Old Carrier vs New Carrier

[SpikeVorador]

well... for some reason i share the idea of triceron... when i dont picture the aliens as somekind of humanoids for some reason i picture them as some kind of space animals...

the problem is... when i dont picture the aliens as space animals i start thinking of aliens like the one's of H.P. lovecraft tales... and man... they're scary G_G. Its more comfortable to think in humanoids =P

[flabortast]

That is why I love the Prawns so much! They look inhuman but you can relate with them.

[GnaReffotsirk]

Does having to walk upright have anything to do with intelligence? I've always wondered about this.

[Roobster]

Does having to walk upright have anything to do with intelligence? I've always wondered about this.

If the creature has only four appendages it would be a requirement for using tools and therefore creating a civilization at least.

[MattII]

Not necessarily a requirement, but it would help (chimps often walk on their knuckles).

There's also the distinct possibility that a 'humanoid' race would be hard-pressed to communicate with us because they speak above or below our hearing range, or because their language relies partially on some colour-based system in the UV range.

[ArcherofAiur]

The most unlikely thing imaginable is that other aliens would share the same general shape as us. If Earth had maintained a higher oxygen content, "giant" arthropods (crabs, spiders, etc) would likely be the dominant land species. And they look nothing like us.

Due to wieght and load bearing factors you would never see giant arthropods (at least not crab or spider looking ones). I forget the exact specifics but it has to do with the circumference and the forces on the legs as the size increases.

That's two almost entirely separate lines of evolutionary descent. Just on Earth. (note: this doesn't get into aquatic animals, which have even more diversity).

Actually their are 5 almost entirely seperate lines of evolutionary descent. Their called kingdoms. Do they still teach biology in school?

Being highly improbable doesn't mean it can't happen. The best you could do would be providing a math function describing the probability that it can't happen and that still wouldn't prove anything.

Im starting to notice just how much people use the "yah but you cant PROVE it!" arguement (not just you sandwich).

That is why I love the Prawns so much! They look inhuman but you can relate with them.

The prawns follow the same human body plan. Its really funny that people would look at human in an animal suit and think "oh different". Man is an arrogant creature.

Does having to walk upright have anything to do with intelligence? I've always wondered about this.

Upright walking at least for humans comes from having evolved a long time in the jungle and then evolved along time in the plains. It gives you a higher vantage point to see over long distances.

Im surprised no one mentioned this but hunting is theorized to be one of the biggest factors in the development of human intelegence.

[Roobster]

With billions of years of evolution and civilization only appearing relatively recently it must be assumed that civilized life appearing is very close to impossible. If it is almost impossible that humanoid civilized life appears, it wouldn't be much more likely than that civilized life with other body shapes appears.

Still, since the only known form of beings with civilization that exists have our body shape it can be argued that it is a requirement for civilization, along with every other common characteristic that humans have. I'm not saying that's my opinion though.

[ArcherofAiur]

With billions of years of evolution and civilization only appearing relatively recently it must be assumed that civilized life appearing is very close to impossible. If it is almost impossible that humanoid civilized life appears, it wouldn't be much more likely than that civilized life with other body shapes appears.

Still, since the only known form of beings with civilization that exists have our body shape it can be argued that it is a requirement for civilization, along with every other common characteristic that humans have. I'm not saying that's opinion though.

One of the unifying themes in biology is that form dictates function. However this statement should not be confused with function dictates form.


There will be similarities no doubt. But it will not be the same. A simple analogy would be birds, bats and insects. All three adapted to fly but though different means. Natural selection doesnt care about consistancy, only what works.

[DemolitionSquid]

The reason many scientists think that any advanced aliens we encounter will be humanoid in form is because of certain things we've determined are vital to intelligent technological advancement. The ability to survive through either strong or physically high mounted senses for safety, room for increasing brain capacity, limbs that allow the ability to grasp/hold/manipulate the environment efficiently, etc. The chances of any intelligent land based species having a head, a torso, and at least one pair of arms and legs each is EXTREMELY high. Its not a complex form, like an insect, and it functions well. So believing that space-faring or at least sapient extraterrestrials we may encounter will have the same basic body form as us is not crazy. Even the Elcor have two arms, two legs, and a distinct head.

[mr. peasant]

And let's not forget about opposable thumbs; without which we would not be able to perform fine manipulation of objects.