What would evolved aliens look like?

and another question, you know how we supposedly evolved from apes, what if somewhere out there an intelligent spieces evolved from wolf-like and bear-like creatures?

and i know evolution is affected by how far the planet is from the sun, if a alien race were to be like 7 foot tall and would have muscles, would they have to be far away or close to the sun?

Re: What would evolved aliens look like?


Well first of all, everything on this planet is evolved, even the snails and the trees are just as evolved as you are. But I'm guessing that what you're really asking for is an estimation of what an Alien with a technological intelligence might look like, as opposed to dolphins and squid, which are both pretty intelligent, but not the way we are.

I've always thought that one of the things which led to our intelligence is the relative lack of other survival tools. For example, we don't have sharp claws, or big teeth, or a hard outer shell to protect us or super speed for escaping predators, so other assets had a chance to be honed by selection. This led to intelligence in general.

As for technology, I've always thought it had to do with the ability to manipulate objects. Hands in our case, and Tentacles in the case of an Octopus.

And since life in water is more plentiful and varied than on land, and since I want to speculate toward something "non-humanoid" for estimating an alien, I would imagine something like an Octopus which has specialized, and possibly moved onto land over time.

Of course, I'm starting with an assumption of DNA and basic carbon structure. I could speculate on some type of crystal microbial colony or something, but without going that far afield...

I can imagine a tentacled dry skinned radially symetrical organism which has evolved with specialized appendages for "walking" on land and manipulating objects. It has a visual sysem more like an insect which ring the primary trunk. At some point in its evolution, it developed cartellage like structures which were originally modified as fins. The fins were later used to leverage itself out off the water onto the sheer and broken slopes of the cliffs which rise from its planets oceans. Now the fins appear as long hard spines which support the creature as it lives on the near vertical slopes which rise almost a mile above sea level, and onto which their cities have been constructed, and fields of alien vegetation sway. They communicate using chromatophores in their skin which change color. The color changes are most visible on specially modified tentacles which constantly wave above its "head".

How's that?

is this for science fiction?

rosborne thanks, thats what i was looking for....anybody else?

anybody?

and can it be scientifically possible for non-carbon-based life to exist, cause that would truly highten the amount of non-intelligent/intelligent alien life out there

Plat said, "take a wild guess", so I did.

Plat, the problem with this question is that it carries too many implied assumptions to be able to address it in any meaningful way. For example, evolution is not affected by range from a given Star. Also, the height and musculature of any organism are almost meaningless unless we know something about the chemistry and architecture of the organism, and the environment it lives in (water or air, or even plasma for example).

Distance from the Sun is meaningless unless we know something more about the particular Sun in question; how big is it? What color is it? Are there multiple Suns?

You need to narrow the question a bit before we can give any meaningful answers.



Nobody knows this because we only have one data point to extrapolate from; Earth biology.

However, it seems likely at this point that we will succeed in creating synthetic intelligence within a short geological timespan. The implication of this is that carbon based life may give rise to silicon based life. This could be a natural process. And even non-carbon initiated life might be possible. Things as strange as plasmas or magnetic fields might be feasible given enough time and enough space (both of which there are lots of).

didnt they find some non-carbon-based life living somewhere we didnt even anything could live in/on, but i see what your saying it depends on the biology of planet and the species, which means they might look like anything right?, i really think there are TONS of intelligent and non-intelligent alien life out there, no matter the odds because if look you around outside you see everything started out like a miracle

dang, anybody else?

I don't think there has ever been a discovery of a non-carbon-based life form, on this planet or anywhere else.

You may be thinking of extremophiles which are organic organisms which can live in extreme conditions. But they are still DNA and Carbon based organisms.

If the stuff I wrote is what you were looking for, then you might try asking the moderators to move this thread to the "creative writing" forum. More people there might be interested in making their own "creative" imagery

okay thanks for the heads up, and do you think there are non-carbon-based life out there

I think there is, but that's just a *wild* guess, I have absolutely nothing to base that on except that the Universe is very large, and I like to think that it's full of interesting things.

Best Regards,

so would you say aliens can look like anything and some or even most might have superhuman speed and strength and all of that

I think you're limiting your options by even thinking about speed and strength. Those things are relative. Falcons have superhuman speed, and Elephants have superhuman strength, but that's because they're not human (and neither will an alien be).

Suppose the alien we're talking about is a collection of magnetic fields flowing in the plasma between binary stars which has somehow retained information and developed memory and begun to think. Then the concepts of speed and strength would be meaningless to it.

okay, how about aliens similar to life on this planet

There are certain design characteristics associated with biology which limit the extent of strength and size. For example, insects cannot exceed a certain size because the relative weight of their exoskeleton will eventually exceed their energy output rendering them immobile.

Likewise, there are limits to the energy intake and respiration process in mammals which restrict their overall energetic level. Then there are the structural limitations like the strength of bones and tendons which prevent us from being able to lift buildings and such.

However, if you are asking me if there could be aliens which are similar to us in structure and chemistry and yet have greater strength and speed, then I would say, yes. You only have to look at a Gorilla which is very similar to us to know that something can have greater strength, and Ostriches which walk on two legs have greater speed.

Beyond that, body chemistry in people can even adapt to local conditions, like the people living in the Himalayas who's blood carries more oxygen due to a higher percentage of red blood cells.

Why are you so focused on strength and speed?

i just used strength and speed as an example.....can any alien race our size fly?

and another question (did i ask this already), for an alien to be muscular and be like 7 foot tall would their home planet have to be closer or farther from the sun and would the gravity have to be more or less?

thanks in advance buddy

The answer to all your questions are that anything is possible within the limits of physics.

Am I doing your homework for you Buddy?

Fun questions anyway