What will extraterrestrial intelligence look like?

[Moontanman]

Well i'm trying to get my questions across, but nobody ever understands what the F i'm asking as usual...

 

dam my limited vocabulary.

 

First you ask this...

 

 

Would humor still be a present emotion?

 

Then you ask this...

 

 

 

Where would their brain go?

 

 

I guess i have a twisted sense of humor...

[Semjase]

 

 

Not human? Quite recently you were at least asserting they were humanoid at least, the picture that is your avatar to be precise...

 

Semjase is the human alien contact person in my avatar that issued the warning about an attack from a hostile alien race, they

know this through time travel capabilities where the can go to a certain possibility in our future.

[dimreepr]

If this is any indication the peaceful intent of all aliens here's an excerpt from a human alien contact

 

There are also many animal and even plant forms of life which have themselves evolved to high forms of life. So there does exist many sorts, which have reached large knowledge and freed themselves from their planets and travel through the Universe and sometimes come to the Earth.

Many of them are but rather nasty contemporaries and live in a certain barbarism, which is still worse even then yours. Your should be on your guard of these types, because they often fight against and destroy everything that comes along their way. They have often even destroyed whole planets and beaten their inhabitants into barbarous bondage. This is one of our missions, to warn the Earth human about these creatures. Let the human beings know this, because more and more the time approaches where a conflict with these beings becomes unavoidable.

 

 

what do they look like?

 

Triffids

[Moontanman]

 

Semjase is the human alien contact person in my avatar that issued the warning about an attack from a hostile alien race, they

know this through time travel capabilities where the can go to a certain possibility in our future.

 

 

I guess there is no possibility you can show some real world evidence of this is there?

 

To get back on topic... I guess we can assume they have hands of some sort, arms to allow the hands to to move around, legs of some sort. A head with two or more eyes, eyes would be close to the brain so there is less lag time between seeing and knowing. I don't think we can count on them being vertebrates... The more I think about it the less likely i see any aliens being humanoid...

 

Arthropods seem more likely...

[too-open-minded]

I wasn't asking anything the first quote.

 

Twisted sense of humor? I guess you could call it that.

 

btw how come nobody has realized semjase is a troll? Don't feed the troll.

[abisha]

normal i don't post on this sort topics.

 

Extraterrestrials exist, just plain fact.

we most likely will never ever meet them, but i bet they will look a lot like humanoids.

simple explanation, they find DNA components in asteroids, the very idea of true alien Extraterrestrials is plain insulting.

Physical will depending a lot of their home world.

 

what also can have a possibility to exist are Robotic Extraterrestrial

Edited January 9, 2013 by abisha

[Moontanman]

normal i don't post on this sort topics.

 

Extraterrestrials exist, just plain fact.

 

Citation please...

 

we most likely will never ever meet them, but i bet they will look a lot like humanoids.

 

Again, some evidence would be nice...

 

simple explanation, they find DNA components in asteroids, the very idea of true alien Extraterrestrials is plain insulting.

Physical will depending a lot of their home world.

 

How does does finding DNA have anything to do with ET looking humanoid? Sponges have DNA as do lice, neither of them look like humans.

 

 

what also can have a possibility to exist are Robotic Extraterrestrial

 

Machine intelligence's are a possibility...

[abisha]

humanoid form is the only construct of having enough room for a brain, and sensor equipment, while holding enough strength in fighting predators.

with other words the ultimate predator.

 

any form that do not fit in the humanoid form, will ether be to heavy, or to weak constructed to escape gravity.

or not have the necessary building blocks to operate machinery.

[too-open-minded]

I think we all can agree that a humanoid form brought upon by environment is going to be something close to what an alien species capable of space travel will look like.

 

Now, what are the possibilities of their brain to look like? What could their intelligence look like?

[Moontanman]

I think we all can agree that a humanoid form brought upon by environment is going to be something close to what an alien species capable of space travel will look like.

 

Nope

 

 

Now, what are the possibilities of their brain to look like? What could their intelligence look like?

 

No way to intelligently speculate on that. mammals have brains that are pretty much unique to mammals. other creatures on the earth have various sized, shaped, and efficiency of various degrees and we are all vertebrates... octopus like intelligence's when you consider that an octopus, very nearly all species, only live for a year or two but they are capable of some astounding feats of learning and apparent intelligence. Their brains are quite different than ours and we share a major portion of our DNA with them and some distant ancestry. Creatures from another planet would share zero history with us...

 

humanoid form is the only construct of having enough room for a brain, and sensor equipment, while holding enough strength in fighting predators.

with other words the ultimate predator.

 

I'm not sure that can be supported... but the success of theropod dinosaurs might support your position about bipedal predators...

 

 

any form that do not fit in the humanoid form, will ether be to heavy, or to weak constructed to escape gravity.

or not have the necessary building blocks to operate machinery.

 

I thin colonial insects and their ability to manipulate the environment shows that to be a weak position...

 

 

Creatures from another planet are unlikely to resemble earth life at all. Vertebrates like us were not destined to rule the large animal niches on our planet.

 

Then there is the possibility of vertebrate like hexapods, Centauroid...

 

I can see an octopus like intelligence evolving on a large planet with low gravity, deep atmosphere.... no way to assert it as likely...

 

It's easy to assert the humanoid shape as ideal for tool using technological creatures but it's difficult to show them as more likely in any other biosphere... I guess the real question would be "if the tape was replayed"

[too-open-minded]

You disagree? Please inform me on why, rather than just a "nope."

 

No way to intelligently speculate on that? Well lets set the octopuses aside. Lets go with what he have, our own brains. Ofcourse this is all imaginative. Unless you see our brains staying the same forever, even if we do make it to sustaining our species life in space?

[Moontanman]

You disagree? Please inform me on why, rather than just a "nope."

 

You said:

 

I think we all can agree that a humanoid form brought upon by environment is going to be something close to what an alien species capable of space travel will look like.

 

 

you simply cannot support that assumption, it is obviously false because I do not agree, there fore "we all" do not agree...

 

 

 

 

No way to intelligently speculate on that? Well lets set the octopuses aside. Lets go with what he have, our own brains. Ofcourse this is all imaginative. Unless you see our brains staying the same forever, even if we do make it to sustaining our species life in space?

 

I don't understand what you are saying...

[too-open-minded]

well do you agree with me atleast that the likelihood for a space-faring alien species to be somewhat shaped like a human with limbs that can grasp?

 

An imaginative discussion is what i'm looking for upon as to what an alien species that is capable of space travel, what their brains would look like. The only thing we really have to build off is our own, its the only species we know capable of space travel. Looking at our own brain, what do you think could change after thousands of years in space. Maybe I should just look at the history of the mapping and functions of the human brain and the brains from our evolutionary past, stop being lazy, and ponder upon this myself.

[too-open-minded]

Before we can ponder as to what a relatively advanced alien species might look like, lets look a segment of our own evolutionary history.

 

http://www.hypermodern.org/index.php/science/anthropology/4-from-australopithecine-to-homo-sapien

 

 

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive

 

lets talk about ole lucy

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus)

 

Okay so 2 million years, blink of an eye to the universe. Our species's perspective, a whole nother story. Anyways Australopithecus is somewhat different than a Homosapien. What are the differences in their brain as to ours?

 

This is right around the time we first started using tools and walking on 2 legs.

using tools.

 

Also right around the time the ASPM gene showed up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASPM_(Gene)

http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD020880.html

 

So what is it that spiked the speed for our brains to evolve in size? who knows. Rapid climate change is the best supported answer i've found, the argument is debated. Who says size matters anyways.

 

Only 125,000 years ago

We have the earliest recording of the use of fire, around the time our brains stopped growing in size. For some reason I wrote recordation instead of recording, when I went to fix it the first word was "retardation." I'm becoming more and more convinced each day.

 

We don't know a whole lot about the differences in our brains but there are some from 2.6 million years ago.

 

Project our brains 2.6 million years into the future, where do you see it?

 

 

THAT IS MY QUESTION DOE!

Edited January 11, 2013 by too-open-minded

[Mr Monkeybat]

A recent thread on aliens and UFOs is what make me bring this up. In that thread the aliens look like ... us... in fact blond haired blue eyed... us... In many if not all close encounters of the third kind the aliens are always humanoid, some are distortions, some are so much like us they could walk the streets of any city and draw no attention (other than their other worldly good looks) .

 

This one thing is what pretty much derailed my own enthusiasm for UFOs as alien space craft. I felt like there was no reasonable way even one alien race would look like us much less all of them. But there are other schools of thought.

 

http://www.space.com/6978-aliens.html

 

*trimmed*

Well then obviously faster than light travel has distorted time and these Saucer occupants are humans from the future after the invention of warp drive. The blond ones are from some neo Nazi space colony who went off to escape the chaotic neo Trotskyite Earth. Who after a few hundred thousand to a million years living on a planet orbiting a Red Dwarf to avoid sunburn evolved large eyes to see in the dim light and slight bodies due to low gravity and mechanical devices becoming these guys:

So all the different aliens are just future humans from different planetary colonies and different times and stages in future evolution!

 

Disclaimer: I was not in a very serious mood when I wrote this post.

[Moontanman]

Before we can ponder as to what a relatively advanced alien species might look like, lets look a segment of our own evolutionary history.

 

http://www.hypermodern.org/index.php/science/anthropology/4-from-australopithecine-to-homo-sapien

 

 

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive

 

lets talk about ole lucy

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus)

 

Okay so 2 million years, blink of an eye to the universe. Our species's perspective, a whole nother story. Anyways Australopithecus is somewhat different than a Homosapien. What are the differences in their brain as to ours?

 

This is right around the time we first started using tools and walking on 2 legs.

using tools.

 

Also right around the time the ASPM gene showed up

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASPM_(Gene)

http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD020880.html

 

So what is it that spiked the speed for our brains to evolve in size? who knows. Rapid climate change is the best supported answer i've found, the argument is debated. Who says size matters anyways.

 

Only 125,000 years ago

We have the earliest recording of the use of fire, around the time our brains stopped growing in size. For some reason I wrote recordation instead of recording, when I went to fix it the first word was "retardation." I'm becoming more and more convinced each day.

 

We don't know a whole lot about the differences in our brains but there are some from 2.6 million years ago.

 

Project our brains 2.6 million years into the future, where do you see it?

 

 

THAT IS MY QUESTION DOE!

 

 

Actually the use of fire is thought to have started 1,000,000 years ago not 125,000 years ago.

 

http://www.livescience.com/19425-earliest-human-fire.html

 

Human brains are shrinking, maybe we will end up with brains the size of walnuts...

 

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/sep/25-modern-humans-smart-why-brain-shrinking#.UPBDtuTO1Rw

Edited January 11, 2013 by Moontanman

[michel123456]

(...)

 

Project our brains 2.6 million years into the future, where do you see it?

 

 

THAT IS MY QUESTION DOE!

That is not the OP question.

You are assuming that evolution will follow (or not) the technological progress.

 

i am not sure.

I often wonder maybe the ancients were more intelligent than we are.

[too-open-minded]

First evidence of widespread use of fire, whatever. Thats besides the point.

 

Okay our brains shrinking is kind of the jist of it. Australopithecus, i'm willing to bet they were a little easier to piss off or agitate and easier to scare than a homosapien.

 

Sure there are many neurological and hormonal differences between our brain and the Australopithecus. More differences than just size and shape, but lobes and stuff.

 

that 2.6 million year difference, projected forwards to me is the best indication of what we can expect extraterrestrial intelligence to look like.

 

The whole evolutionary history of man is off topic I guess but I was just trying to get the point of my question across.

[too-open-minded]

Yolo Swag

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handfish

 

Could a fish evolve intelligence? What about a species from a planet with a dense liquid biosphere?

[Mr Monkeybat]

Something like an Octopus could evolve intelligence but try lighting a fire underwater, there is not even many sticks to put your sharpened stone on, I don't see that going very far technology wise. Dolphins, and Ravens can pass intelligence tests Chimps cannot and Elephants never forget, so high intelligence does not seem that rare, but only one creature had the right size and limb proportions to become spear chuckers and fire tenders. A tentical hand without bones would be a bit floppy, less dexterous and strong. Insect like exoskeletons I am told dont scale up very well to larger sizes, so the humanoid camp has a few points. But you could also have six limbed creatures kind of like a centaur, or a therapod style biped with a big tail. Breathing and feeding could be don from separate tubes, or maybe combined with excretion like the sea pig. Communication could be entirely visual like in squid or use gesture or verbal like humans.

[zapatos]

Australopithecus, i'm willing to bet they were a little easier to piss off or agitate and easier to scare than a homosapien.

Why do you say that?

[too-open-minded]

Well they are more primitive. The emotions of fear and anger are more necessary for survival when it comes to an Australopithecus compared to a Homosapien.

I'm sure that a human is a little more curious and a little more likely to observe and ponder the unknown, while a more primitive primate would flee.

 

Thankyou for asking Zapatos and please ask me to elucidate any further upon this as I have thought much about it.

[Delta1212]

"Primitive" is really quite a badly misused term all around.

[Moontanman]

Something like an Octopus could evolve intelligence but try lighting a fire underwater, there is not even many sticks to put your sharpened stone on, I don't see that going very far technology wise. Dolphins, and Ravens can pass intelligence tests Chimps cannot and Elephants never forget, so high intelligence does not seem that rare, but only one creature had the right size and limb proportions to become spear chuckers and fire tenders. A tentical hand without bones would be a bit floppy, less dexterous and strong. Insect like exoskeletons I am told dont scale up very well to larger sizes, so the humanoid camp has a few points. But you could also have six limbed creatures kind of like a centaur, or a therapod style biped with a big tail. Breathing and feeding could be don from separate tubes, or maybe combined with excretion like the sea pig. Communication could be entirely visual like in squid or use gesture or verbal like humans.

 

 

Why would you assume something shaped like an octopus would have to be a water creature?

[Mr Monkeybat]

Why would you assume something shaped like an octopus would have to be a water creature?

 

Without the support of a skeleton a creature like that would have a hard time getting large and moving on land, I probably should of inserted a quote because I think that was a response to the previous message about the possibilities of intelligence in sea creatures, so I was mainly pointing out the difficulties of developing technology in water.