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General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: Queequeg on November 23, 2009, 01:06:51 AM

Title: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Queequeg on November 23, 2009, 01:06:51 AM
Inspired by the small Starship Troopers discussion and this. (http://www.nemoramjet.com/snduterus.htm)

The link is really pretty interesting for anyone with any interest in paleontology, as you'll instantly recognize a lot but there are some clever (and occasionally disgusting, like the second head/penis thing)differences. 

But I'm curious.  We have an amazing history here on earth of convergent evolution, but do you think this would apply to other, presumably reasonably similar planets?  Are we going to find streamlined animals in oceans with bodies like dolphins or tuna and ichthyosaurs, and large back-boned creatures on the shores? Or a bunch of blobs? 

Can we know anything?
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Jaron on November 23, 2009, 01:09:18 AM
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg03.picoodle.com%2Fimg%2Fimg03%2F8%2F5%2F6%2Ff_mexican1m_90acf3d.jpg&hash=d7942f3a90ca8850db037715e0910c6bf931c40b)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: HisMajestyBOB on November 23, 2009, 01:10:46 AM
Depends; intelligent life (meaning "capable of building a civilization") will likely look more similar to us that one might expect - likely omnivorous, opposable digits, symmetry, possibly bipedal. Other life may look weirder, but in all likelihood should look like something that could have evolved on earth. Except for extromophiles - those things will always be freaky.

At least, in my opinion as someone who's knowledge of biology can charitably be called "lacking".
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 02:00:25 AM
Keep moving into my territory and I'll break your legs.

Sincerely, Mr. Olsen.  :bowler:
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Queequeg on November 23, 2009, 02:08:35 AM
This is speculative zoology, and therefore within my domain.  Might as well be "what will animals look like after us, or if we had not evolved, or all died off tomorrow?"
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: DontSayBanana on November 23, 2009, 02:14:25 AM
Tim's got far-flung speculative "science," as well as alt-history preferences...

I recommend this thread be redone as mad libs, with Timmay drafting the bulk and Spellus calling out random esoteric animals and archeological sites. :contract:
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Alatriste on November 23, 2009, 02:26:58 AM
They will look... well, they will look really alien. One doesn't need to go further than the deep sea to find living organism far stranger than anything writers have imagined (and we really should remember than statistically the most typical place on Earth is an abyssal plain, silent, cold, dark and under extremely high pressure).

There will be some things, however, that will work more or less the same. Where there is an ocean streamlining will force a clear similitude, for example, and flight (provided roughly Earthian gravity and a dense atmosphere) will still require wings and light bodies. 
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Faeelin on November 23, 2009, 02:34:41 AM
Quote from: Alatriste on November 23, 2009, 02:26:58 AM
They will look... well, they will look really alien. One doesn't need to go further than the deep sea to find living organism far stranger than anything writers have imagined (and we really should remember than statistically the most typical place on Earth is an abyssal plain, silent, cold, dark and under extremely high pressure).

Two nitpicks here. First, I suspect most biomass is not on the silent, cold abyssal plains.

Second, of course life in radically different environments will look different. But take a temperature 1g planet with the same rough mix of atmosphere as Earth. How different will that be? That's teh real question, IMO.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Queequeg on November 23, 2009, 02:49:46 AM
I think an interesting question there, Faeelin, is how much impact seemingly slight variations in environment can effect life on earth?  For instance, if a relatively slight variation in atmospheric oxygen content is the difference between the Devonian's world of massive arthropods, the Jurassic's titanosaurs and our modern dearth of true megafauna (at least, to the extent that that is not the result of anthropogenic extinction).  Surely this would be just as true on other planets, with other variations we can't really fully comprehend.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Alatriste on November 23, 2009, 03:28:54 AM
Quote from: Faeelin on November 23, 2009, 02:34:41 AM
Quote from: Alatriste on November 23, 2009, 02:26:58 AM
They will look... well, they will look really alien. One doesn't need to go further than the deep sea to find living organism far stranger than anything writers have imagined (and we really should remember than statistically the most typical place on Earth is an abyssal plain, silent, cold, dark and under extremely high pressure).

Two nitpicks here. First, I suspect most biomass is not on the silent, cold abyssal plains.

Second, of course life in radically different environments will look different. But take a temperature 1g planet with the same rough mix of atmosphere as Earth. How different will that be? That's teh real question, IMO.

About biomass, I'm not so sure... you can be right, but life on the surface is a very thin but 'life dense' layer. On the abyssal seas, the equivalent is hundreds or thousands of meters thick. I don't even know if we have any serious, reliable study regarding total biomass in the deep seas environment. Life is certainly scarce there in life forms per cubic meter, but total biomass... who knows?

Regarding Earth-like planets, 1g, 290ยบ K, nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere... well, the closer we have to another planets are independent land masses with long periods of independent evolution, like Australia. Not the same thing, of course, but the Australian example seems to teach that both examples of convergent evolution (like the Tasmanian wolf, a marsupial) and of different, exotic life forms (kangaroos, platypus) will exist.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Darth Wagtaros on November 23, 2009, 05:50:20 AM
Mostly humanoid, maybe some ridges on their faces.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Neil on November 23, 2009, 07:20:54 AM
Could be just about anything, really.  Physics and evolutionary utility put some limits on there, but it's difficult to say without a more detailed understanding of their environment.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: grumbler on November 23, 2009, 07:25:52 AM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on November 23, 2009, 05:50:20 AM
Mostly humanoid, maybe some ridges on their faces.
You mean:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.absoluteastronomy.com%2Fimages%2Ftopicimages%2Fu%2Fun%2Funfrozen_caveman_lawyer.gif&hash=34da65f5a7e2b775be641cdaf1d57c0f8e088ffa)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Alatriste on November 23, 2009, 07:59:33 AM
Quote from: grumbler on November 23, 2009, 07:25:52 AM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on November 23, 2009, 05:50:20 AM
Mostly humanoid, maybe some ridges on their faces.
You mean:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.absoluteastronomy.com%2Fimages%2Ftopicimages%2Fu%2Fun%2Funfrozen_caveman_lawyer.gif&hash=34da65f5a7e2b775be641cdaf1d57c0f8e088ffa)

Could pass for an Earthling of the 1980s if it weren't for an small detail. Only an alien would choose that tie... 
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 08:00:15 AM
Depends.  The good ones will look like insects or spiders or something.  The good ones mostly humanish.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: grumbler on November 23, 2009, 08:01:50 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 08:00:15 AM
Depends.  The good ones will look like insects or spiders or something.  The good ones mostly humanish.
I think we have discovered your problem.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 08:05:56 AM
That I'm insane?
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Eddie Teach on November 23, 2009, 08:10:19 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 08:05:56 AM
That I'm insane?

That you can't tell the difference between humans and spiders.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 08:40:02 AM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on November 23, 2009, 08:10:19 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 08:05:56 AM
That I'm insane?

That you can't tell the difference between humans and spiders.

That is a problem sometimes.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 08:59:11 AM
Firefight on an alien world

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg394.imageshack.us%2Fimg394%2F4388%2Fgenocidebyabiogenisisxz6.jpg&hash=997cb2f909a5412af78624631d92589292d0f1e3)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Ed Anger on November 23, 2009, 09:09:10 AM
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.a-13.net%2Fst_facepalm.gif&hash=cdf9d98a4ed0787dbe489ac5349b9c6370e1b4d9)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 09:11:02 AM
Don't be such a stick in the mud. It's a thread on what aliens would like. That picture is highly appropriate for such a thread.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Darth Wagtaros on November 23, 2009, 09:14:58 AM
Know what would be cool? A non-suck movie adaptation of ARMOR.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: ulmont on November 23, 2009, 09:18:50 AM
Quote from: Darth Wagtaros on November 23, 2009, 09:14:58 AM
Know what would be cool? A non-suck movie adaptation of ARMOR.

Yeah, but that'll never happen.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Razgovory on November 23, 2009, 09:24:07 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 09:11:02 AM
Don't be such a stick in the mud. It's a thread on what aliens would like. That picture is highly appropriate for such a thread.

I linked you to that site.  But I forgot what it was.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Neil on November 23, 2009, 09:47:10 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 09:11:02 AM
Don't be such a stick in the mud. It's a thread on what aliens would like. That picture is highly appropriate for such a thread.
Not at all.  An alien wouldn't look like that.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Grey Fox on November 23, 2009, 10:09:34 AM
That alien thing needs to start using cover.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: saskganesh on November 23, 2009, 10:11:08 AM
field research indicates that they look like this:

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnmazca.com%2F3142857%2Famanita_muscaria.jpg&hash=dcc90d3261d109d7aa4e02476ff454ad38dd3326)

Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 11:05:57 AM
Quote from: Neil on November 23, 2009, 09:47:10 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 09:11:02 AM
Don't be such a stick in the mud. It's a thread on what aliens would like. That picture is highly appropriate for such a thread.
Not at all.  An alien wouldn't look like that.
Why not?
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Neil on November 23, 2009, 11:46:19 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 11:05:57 AM
Quote from: Neil on November 23, 2009, 09:47:10 AM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on November 23, 2009, 09:11:02 AM
Don't be such a stick in the mud. It's a thread on what aliens would like. That picture is highly appropriate for such a thread.
Not at all.  An alien wouldn't look like that.
Why not?
Legs are wrong.  Exoskeleton is extremely unlikely.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: MadImmortalMan on November 23, 2009, 01:16:39 PM
Like this.


(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.star-control.com%2Fhosted%2Fhappycamper%2Fgifs%2Filwrath-sitting.gif&hash=fdc0bbe45465bd62754807c827f82b642af14be4)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: JacobL on November 23, 2009, 01:28:55 PM
???

(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2F6%2F67%2FAlien_%25281986%2529_-_Alien_queen.jpg&hash=e48858636de76dae6a4acb9c0598fc3b594a9a93)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: dps on November 23, 2009, 05:41:12 PM
Wel
Quote from: Queequeg on November 23, 2009, 01:06:51 AM
Inspired by the small Starship Troopers discussion and this. (http://www.nemoramjet.com/snduterus.htm)

The link is really pretty interesting for anyone with any interest in paleontology, as you'll instantly recognize a lot but there are some clever (and occasionally disgusting, like the second head/penis thing)differences. 

But I'm curious.  We have an amazing history here on earth of convergent evolution, but do you think this would apply to other, presumably reasonably similar planets?  Are we going to find streamlined animals in oceans with bodies like dolphins or tuna and ichthyosaurs, and large back-boned creatures on the shores? Or a bunch of blobs? 

Can we know anything?

Well, we only know of one world on which life exists.  It's pretty much impossible to extrapolate from one data point.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Jaron on November 28, 2009, 05:03:46 PM
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alienandufopictures.com%2Falien_picture_3.jpg&hash=da8aa44e35576c68b5f0b8b66cd8597c718ef903)
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Strix on November 28, 2009, 05:24:06 PM
Obviously balls of light!

If not than something harmless and cute that will suck our brains out or burrow inside our intestines.
Title: Re: What Will Aliens Look Like?
Post by: Grinning_Colossus on November 28, 2009, 11:43:58 PM
Sentient ones will look like a machine intelligence. Aside from that, they'll likely have legs if they're terrestrial, fins if they're aquatic, etc., with sensory organs clustered around the nervous system hub.