Stephen Hawking brings aliens to life

Try it yourself. Imagine a colour you have never ever seen before. Picturing what alien life would look like is probably slightly easier than picturing a colour you've never seen before (or describing what a colour looks like for that matter), but you make a very good point, and it expresses my thoughts on the subject of alien life fairly nicely. I'm pretty sure there is alien life somewhere out there, but I find it kind of annoying that many people seem to picture them as looking very similar to earth's creatures (even many of Hawking's aliens look too much like life on earth) and even worse:... [More]

I agree with you. Alien life may be so unlike our own that it's inconceivable. (and as such...they could already be here....lol)

I think people like Lovecraft gave us a good idea of what aliens would actually be like: Alien in every sense of the word. Things that did not appear on the same world as ours are likely to be radically different from us in every way. We might even meet beings that exist partly on our plane of existence and partly in another. Thinking that we possess the capacity to understand everything that reality could offer us is arrogant and idiotic. Whatever they are, they will be beyond anything we can imagine.

I think people are making a mistake, here. They pursue the unimaginable with a fervor that reduces it to the absurd. Yes, life will be different. No, it does not need to be so different that it becomes unfathomable, or totally inconceivable. There are some constants no matter what world you're on. Look at similarities between widely seperated populations of animal life on Earth. Many things converge on certain traits. For instance, eyes developed many times. Or wings. Hoof-like appendages. Etc They do not HAVE to be vastly different. They only CAN be. It is quite possible to find a planet with... [More]

I think people are making a mistake, here. They pursue the unimaginable with a fervor that reduces it to the absurd. Yes, life will be different. No, it does not need to be so different that it becomes unfathomable, or totally inconceivable. There are some constants no matter what world you're on. I guess it can't be because everything on Earth originated on the same planet. Listen, I do get your point that we might find something similar, but the odds are astronomically low. Your argument is like saying that a human mother could give birth to a goat because you saw a goat give birth to a goat... [More]

I guess it can't be because everything on Earth originated on the same planet. Listen, I do get your point that we might find something similar, but the odds are astronomically low. Your argument is like saying that a human mother could give birth to a goat because you saw a goat give birth to a goat. It's absurdly illogical. No, it isn't. There are some constants. Everything on Earth did originate from one life form, yes. But that's not at all what the argumentis like. I'm not saying we'll find life forms exactly like anything on Earth. I'm saying we'll find things that have the same types of... [More]

No, it isn't. There are some constants. Everything on Earth did originate from one life form, yes. But that's not at all what the argumentis like. I'm not saying we'll find life forms exactly like anything on Earth. I'm saying we'll find things that have the same types of attributes. Ways of living don't change, only the things doing the living do. You mistake my meaning fully if you think I deny that their would be differences. Readily, I admit that. But these lifeforms do not HAVE to be unimaginable. There are bound to be similarities. Let's use your logic. This pregnant goat gave birth to a... [More]

Let's use your logic. This pregnant goat gave birth to a goat. This second pregnant goat gave birth to a goat. Ad infinitum. This millionth pregnant goat gave birth to a goat. Using your logic, we observe a constant, that pregnant beings give birth to goats. Hence, a pregnant woman can give birth to a goat. Sorry, but you're simply wrong. Pregnant goats give birth to goats because that is the DNA they have. Pregnant women give birth to humans because that is the DNA they have. Your metaphor is flawed. I'm not suggesting at all that pregnant women can birth goats, it's quite clear that isn't my... [More]

Okay, let me put it this way. Here's what you say: Earth animal number A has eyes. Earth animal number B has eyes. Earth animal number C has eyes. Ad infinitum. We observe a constant, animals have eyes. Hence, planet X animal might have eyes. You are making a HUGE jump in conclusions. Your statement is illogical.

Okay, let me put it this way. Here's what you say: Earth animal number A has eyes. Earth animal number B has eyes. Earth animal number C has eyes. Ad infinitum. We observe a constant, animals have eyes. Hence, planet X animal might have eyes. You are making a HUGE jump in conclusions. Your statement is illogical. Actually, I'm not saying that at all. Many animals on Earth have no eyes, while many others do. Eyes have evolved more than 20 times on Earth, quite seperately. This is an example of convergent evolution. It doesn't happen because the lifeforms come from similar origins. It happens be... [More]