Lehcar Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 (edited) What is the deal with aliens in films, video games, tv shows, etc being so ridiculously human like, biologically and culturally? I've always imagined that if there are aliens out there... it's just about 100% certain they won't look very much like us. I mean, just look at the diversity of life here on our own Earth. It's hard to imagine what aliens would look like, because, for all we know, they could look like... well, anything. They'd probably look, well, alien. Not that I'm saying things like interspecies romance wouldn't be possible, that certainly isn't true. But it's most probable that their physical appearance is something that us humans would not view as "attractive", and they'd probably feel the same about us. We probably wouldn't be able to produce viable offspring together, either, even if they were placental mammals like us. And that is assuming their biology is even compatible with ours, which again there's a large chance it wouldn't be. Aaaand I find it very unconvincing that an alien race's culture and society, beliefs, morals, ideas, etc would be so ridiculously similar to ours... http://www.thenexusforums.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/wacko.gif Any... thoughts? I just wanted to post about it cause it's such an intriguing subject. Edited January 3, 2011 by Lehcar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboUK Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 It's cheaper to put a few pointy bits on people than it is to create something completely different, also they'll want the audience to be able to relate in some way to the aliens, not easy with a blue blob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzlsacatanango Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Agree with Jim, *but* it is conceivable that all life has a common origin in outer space (google panspermia, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe), and if that were true, it is probable that any alien life that exists is DNA based and maybe not so different as you would think. Different evolutionary history, yes. Different culture, if any, certainly. Physically different, maybe not unrecognizably so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Agree with Jim, *but* it is conceivable that all life has a common origin in outer space (google panspermia, Hoyle and Wickramasinghe), and if that were true, it is probable that any alien life that exists is DNA based and maybe not so different as you would think. Different evolutionary history, yes. Different culture, if any, certainly. Physically different, maybe not unrecognizably so. Just because life may come from one single place does not mean they would be like us. Lions don't look like us, it has to do with the process of evolution not where the stuff came from. I personally think as intelligence advances and creatures become less violent, you will start to think in the same way. That being said, if something were to visit us I would think we would be able to understand them and relate to them regardless of how they look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzlsacatanango Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 No, but you do recognize lions as fellow life forms. As to whether 'romance' is possible, or producing viable offspring, I don't know that the relevant experiments have been done :whistling: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 No, but you do recognize lions as fellow life forms. As to whether 'romance' is possible, or producing viable offspring, I don't know that the relevant experiments have been done :whistling: Well we recognize them as fellow life forms since they live here... I am sure if anything at all came here that could move, walk, and communicate we would realize they are a type of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHerring Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Evolution would 'select' a species for intelligence based on the need and ability to manipulate the environment. The need to build shelters, create tools and develop over millenia both verbal and material cultures would not be neccessary for top predators. So we could expect a species somewhere in the pecking order of early hominids i.e. varied and flexible but tasty to others to develop into tech wielding species cabable of contacting us.In this way only would intelligent aliens be 'like us'. Just as what comprises compassion and justice vary between cultures on earth so would they vary in other species and between other species.Romance could be possible but I have no doubt that anyone from either species showing an interest in such things would be viewed as most people view those persons who peruse certain sites linked to animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baduk Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I like more the less antrhopomorphic design for an alien character cause its more interesting. There is some examples of em where the artist is basing the character design from octopus or insect or something. But anyway about whats out there. I dont think its ridiculous to imagine that there is alien entity around somewhere that does not recognize earth life as something that fits their concept of life. We probly wouldnt consider them alive either tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trandoshan Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 From a Darwinian standpoint, I agree with Happy Pig. A species that would be even remotely capable of human intellect would need to be able to manipulate tools. However, from a Hollywood standpoint of Aliens, the little green men that have evolved into more diverse aliens are simply appealing to the viewer's imagination. Star Trek was a film created to tackle racial prejudice by exploring a future where not only people of different skin color and ethnic background coexisted without prejudice, but even different species of beings coexisted. It made humanizing aliens necessary to create that goal. Whereas the 1979 film 'Aliens' was created in order to scare and shock viewers, and you can see that those aliens were less than human in shape and intelligence. From a conspiracist's POV, I've seen documentaries that find some sort of evidence supporting that WE were born from aliens. Interpreting the bible from the side of someone with limited technology viewing particular aspects of alien life. Such as the case with the fall of angels (early alien spacecraft falling and burning through our atmosphere in the eyes of primitive man?), and the 'giants' that mated with humans in the bible (Superior alien race that somehow broke the genetic code problem with interspecies propagation, and created the first modern human?). I refuse to accept this theory as a catholic, but it still has a few believers out there. I personally hope our first contact with an alien species reveals that although they do not look similar to us. Variation is the spice of life... or intelligent life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzlsacatanango Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Surely there are plenty of other reasons to reject that particular "theory" besides your church? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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