I was recently discussing with my husband the subject of why I believe Aliens have a Humanoid shape to them. No I don't mean looking human as in long hair and fashionable clothing lol. I mean as in two eyes, two legs, no matter the height, but some fingers, a head, toes, elbows, knees, you catch my drift...ect.

Well it came to my reasoning that perhaps some aliens look humanoid because maybe this is one of nature's universal ways of forming the most common form surviving evolution to adapt on planets that can support intelligent life from the beginning of the birth of that species. However there might be different forms unlike our own, such as the dolphins...ect or other species we are not aware of in other forms or shapes (such as in the movie 'Alien') who's to say the Humanoid shape is not a common shape (two eyes, one nose, two ears, two legs, two arms, some fingers)? It might just be the shape given to a particular form of species on many or all planets because it is a standard form of evolution in order to adapt to these enviornments; however the reason we as aliens (and yes I am calling us aliens too because to them we are the aliens) look so different from each other is because of our enviornments, because we are merely seedlings from different planets. Imagine our planets as giant pots of soil and we are the seeds. Each seed is different. Our water and our soil is our enviornment and our atmosphere. We are products of where we come from in a sense so we are unique to our planet, we are blueprinted to our planet just as other aliens are blueprinted to their planets and are unique; and although they may be humanoid in appearance, they will never be the same, they may even have different blood. They may even have vegetation, fruit, animals life, bugs, or even forms of music on their planet, but there will always be differences. It is fascinateing. I think we really need to stand back and observe why it is we are who we are; why they are who they are. It is truly eye opening and it goes way beyond comparisons.

sleepingladybug

This post has been edited by sleepingladybug: May 8 2008, 10:18 PM

i suppose we expect anything of similar intelligence would have some simalarities to the classic humanoid appearance,as long as there not slug like and slime you as a traditional greeting, i don't mind.

I would not be surprised if galactic laws were in place to protect developing species from over shock and fear for their own safety, that says that visitors must be of a similar shape to a planets inhabitants. I thought of it after hearing of soldiers who died from heart attacks after seeing apparently 'horrifying' aliens at a shared base, and from that moment onwards the soldiers had to go through gradual pre-conditioning to serve in particular areas.

The other possibility lends to a theory of genetic tampering and modification on a planets inhabitants. Perhaps even racial seeding: after all, we are apparently not the only humans in this galaxy. There are others who apparently look just like us and can pass as us. I believe that they are our brothers and sisters, that we are of the same species, however distant.

This post has been edited by Draxo: May 9 2008, 03:39 AM

Personally, provided the creature is not butt ugly and not humanoid I would love to see it. But humanoid is very popular.

Two eyes for sterio vision. Need eyes close to brain for large optic nerves. Two hands needed to handle tools. More hands require more brain control when brain is already very demanding of body resources.

Let oxygen or blood sugar get low and brain is first malfunction because it needs the most resources as a constant. Muscles can place higher demand but drop to very low when not used. Brain needs a certain amount no matter what. So if you want to support intelligence then dont want to waste brain power on extra arms and leg control.

I think it is not an absolute maxim but comes down to what is efficient and meets the need. All biology needs energy so has to have digestion. Most advanced biology exists by exploiting other biology.

Not all have the same chemistry though. We have iron based blood. Horseshoe crabs have blue copper based blood. Bacteria in hydrothermal vents get energy from hydrogen sulfide that we would find poison. Sponges in antarctica have silica skelitons, basicly glass.

So humanoid shape just may be the most efficient to manage in environment while leaving energy demand maximized for brain function. Evolution with survival being best adapteble form.

Quite true, Bart, but you're assuming a human-like biology. Their chemistry may be completely different.

Cannot assume anything of the unknown. Just hypothesizing. Intelligent large brain places energy demand in any biology. Survival of fittest means intelligence to survive requires hands to manipulate tools, feet to motivate, eyes to see environment. Whatever wavelength eyes use visual acuity requires large nerves, so close to brain most efficient. Brain evolving toward intelligence as primary survival factor implies more tissue devoted to thinking. So controlling eight legs means thought tissue devoted to controlling eight legs equals less for intelligence. Humanoid form is most self contained efficient form leaving more brain free for thought development.

Symbiotic relationship could be more efficient where brain devoted entirely to thought served by mindless minions. So cannot rule out anything. In a water world an octipus might have good potential to evolve tool manipulation.

There is just some reasoning behind humanoid form for efficiency in general environment. Climb, grasp, run, walk, swim, build, visual acuity, take advantage of environment with max of brain devoted to thought. Control more than 2 of each hands, eyes, feet, uneccesary demand of nerve resources.

Just a thought. All is speculation as is UFO's and aliens viisiting at all, till some proofs emerge.

I really thought this was very fascinateing and draws upon exactly what I was trying to explain but of course better words fail me. Thank you for coming up with a much better way of explaining it. It is remarkable! I believe this very well may be true. Anything is possible, this is the universe afterall.

sleepingladybug

If there is inteligent life,which i hope there is,i believe they look humanoid...i dont expect litle green guys the day they oficially visit the white house and shake hand with the president while beeing filmed by the journalists lol(nice thought i must say)

sleepingladybug is right. ichtyosaurs went extinct because the animals they were dependant on went extinct. then dolphins turned up, same shape, about the same size. why are there no dinos? they failed. so they didn't comne back

Howdy all, I'm new to the forum, although I have been a lurker for a while. This is something I have thought about myself, so I thought I would go ahead and join and throw in my 2 cents.

What first came to mind is that all life would be made of the same building blocks - atoms and molecules. Although alien life might have a different chemical composition, there are only certain ways they can combine, assuming the laws of physics/chemistry are universal - which evidence shows to be the case. Think of it like tinker toys where some blocks have six holes, some have 4, some are round, some are wheel shaped, etc.. With this configuration, there are a limited number of ways they can be combined at the molecular level, which is why we see life on earth structured as either bilaterally like us, or radial like a starfish or jellyfish.

Pretty much all organized molecules form patterns - and life is made up of systems of organized molecules. You can see this type of patterns in diamonds, quartz and other non-living structures as well.

I don't think its coincidence that we are carbon based as well. Carbon is the perfect base for life. Because of its electron structure, it bonds with almost anything around - hydrogen, oxygen, other carbon - and it reacts fairly fluidly, allowing the exchange of energy that life needs. Really, the only other element that comes close to allowing this type of flexibility is silicon, however it doesn't breakdown and react as readily as carbon, so any silicon base life would be 'sluggish' and have a very slow metabolism.

One interesting note from Bart5050 - Horseshoe crabs having copper based blood. This fits in with patterned organization. Although the horseshoe is using copper instead of iron for carrying oxygen, it is still a metal that easily oxidizes. It also shows that we are a product of what is readily available in our environment.

Of course this is just some wild speculation and overthinking - I am sure there could be life out there that we might not even recognize as life because it is so different. It could even be that they are visiting us, but we only recognize the humoid forms because they are like us.

it could be a bit of wishful thinking hoping they are like us.something we can identify with.who's to say they are not gas like or liquid.as long as they are nothing like the bugs in starship troopers,i'll sleep more.

I think they look exactly the same as humans.
Espacially the eyes wich are close to the brains.

Indeed this is a very fascinating subject. It's fun to see all the different types of aliens Hollywood has dreamed up. ID4, Aliens, Starship Troopers, Star Wars, etc.

What a conundrum.

We would think that nature would take the path of least resistance and that the aliens would be quite humanoid as a matter of efficiency. But then, who's efficiency are we talking about?

Think of the plethora of different life forms just here on our planet. There is land efficiency, air efficiency, sea efficiency and combo efficiency. Who's to say what would originate and dominate on any other given planet?

Who's to say there isn't some race of dolphin like creatures who manage interstellar travel in an aquarium like ship?

Then there is the extradimensional question. Again, who's to say? Not until we all meet.

And, if at least some of the witnesses and/or abductees are telling the truth, there seem to be more than one type/race of aliens visiting (trespassing) us. But the most commonly reported is the humanoid type.

This post has been edited by Fleet Admiral: Jun 8 2008, 03:01 PM