If we make contact?

[Darwinian]

If we make contact with an alien civilisation, what are they likely to be?

[Kyuuketsuki]

I voted pretty human like because, on the assumption that life will require a somewhat Earth-like environment (free-flowing water, gaseous oxygen, CO2 and so on), I think that evolution is likely to have favoured our "design" for a reason ... also if anyone reads Chris Laver's book, "Why Do Elephants Have Big Ears?" it appears there are some fairly sound engineering principles that dictate that certain animal types are the way they are and that the more fanciful creatures we can imagine are not just unlikely but damned near impossible.

I'm not saying there won't be differences (DNA, placement & number of some organs/limbs) and I certainly don't think inter-planetary breeding will be possible (at least not outside of a lab) but I think that if there is intelligent life out there there is good reason to think it might be vaguely humanoid.

Kyu

[Edwardo Piet]

I can imagine they would be human like but I could imagine otherwise too, providing they are intelligent.
And HOW human like? I'm not sure they'd be like star-trek! I'm not sure they wouldn't either! I admit the whole humanoid thing seems counter intuitive.
I have decided not to vote until I have any idea. I have heard that intelligent life could be humanoid but I'm not sure how probable that is, or HOW humanoid that would indeed be.
They might be very successful and intelligent and NOT be humanoid, we just can't conceive of them/conceive of them precisely enough to judge.
I think they would very probably be either option 1 or option 2, but I'm not sure which.

[Tiberius]

The problem with the whole "human-like" answer is that it simply doesn't happen with Evolution. Firstly, the environment will be different (at least in some ways), and secondly the mutations needed to turn a cell into a human probably won't happen, either at all or in the order they have done on Earth.

Remember, Evolution is the combination of two events: Random Mutation & Natural Selection. If the environment is the same (which it most likely won't be) then the Natural Selection will produce the same results, but the inputs (random mutations) are very unlikely to be the same every time.

Of course, this is all assuming that life on other planets uses DNA and not some other way of evolving.

[Edwardo Piet]

Also the question is perhaps, "How human-like is 'human-like?'"

[Darwinian]

Also the question is perhaps, "How human-like is 'human-like?'"

We are talking about the sort of aliens you get in Star Trek!

[Kyuuketsuki]

We are talking about the sort of aliens you get in Star Trek!

Not really ... I'm simply saying that things like 3 legged aliens might not occur because of evolution and sound engineering principles for the same reason that Laver's demonstrates how King Kong and Godzilla are complete crap (from an engineering standpoint). A tripetal (is that right?) life form might evolve but (and I'm guessing here) might not be very efficient.

So yeah a little bit like trek and most other SF series (though to my mind Trek does such characterisation worse from an entertainment POV) but not exactly.

Kyu

[Edwardo Piet]

Also the question is perhaps, "How human-like is 'human-like?'"

We are talking about the sort of aliens you get in Star Trek!

Well I think the best average wager would be to bet on option 2, so I'm gonna do that, its probably the closest. I'm not sure but I have more reason to think that than any other. I think that aliens would have to evolve to have similar solutions to us if they are intelligent.
But to suggest they'd all be humanoid to the point of star-trek!
That seems absurd to me and perhaps a bit connected to the thing about man being in God's image perhaps.
Perhaps a bit of subconsious conceit lol.
I could be wrong, perhaps option 1 is indeed very probable merely counter-intuitive to me - but I think not.
If anyone thinks 1 is the most probable option I'd be very interested to know why.
Hmmm, if human-like is star-trek I'm not sure how human-like 'pretty human-like' is, how close to Star-trek is 'pretty human like'? I'm not sure so I think 2 is best, it covers a wider area. Besides 2 could very well cover 1 aswell, because I think that 'pretty human like' is still both strange and recognizably organic! So I think 2 covers a wider area and probably applys to 1 aswell.
So I'm voting for 2.

[allan175]

... I'm simply saying that things like 3 legged aliens might not occur because of evolution and sound engineering principles for the same reason that Laver's demonstrates how King Kong and Godzilla are complete crap (from an engineering standpoint). A tripetal (is that right?) life form might evolve but (and I'm guessing here) might not be very efficient.

No reason at all why there couldn't be tripedal aliens. Just because it doesn't make sense engineering-wise (blind spots, breathing/eating through the same orifice etc), doesn't mean it couldn't evolve into a solution to an environmental problem. As long as it does the job and gives even a tiny advantage over the competition it'll be used.

There is no one solution for walking about, see all the various forms available on the Earth!

[Kyuuketsuki]

No reason at all why there couldn't be tripedal aliens. Just because it doesn't make sense engineering-wise (blind spots, breathing/eating through the same orifice etc), doesn't mean it couldn't evolve into a solution to an environmental problem. As long as it does the job and gives even a tiny advantage over the competition it'll be used.

That the point I am trying to make ... just about any reasonably complex animal (and presumably plant) can be justified from an engineering standpoint and that is because it offers an evolutionary advantage ... I've no idea if tripetal (tripodal?) makes sense or not, all I'm saying is that bipedal does and, given the current view that flowing water, oxygen, more-or-less earth like gravity, sun etc. etc. are likely to be required ()in other words a more-or-less earth-like climate) then my money would be on other life-forms evolving to a bipedal type architecture.

There is no one solution for walking about, see all the various forms available on the Earth!

True but the most advanced are bipedal ... maybe that's luck, maybe it ain't but it seems to me that evolution is driven by anything other than "luck" ... in other words there's a good reason why we are the way we are (and I ain't talking intelligent design).

Kyu