured life.
What do you think about this theory?