This is a little more like it, kids.

The blog owner is Alex Ries, whose website has lots of neat and totally plausible extraterrestrials in it. They don't look likely to come probe you at 3:30am, either.

And lolz to the "About Me":

"Tired of seeing aliens that look like skinny bald humans."

Because the scientific likelihood anything out there will look like humans is extremely minimal.


Enjoy.

It's not all that odd really. I say again: look at your hand and sit in wonder of all it can do. Those fingers of yours allow you to grasp huge refrigerators and small, small resistors. In order to build something, you need a hand.

Although considered smart, dolphins don't have hands, likewise for octopi and squid so they can't build stuff. However, even our most distant primate relatives use rudimentary tools in the form of sticks to get at termites deep in their colonies and can be taught to use thier complex hands to communicate with us.

So I say again, marvel at your hand, it's what makes us human and allows us to build all that we see. The only other species we are likely to see without hands are ones who are telekinetic but there are likely other civilizations that aren't but they do have some sort of hand with which to grasp and build things.

...yeah?

Of all the creatures living on this planet, human beings are the most complicated and advanced.
Science is discovering new things about our race every day.

For starters, we're not a race, we're a species -- the remaining species of the genus Homo.
Yes, we're advanced, particularly cerebrally. If you're suggesting we're some apex of evolution, we're not -- there is no zenith point, no pinnacle of evolution. We do have particularly dexterous manual digits, powered by huge, calorie-sapping brains, but these are special adaptations we possess to deal with our environment. We're 'intellectual opportunists'.

But all of that aside, I'm confused what that has to do with what I posted. The thread was about xenobiology and Alex Ries.

I was really responding to what DeadEye said.
When I say we are the most advanced creature on the planet, I mean that we have a lot of things other animals don't.
For instance - self control. We have mind as well as body. We have the ability to create wonders and the ability to build and create technology.
And our bodies and brains are the most complex of any other creature on this planet.

I'm just saying that to have hands, one would have to be built a certain way. To see a squid species have hands is unlikely but a lot of mammals have them, even dinosaurs did but we are all like in the appearance that we need these fore-limbs free. Dinosaurs that had freed up fore-limbs were the great predators like Allasaurous and Velociraptor; they walked on two legs like us. A lot of small mammals also have claws that can grasp.

If we were to go by all this we can generally assume that for an intelligent civilization to make tools, they need free and dexterous fore-limbs, so they'd have to walk. They would need a head for the brain. And since nature likes to use the same things over again, their feet will likely be similar to their hands, even if less capable. Hence the term Humanoid and why we see aliens that may look similar to us though a few could be dinosaurs like I mentioned above.

Even in that picture above, the thing has hands, but I don't see the evolutionary advantage to being a snail with hands (which is likely why snails don't have extremities).

That is a great site though, Hotherym.
That guys is very talented.
I particularly like this one - http://www.alexries.com/Gallerypages/gal-pnue.htm

We are able to build technology, which is basically a natural adaptation to dealing with our environment without evolving physical traits. Whether what we create is a 'wonder' or not is something completely subjective, not objective. A 'wonder' is not factually based, it is individual opinion.

It doesn't take a 'mind' to build technology. Social insects have been doing it for millions of years under different physiological and biological circumstances. Before I get blamed for comparing them to humans, I'm not.

As an animal behaviouralist, I can tell you that many other animals do possess what you've mentioned as 'self-control'. They may very well not conceptualize it in the same matter we do, but they do possess it. This is a trait found prevalently in social animals where it's important to be aware of one's actions within the group setting.

Our brains are quite complex, this is true. Our bodies are not [the most complex on the planet]. Not even by a long shot. What we possess in the cerebral department we often lack in the overall corporeal one. For humans, it's been a trade off. We have lost muscle mass, teeth, bones, and organs to support our massive brain tissues.



Many things have forelimbs adapted for different functions, yes, and it's because we all share a common ancestor that we all have similar manual limb traits such as fingers. What differs is number of bones.

Aquatic life shouldn't really ever be brought into the discussion for the obvious reason that they are aquatic. Life under water is not as likely to ever need to adapt massive intellect to survive, so having dexterity is a moot point. And again, dolphins aren't the mental powerhouses so many people popularly believe they are. I won't get into that discussion, though.

All that said, since we share a common ancestor with all other land vertebrates, we're likely to see what we share in common with them. On an alien planet, we're going to be dealing with something that evolved from organisms that could be vastly different from those seen on Earth in terms of environmental factors. Even being carbon-based, oxygen-breathing and existing in a planetary biosphere environment of water and land is not grounds to assume that the life there will be like what we see on our own. Likewise, one cannot assume that intelligent life will need share the same proportions and physical traits we do in order to possess dexterous extremities. Extremities can evolve from many different previous adaptations, like antennae. The advantage of 'how' and 'why' would only become clear when studying the specific current environment and its stressors, the environment that gave birth to the organisms in the first place, and common ancestors.

Unfortunately we don't share our planet with other super-intellects, which is both convenient when debating the topic of intelligence on other planets and frustrating for scientists who want to speculate about it. However, we do share it with many other strange life forms that, even though we share a common ancestor, are as alien as we can get. Excluding aquatic life, there are plenty of arthropods that show how extremities can evolve from nothing, how extremities can evolve to create or support new or existing functions, or how a lack of extremities can still allow for the creation of significant structures. We just cannot afford to focus on the land vertebrates. Even sauropods were practically our cousins.

But the etremities will all look the same. I don't care where it came from but A hand is a hand whether is looks like that picture or it's the ones you're using right now. An intelligent creature, in order to get anywhere in the technology branch of life, must be able to manipulate its environment both on the large scale and the small. It is not mearly enough to move an object from point A to point B. You must be able to study that thing too. Our early ancestor had a huge gift, they could use their hand muscles and fingers to ever so slowly, gently and move in a wide range of angles any object they could get their fingers around. And they could do it all while just sitting there.

As an electronic engineering major, I can just sit there and move that little computer chip around and around all day long and study its every detail without having to have a huge bulky version. I can sit comfortably at a desk and do whatever I want with the thing.

Imagine if we had an ant's mouth: life would be extremely more complicated. Sure, at moving sand and dirt around that mouth-claw is pretty good, but could a 6 foot ant ever hope to manipulate something as small as a 2 inch long resistor and read it's information written on it? No. Could it ever really hope to move a computer mouse around as efficiently as us? No. can it just sit there and look at an object from ever percievable angle with little or no effort? Most deffinitely not.

It is not enough to be able to grab something but one must be able to manipulate it easily and hold it close enough to one's eyes as to really see all the little markings on it. Like our ancestors held that sharpened edge of that rock close to their eye so they could find the imperfections, I too hold those little resistors and computer chips close to my eye to see their features.

I do believe man is the most complex and mystical being on the planet.
And I do believe we are the most evolved.
I'm sure other animals are intelligent in their own respect. But nothing like what humans are.
That's why we have survived for 7,000 generations...and watched other species become extinct.

Oh my, I'm not arguing these points with you -- leave it to the people in the pertinent fields of study, please, and look at the pretty pictures.

humans might have the most advanced technology on earth but u could also say that most humans are more disconnected from mother earth then most species on earth which is why humans need a shift in consciousness and need to increase their spirituality if they r to survive. its the only way

And there are those that were here before us and WILL outlive us (unless we kill them) - and to suggest that we are 'the most evolved' implies that there is some kind of 'goal' or aim in being one thing or another which is contrary to all known science or logic (But which is not widely realised or accepted)....

Ben

You're being homocentric there methinks - gotta get it close enough to inspect it eh? So does this mean we have the best tools for the job? Given that an eagle can see a fish in the water from half a mile up in the sky what would an alien with a set of eyes like that but no hands be able to do when it comes to 'inspection'? Far better than we can I wager....

Ben

Any significantly advanced civilization has to be disconnected from nature. Nature is not just the happy little bunnies hopping around, it's the tornadoes, Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and all. Nature is the lack of food; animals don't not reproduce based on some sense of balance for the Earth, they do it because there is no food for the next generation. Heck sometimes they still try and those offspring die of starvation. Likewise, if we didn't have our technology, we wouldn't have all these nifty cures for diseases like small pox. Contrary to popular belief, it's good to be detached from nature; it's what keeps us warm when it's 5 degrees outside.



Just like it's not enough to just move an object from point A to point B, it's not enough to just see an object. Look at a book. Sure, any animal can see a book, but we can pick it up in our hand, inspect it, open it, turn it around and read the back...We can see all of it and understand it's whole shape, depth and construction.

An Eagle sees a fish half a mile down because it flies really high. Hence, not only does it need to see 20 feet away (20/20 vision), it needs to see through water. Our ancestors didn't need this ability hence mother nature didn't give it to us.

Nature gives animals things they need to survive. apparently, being the only upright, walking apes, and living amongst animals like saber-tooth tigers, nature thought we could use a more powerful brain than other creatures.

With respect Deadeye that's a misunderstanding not only of nature but of how evolution works....nature didn't give us anything - unless you are claiming EVERYTHING to be a component in some way of nature?

Nature didn't give us a big brain - genetic mutations which proved useful in the battle for survival did...

It's all about how you are 'shaped' and what you have at your disposal for dealing with your immediate environment and sometimes a genetic mutation kicks in, which if you like, 'adds life points' - we got lucky with the mutations and as someone said we are pretty well developed - but we have no way of knowing if what we have now is gonna be any good to us in a changing environment - we could be dead as a species in 100 years if the environment changes in such a drastic way we can't cope (whereas certain animals might be better equipped to survive) - where does that put us then in this imaginary 'heirarchy' of evolution - it puts us nowhere - we're dead.

That's why Alien life if it exists is highly unlikely to resemble us in any way - the genetic mutations which will assist their survival in their environment will be markedly different from ours and there are countless zillions of genetic variations they could have gone through....

I grant however that if their environment is similar to ours then maybe, just maybe there will be some similarities - but given that genetic mutations are only valuable or useless in relation to the environment at any given period - who really knows?

Ben

You should watch two documentaries about this idea. One is by National Geographic called Extraterrestrial and the other is Discovery Channel's Alien Planet.
They don't really talk about intelligent life but talk about possible life on other planets being completely alien to anything we know. The two shows were made as if they were wildlife documentaries filmed on alien worlds.

Nice pics. Seen something like ‘em in my dreams. Sadly, I do not believe Humans in general are ready to meet Aliens. The concept of Aliens looking Alien is what sells scary sci-fi. Who wants to meet scary looking Aliens, hmmm? And, imo, Humanity’s mindset is pretty much too xenophobic at the moment.
Xenophobic def: An unreasonable fear or hatred of that which is foreign or strange. Alien.
I can easily imagine Aliens with tentacles building an advanced space-faring civilization. Wanna shake ‘hands’ with them when they arrive?

ShawnJ posts: We have the ability to create wonders and the ability to build and create technology.

Wonder def: Remarkable phenomenon.
Phenomenon def: A fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable.

Yes. Humanity has created many 'wonders'. One of the attributes of Humanity is Its creativity. However, our very creativity, coupled with our selfishness, aggressive base nature, lack of self-control etc (and dare I say our lack of wisdom) may be the downfall of Humanity. ~rore

Seen 'em, but thanks. They were ok, certainly not backed by much science in terms of actual extraterrestrial morphology, but definitely better than the usual. "Alien Planet" was, of course, Wayne Barlowe.



(Original piece.)

As far as the 'perfect evolution' argument is concerned: Best guy I know for the job of explaining what we know about it. He's my personal hero for the roffle-worthy "good enough 'theory'".

And everyone needs to rethink what 'nature' is, and how we're just as much a part of it as anything else. Or, hell, watch Grizzly Man and call it done.



Me too, to some extent. What I don't get is how it's really more frightening; I'd think something resembling a dead human fetus would be more a shock to us than an unidentifiable, totally alien mass of organic matter. Sure, it does depend on exactly what it looks like as well, but I can only imagine it being just too strange.

What kinds of them have you seen in dreams?