Eldorado Posted January 8, 2022 #1 Share Posted January 8, 2022 The aliens you see in science fiction movies and TV often look a lot like us: two arms, two legs, and a head (but with pointy ears). While the reason for this has everything to do with limited budgets and not science, these representations do raise a deeper question about what’s called convergent evolution. If Darwinian evolution works on other planets, will they lead to forms of life — literally how it appears — like we find on Earth? In our own planet’s history, for example, we do see different versions of wings evolving on many separate occasions in many separate species. This is convergent evolution, and if we knew it always happened, then we could say that evolution is, in some sense, predictable. In that case we could tell if and when aliens would look like us. But there is a long and fierce tradition of argumentation about convergent evolution. Today, I want to unpack one line in this fight which is new (to me at least) and touches on one of the deepest issues not in biology but in physics: a crazy, profound idea called ergodicity. https://bigthink.com/13-8/ergodicity-evolution-predictable/ 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jethrofloyd Posted January 8, 2022 #2 Share Posted January 8, 2022 They will look like Kim Basinger! 2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlookerofmayhem Posted January 8, 2022 #3 Share Posted January 8, 2022 They will probably look like crabs. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Commander CMG Posted January 9, 2022 Popular Post #4 Share Posted January 9, 2022 9 minutes ago, onlookerofmayhem said: They will probably look like crabs. For the love of god... don't say that. I have this vision of a smooth silky skinned, 3 breasted female asking my permission to reproduce, to make a perfect race... Your crab just doesn't do it for me. 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Walt' E. Kurtz Posted January 9, 2022 #5 Share Posted January 9, 2022 (edited) If they look like Kim Basinger i don't want the Intergalactic crabs i hope @acute will Catch those instead of me. Edited January 9, 2022 by 'Walt' E. Kurtz 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlookerofmayhem Posted January 9, 2022 #6 Share Posted January 9, 2022 24 minutes ago, Iilaa'mpuul'xem said: For the love of god... don't say that. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander CMG Posted January 9, 2022 #7 Share Posted January 9, 2022 1 minute ago, onlookerofmayhem said: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinisation Behave yourself 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acute Posted January 9, 2022 #8 Share Posted January 9, 2022 1 hour ago, jethrofloyd said: They will look like Kim Basinger! I hope they invade soon. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acute Posted January 9, 2022 #9 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Quote Will aliens look like us? The problem is..... Most people can't comprehend (for example...) an intelligent lifeform without eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth. Our knowledge of science, evolution and other worlds, is in its infancy, yet we behave as if we are well on the way to explaining everything. It's Bollox! We haven't even started. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esoteric_toad Posted January 9, 2022 #10 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Biology seems to favor symmetry so they may not look like us they will likely be symmetrical. Also they would need to have the manual dexterity to be effective tool users. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry_in_biology#:~:text=Importantly%2C unlike in mathematics%2C symmetry in biology is always approximate.&text=While sponges and placozoans represent,by%2C some form of symmetry. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccr8 Posted January 9, 2022 #11 Share Posted January 9, 2022 You should hope they don't look like me. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freez1 Posted January 9, 2022 #12 Share Posted January 9, 2022 It’s a question worth allot of thought. It would depend on the evolution of the planet they originated from. When intelligent life climbs out of the mud and decides to be more than a blob. What biological factors played a role in developing. Three, six or nine fingers on one hand? But it could be five, ten or fifteen who knows. Two eyes or sixteen going all the way around the head. Two arms and two legs or three legs and four arms. For them to build a machine to come here and have the technology to do it I can’t see them having paws or bird feet. Something humanoid would be my guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl.Of.Trumps Posted January 9, 2022 #13 Share Posted January 9, 2022 No matter what natural evolution intended for beings billions of years ago, the intellect/experience of these beings as time passed could easily bypass all that. in other words, they could be "designer beings" and we can have no idea what to expect their looks to be 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abramelin Posted January 9, 2022 #14 Share Posted January 9, 2022 29 minutes ago, Earl.Of.Trumps said: No matter what natural evolution intended for beings billions of years ago, the intellect/experience of these beings as time passed could easily bypass all that. in other words, they could be "designer beings" and we can have no idea what to expect their looks to be They arrived here billions of years ago, and use us, animals and plants, to reproduce. We call them 'virusses'. Just a thought. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred_mc Posted January 9, 2022 #15 Share Posted January 9, 2022 7 hours ago, Iilaa'mpuul'xem said: For the love of god... don't say that. I have this vision of a smooth silky skinned, 3 breasted female asking my permission to reproduce, to make a perfect race... Your crab just doesn't do it for me. Haha. I'm sorry to say that the aliens probably won't have breasts. Animals, even monkeys, have their nipples directly on their bodies. We humans are special to have breasts. In fact, I think an alien would find human female breasts quite unattractive, that they look like big tumours. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccr8 Posted January 9, 2022 #16 Share Posted January 9, 2022 3 minutes ago, fred_mc said: Haha. I'm sorry to say that the aliens probably won't have breasts. Animals, even monkeys, have their nipples directly on their bodies. We humans are special to have breasts. In fact, I think an alien would find human female breasts quite unattractive, that they look like big tumours. Hi Fred Why the bummer attitude we are going through tough times. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abramelin Posted January 9, 2022 #17 Share Posted January 9, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Abramelin said: They arrived here billions of years ago, and use us, animals and plants, to reproduce. We call them 'virusses'. Just a thought. I really just had that thought, but read this: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23944293/ And are they even 'alive'? https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/viruses/a/are-viruses-dead-or-alive Edited January 9, 2022 by Abramelin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abramelin Posted January 9, 2022 #18 Share Posted January 9, 2022 40 minutes ago, fred_mc said: I think an alien would find human female breasts quite unattractive But they turn totally crazy when they see these: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted January 9, 2022 #19 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Evolution always finds the shortest path Intelligent life is highly likely to at least be quite familiar. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccr8 Posted January 9, 2022 #20 Share Posted January 9, 2022 2 minutes ago, psyche101 said: Evolution always finds the shortest path Intelligent life is highly likely to at least be quite familiar. Hi Psyche I crunched the numbers and 2xpie=boobs 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyche101 Posted January 9, 2022 #21 Share Posted January 9, 2022 21 minutes ago, jmccr8 said: Hi Psyche I crunched the numbers and 2xpie=boobs I'm good with those numbers. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl.Of.Trumps Posted January 9, 2022 #22 Share Posted January 9, 2022 14 hours ago, Abramelin said: They arrived here billions of years ago, and use us, animals and plants, to reproduce. We call them 'virusses'. Just a thought. And a very interesting thought. viruses. I find them a real haunt because they are not living. They are more like a micro device powered by an incredible micro-puter, DNA good up, Abe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Noteverythingisaconspiracy Posted January 9, 2022 #23 Share Posted January 9, 2022 14 hours ago, fred_mc said: Haha. I'm sorry to say that the aliens probably won't have breasts. Animals, even monkeys, have their nipples directly on their bodies. We humans are special to have breasts. In fact, I think an alien would find human female breasts quite unattractive, that they look like big tumours. Well we have a member on this site who claims that he once saw an alien with three breasts. I think some people here might know who I'm speaking of. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Duck Posted January 10, 2022 #24 Share Posted January 10, 2022 2 hours ago, Noteverythingisaconspiracy said: Well we have a member on this site who claims that he once saw an alien with three breasts. I think some people here might know who I'm speaking of. Just one? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acute Posted January 10, 2022 #25 Share Posted January 10, 2022 18 hours ago, psyche101 said: Evolution always finds the shortest path Intelligent life is highly likely to at least be quite familiar. Sorry..... that's baloney! The "shortest path" has to be different on every planet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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