Aliens

[Thaluikhain]

So after watching some alien movies recently, it didn't take long for me to notice that all aliens are humanoids. Or at least most of them. I may take this in the broadest way possible, but even if you take a closer look at them, they all look like us. This somewhat bothers me. Yeah, there are movies which do get pretty creative like War of the Worlds, but most of them don't. Is it just me, or does this bother more of you guys?

There are not going to be many choices in what nature decides is the optimal form in the Goldie Lock zone. Which the human form taking millions of years to be created, it's not wrong to guess that any intelligent life will look roughly similar.

The Goldie Lock zone being defined as the region where life could exist that isn't too alien to us?

Secondly, still doesn't hold true. If the gravity was very different, or the atmospheric pressure or composition, or temperature, or if intelligent life evolved underwater, or any number of other things were different, you'd expect to see all sorts of weird things cropping up.

Even if not, just looking at our own world, what if an invertebrate evolved sentience?

 

[weker]

Well there are only 3 main aliens that cover your human analogy which I can think of; Alien (designed to be slightly child like in it's design), predator, and the egg head one which is designed to look scary through body horror, or looking like a malformed human.

 

[AnarchistFish]

I guess it just makes it easier. If you try to make aliens weird and wonderful, it could make it harder to fit humans in with a story about them.

 

[Esotera]

Easier for prosthetics. You could also argue that any intelligent life would need conditions similar to Earth to evolve, meaning that you'd get something roughly similar to Homo Sapiens. You definitely need a decent brain, fingers/something good to manipulate stuff with, and an even number of limbs as these are more biomechanically stable. It would be cool to see something like dolphins in space though...their ship would just be a gigantic pool.

 

[King_1]

So after watching some alien movies recently, it didn't take long for me to notice that all aliens are humanoids. Or at least most of them. I may take this in the broadest way possible, but even if you take a closer look at them, they all look like us. This somewhat bothers me. Yeah, there are movies which do get pretty creative like War of the Worlds, but most of them don't. Is it just me, or does this bother more of you guys?

There are not going to be many choices in what nature decides is the optimal form in the Goldie Lock zone. Which the human form taking millions of years to be created, it's not wrong to guess that any intelligent life will look roughly similar.

The Goldie Lock zone being defined as the region where life could exist that isn't too alien to us?

Secondly, still doesn't hold true. If the gravity was very different, or the atmospheric pressure or composition, or temperature, or if intelligent life evolved underwater, or any number of other things were different, you'd expect to see all sorts of weird things cropping up.

Even if not, just looking at our own world, what if an invertebrate evolved sentience?

That's not how nature works. Intelligence evolves as an evolutionary response. If the setting is not right, intelligent life will not come into existence. Look at dinosaurs - around for far, far longer than humanity and yet not a single intelligent lifeform. Only when primates came around did nature start going down a certain path. Gravity etc may only change bone and muscle density but you'd still find what would probably be a relatively physically inferior creature when compared to the rest of the creatures on the planet.

 

[Henkie36]

Well there are only 3 main aliens that cover your human analogy which I can think of; Alien (designed to be slightly child like in it's design), predator, and the egg head one which is designed to look scary through body horror, or looking like a malformed human.

You do know that ''humanoid'' means that it looks vaguely like a human, with two legs, two arms above those and a head to top it all off?

 

[Thaluikhain]

That's not how nature works. Intelligence evolves as an evolutionary response. If the setting is not right, intelligent life will not come into existence. Look at dinosaurs - around for far, far longer than humanity and yet not a single intelligent lifeform. Only when primates came around did nature start going down a certain path.

That's true, though the exact reasons why aren't exactly known. It's only happened once that we know of, not enough to observe a pattern.

Gravity etc may only change bone and muscle density but you'd still find what would probably be a relatively physically inferior creature when compared to the rest of the creatures on the planet.

That's only true if you compare humans to large predators, though.

Anyway, IMHO, gravity would tend to effect things like centre of gravity, whether the creature walked upright, whether it flew, stuff like that...that'd stretch what we think of as humanoid, even if everything else was much the same.

 

[Saltyk]

I think a lot of it is the need for limbs with which you can manipulate the environment.

On humans that's our hands and arms. Without a limb that can do stuff how would a species ever devolop tools/technology.

The easiest way to design an alien then, is to take the basic bipedal shape.

Has it occurred to you that they might have developed technology that can be used without opposable digits?

I think they'd need two eyes, though - I can't imagine a civilization getting advanced enough for us to come into contact with them without being able to judge distances.

Jakub makes a good point, without thumbs we probably still would have developed tech as we're still able to grip with our fingers or without hands we could hold objects between two stumpy arms.

So you could have an alien species which grips with a tail or tentacles, or psychic mind power!

I also agree with the need for depth perception so two front facing eyes would be a good bet. Though I suppose a creature like a bird (with side facing eyes) could evolve to intelligence it'd just have a really hard time of it.

Without thumbs we would have still developed technology? I'm sorry, but no. I happen to have a glass next to me. I tried picking it up without using my thumb. Hey, I did it. It wasn't hard and I didn't drop it, but it wasn't comfortable and I wouldn't recommend it. Now, imagine trying to pick up a stick or spear or any weapon needed to defend your primitive man or hunt. Trying doing anything that actually requires strength or dexterity. Can you do it? Probably. But I don't think you could do it well enough to survive against a predator or kill prey. There's a reason humans have thumbs. It was one of the best things we ever evolved.

Now, I'm not saying that other life forms could evolve and thrive without thumbs. I'm sure an alien could evolve with tentacles, or claws, or physic mind powers. But if they had hands, they probably wouldn't have survived without thumbs. And I don't think we would have either.

 

[King_1]

That's not how nature works. Intelligence evolves as an evolutionary response. If the setting is not right, intelligent life will not come into existence. Look at dinosaurs - around for far, far longer than humanity and yet not a single intelligent lifeform. Only when primates came around did nature start going down a certain path.

That's true, though the exact reasons why aren't exactly known. It's only happened once that we know of, not enough to observe a pattern.

Gravity etc may only change bone and muscle density but you'd still find what would probably be a relatively physically inferior creature when compared to the rest of the creatures on the planet.

That's only true if you compare humans to large predators, though.

Anyway, IMHO, gravity would tend to effect things like centre of gravity, whether the creature walked upright, whether it flew, stuff like that...that'd stretch what we think of as humanoid, even if everything else was much the same.

All very true. Sucky part is we probably will never know the answer...

 

[Thaluikhain]

All very true. Sucky part is we probably will never know the answer...

Probably better if we didn't. If aliens were to somehow pop up tomorrow, society would tear itself apart struggling to come to terms with it.

Well, unless they reveal themselves just to me, and I have hilarious adventures keeping them secret, and learning life lessons once a week.

 

[weker]

Well there are only 3 main aliens that cover your human analogy which I can think of; Alien (designed to be slightly child like in it's design), predator, and the egg head one which is designed to look scary through body horror, or looking like a malformed human.

You do know that ''humanoid'' means that it looks vaguely like a human, with two legs, two arms above those and a head to top it all off?

I assume you mean to say that there are more, if that is the case you need to re read the first line of my first post.

 

[Azure Sky]

It's the same reason why God is "human". People don't have enough imagination.

God, angels, aliens, etc, etc.
It's a running trend of people giving 'things of a higher power' human form.

A quote that some may recognize.
"It is something created by man in man's own image."

 

[spartan231490]

It doesn't bother me. It is at least somewhat probable that intelligent alien life would be "humanoid" in the vaguest sense of bipedal with hands, as there is evidence to suggest that higher intelligence cannot be achieved without freeing the hands for gripping things and using tools.
Although there's no reason they couldn't have 6 legs, or 4 hands, or have no "head" or any number of differences.

Also, they're alien movies, I don't watch them for accuracy.

It's the same reason why God is "human". People don't have enough imagination.

God, angels, aliens, etc, etc.
It's a running trend of people giving 'things of a higher power' human form.

A quote that some may recognize.
"It is something created by man in man's own image."

It also has to do with making them more relatable, at least as far as gods and angels go. It's hard to relate to something that is alien to us in every way possible. Also, many religions state that god created man in his own image, so of course he would look like us, because we look like him.

 

[Dawns Gate]

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the aliens are not humanoid at all because Kubrick and Clarke believed that it was ignorant to think they would resemble us at all. Especially if they were a much older and intelligent race than us.

 

[MercurySteam]

Hey as long as they're awesome humanoid aliens, e.g.

 

[tahrey]

Hmm. The Star Trek reboot had that ice monster that was pretty dang weird...

And along those lines:

Look up "The Jupiter Theft" by Donald Moffitt (OMG a book, yeah you're gonna have to read)
Check out the various alien "designs" he came up with, particularly for the main antagonists, and their different approaches to advanced technology that they would be able to both develop and use with their bodyplans.

Pretty friggin' spiffy. And it aches to be made into a film, though it would of course be butchered as there's not that much that can be condensed out of the plot. It would require use of several Montages.

The thing is of course, something that's TOO alien, and without noticable human traits, may as well be a robot. A bush. A motorcycle. A pile of dirt. People can't identify/emphasise with, fear, hate - whatever - with stuff like that up on the big screen. The Blob was a bit of an exception, but it was still more of a natural disaster that the human characters ran from and had stories around, rather than being a character of its own. In the book, their motivations and interactions can be better explored. On film you have to be snappy, take shortcuts, dumb down, and use more easily identified tropes.

So we get humans with pastries glued to their foreheads, green bodypaint and furry sleeves & leggings, because, whether they're good or bad, they make a better movie character that way. Sadly.

 

[Thaluikhain]

It's the same reason why God is "human". People don't have enough imagination.

God, angels, aliens, etc, etc.
It's a running trend of people giving 'things of a higher power' human form.

A quote that some may recognize.
"It is something created by man in man's own image."

Actually, originally angels were, IIRC, way cool, totally alien things. They had a 3 way symetry, instead of the 2 way we have. There were also colour coded, and the more important they were, the more sets of wings they had.

 

[Blue Hero]

Hey.

Hey bro.

Listen, bro.

Just listen for a minute.

What if...

Just hear me out..

What if aliens...

You listening bro?

What if aliens...

Are really planets?

What if aliens are really planets, bro?

Hey, bro.

Spoiler

I'm probably gonna get a warning from a mod for this post..

 

[Dwarfman]

So after watching some alien movies recently, it didn't take long for me to notice that all aliens are humanoids. Or at least most of them. I may take this in the broadest way possible, but even if you take a closer look at them, they all look like us. This somewhat bothers me. Yeah, there are movies which do get pretty creative like War of the Worlds, but most of them don't. Is it just me, or does this bother more of you guys?

Ahhh yes the Martians...Huge rounded bulks larger than a bear and composed almost enirely of brain, with leather triangular beaks, big yellow eyes and writhing tentacles. Yep good old HG Welles had a great imagination (Better than the guys who adapted his aliens to the movies at least)

Expense I think is a big deal when it comes to movies and TV. It's a lot easier to have a guy in a body suit pretending to be scary than some ghastly anthropromophic terror - although stay tuned for the Prequel of Jon Carpenter's 'The Thing'

That being said the basic 'humanoid' shape is a very ideal evolutionary shape. Strong bipedal legs for quick decisive movement; Appendages ending with opposed digits for better grip and manipulation; A good solid core structure to house vital organs and what not; A top flexable appendage housing the brain and most sensory organs allowing for better acuracy when using these items.

 

[Random berk]

It seems likely that aliens would have relatively large heads, if they are intelligent enough to use technology, and similarly they'd need arms with opposable digits, so in certain ways they'd have look similar to us, but at the same time, there's no reason for them to have the same number of limbs, or be the same size, or anything like that.

Has it occurred to you that they might have developed technology that can be used without opposable digits?

I think they'd need two eyes, though - I can't imagine a civilization getting advanced enough for us to come into contact with them without being able to judge distances.

What would they manipulate the technology with? Their mouths? Psychic powers? I think most complex technology would require opposable digits or something similar to construct, even if it could be operated without it.

EDIT: Although tentacles would actually be a plausible option as well.