Do you think aliens on other planets would have a good chance of looking like us?

Question

not as in color or detailed characteristics but two arms two legs.

or like swim in some type of chemical compound like water.

living in a world like ours; same based elemental properties of earth eg gravity, land, plants, air. just not earth

i say this because "two/2" is the minimum number of adapted set of ligaments that is required to do a range of tasks. you dont really need three legs, you know what i mean?, two eyes to dudge distance ect. One is alot less favourable as one arm is not enough, one leg wont help to get from A to B as two legs would but two legs is better than three legs cause the extra one would just get in the way.

so any opinions?

Answer 1

Although they will probably look quite alien to us, from a general biological and geometrical perspective, intelligent extraterrestrials will probably share a number of characteristics with us. For one thing, here on Earth, bilateral symmetry (as opposed to radial symmetry as observed in a few animals like jellyfish and sea anemones) has proven to be extremely effective, especially in more advanced life forms; as far as I know, EVERY sentient species on Earth has bilateral symmetry (at least I can't think of any counterexamples off the top of my head). Therefore it is highly likely that aliens will also have bilateral symmetry. In addition, it is highly likely that any other aliens with tool-making ability would have some sort of inherent ability to manipulate objects in order to make those tools, which necessitates an organ something like a hand; tentacles like those on cephalopods could also work, but some kind of organ for fine object manipulation is quite likely. In most environments, some kind of eyes are also pretty likely, although they may look quite different from our own eyes (insectoid faceted eyes are one possibility). Mouths and waste disposal organs would also be necessary, although some animals here on Earth use the same o*****e for both purposes, so that may be the case for some aliens as well. Finally, aliens would probably be around the same size as us, because although extremely large aliens are a possibility, beings much smaller than us would probably have a tough time possessing enough neural complexity to allow for intelligence (consider for example that us and chimpanzees are the two SMALLEST species on Earth that possess consciousness; both elephants and dolphins are larger). So yes, in all likelihood, there will be parallels of at least some kind.

>not as in color or detailed characteristics but two arms two legs.

Four limbs isn't actually very much. I would expect aliens to have at least four; three is still reasonable, but for object manipulation, it's kind of a 'the more the better' situation.

>i say this because "two/2" is the minimum number of adapted set of ligaments that is required to do a range of tasks. you dont really need three legs, you know what i mean?

Actually, the minimum number of legs to truly guarantee balance while walking is six. Insects actually have it set up a lot better than we do; with two legs, we humans are forced to stand on one leg when we put the other one forwards, which results in the process of walking being mostly a process of controlled falling. A six-legged creature, on the other hand, can move three of its legs at once and still have three planted on the ground to describe a plane, which will allow it to balance so long as their center of gravity remains above that plane. With fewer than three legs on the ground, only a point or line is described, which is much harder to balance.

That said, six legs is also harder for a creature to feed than two, so it is still quite reasonable to expect large creatures to have only two or four legs. Three and five legs are both less likely, due to the bilateral symmetry issue, but are still quite possible; the third or fifth leg may for example be an evolved version of a tail. This is also ignoring the possibility that the aliens may be either aquatic or avian, in which case legs would of course be much less of an issue.

>two eyes to dudge distance ect

Two eyes is quite reasonable, although more could also work. One eye is unlikely, both because of bilateral symmetry and because it doesn't allow for binocular vision.

Answer 2

Very good question. I always cite the numerous examples of what is called "convergent evolution" here on Earth. In other words, two species that have completely separate evolutionary histories, yet end up with similar bodies. Bats and birds are a good example, as are dolphins and sharks (and Ichthyosaurs). When there is only one really efficient way of overcoming a problem, be it flight or fast swimming, evolution tends to produce the same solution over and over again.

When it comes to human evolution, much of what makes our technology possible comes from being bipedal. Being bipedal freed our front limbs to develop into sophisticated hands, giving our brains unprecedented control over their environment. It would seem natural to me that evolution on another planet would eventually produce creatures not dissimilar to ourselves, in that they are bipedal and have dextrous front limbs for manipulating tools.

As far as water goes, the scientific consensus is that water is essential for life, such as found on Earth, to develop. So long as we can find planets with liquid water, there's every chance that life is there too.

Answer 3

The most intelligent species on Earth are Humans (also the stupidest), elephants, dolphins (etc.), African grey parrots, and octopi.

A macaw has demonstrated that it knows that it's a reflection of itself in a mirror. Not even chimpanzees do that. Given that birds have no neocortex, which is the part of the brain we thought was needed for this skill, this is amazing.

There's an octopus species with chameleon abilities where as the animal moves over objects, the shapes, textures and so on ripple over the animal's skin in real time.  And, they're really quite bright.  So an animal with 8 limbs could become intelligent.

Land animals are descended from bilaterals. It didn't have to happen that way.

One expects water to be at least common for life.  Water is common in the Universe.

Answer 4

seeing as how micheal c and the other guy explained the scientific side very informantly...ill just say...yes...i believe if there is intelligent life out there somewhere that is similar in appendages, if not appearance...

Answer 5

  They would likely be based on Dna not much different than ours.

  They would likely be in the range of our height and weight.

  They would think like us with intelligence that would parallel ours closely.

  Develop language and technology.

  They could look like anything you could imagine but they would likely

have prehensile appendages like our arms and some way of moving about,legs or maybe even wings.

They would theorize about our existence as we do about theirs.

Answer 6

Aliens are a hoax! There is absolutely no proof of aliens!

Answer 7

Yes!

there are human looking people out there. You asked, so I gave the answer. Yes, there are people out there who look like us.

But the evolutionary path they have taken is quite different from ours, so this means they don't act like us really.

As far as more diverse life, sure why not. Creation can end up creating all sorts of different life. Look in our oceans and the life therein. This is a mirror to life in the universe. There will be the same diverity in bipedals...quite sure of this!

Answer 8

under similar circumstances, evolution and/or natural selection, I would suppose aliens could look similar to us, but as in all of nature, there's no guarantee. You would think that the optimum configuration for intelligent life would be similar, but not necessarily. Since we've never seen any other 'aliens', except in some reports, we have no idea what others would look like.

Answer 9

These alien questions are asked 10000000000000000 times a day!

No No No No No No No Noooooooooooooooo

Answer 10

Their evolutionary lines would be much different from ours in every way. If they look nothing like us in any way and visited in like 50, 100, or more years then MAYBE... PERHAPS you might have a real ET. If it resembles our image in any way with 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, nose and mouth and then also visit us between now and 2012 then something strange is afoot at the Circle K my friend. In that case I would suggest that perhaps the antichrist has made his move for the manipulation of the masses to set up his New World Order.

Answer 11

It depends on how far along this alien species has evolved. If its an earth like planet then their is a good chance aliens would evolve just like us.  

Answer 12

It depends on the planet's condition, as the evolution of life on Earth is very much affected by the environment.

If most of the life form exist under water, then even if there's highly advance species there like humans, they certainly would have very different physical feature to allow them to live in the oceans, even if they are as intelligent as we are.

But probably you're right, if life form there do evolved on land as well, they certainly would need to have arms and legs for mobility.

their size and height would be affected by other things of course such as the planet's gravity, atmosphere pressure and so on

Answer 13

Whilst it it is almost sure that somewhere in the universe we will encounter life (not necessarily intelligent life--it could be something like a giant mold or a reproducing foam in a methane atmosphere), the possibilities of the beings looking like us are so infinitesimally low that you could say they are not existant. Do you now how many millions genes we have ? And how many tens of millions combinations and permutations are possible if two set of genes combine? and how many changes and adaptations occurred during millions of years of evolution? For them to look like us all this should be repeated exactly as it was on earth.So dont expect little green men landing near an Exxon gas pump and telling it "Take your finger out of your ear and bring me to your leader".  

Answer 14

Generally, aliens look exactly like humans except with extra bits of Plasticine makeup stuck to their face, and perhaps slightly oily skin of a somewhat different color (the planet of the green belly-dancing stewardesses, for example).

Answer 15

there is every chance of there being other beings out there with the same make up as us. Earth resides in the continuously habitable zone which means that it's not to far away from the sun to freeze and not to close to burn up which provides us with the perfect conditions to thrive in, so there is the possibility of more earth like planets existing in the universe, whether or not any life forms on such planets would evolve as our has is a different story.

Answer 16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJirnJSwq...

Answer 17

Congratulations!  You've discovered the wide (often wacky) world of...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenobiology

Plenty of references to credible, intelligent opinions there.

One important thing you will encounter is that your question makes many many unnecessary assumptions about what life needs or wants.  It's a strange field, requiring a lot of open-mindedness.  Remember to pack plenty!

Answer 18

"You don't really need three legs"

Yes it is true that life does not require three.  But an amoeba doesn't even need one!  And I'm pretty sure, if it were able to answer this question, an ant wouldn't be to happy to part with four of its legs...  but, enogh of that, I shall get to answering the real question now...

It is tough to say, really.  Earth has a fairly simple and relatively consistent set of circumstances that all life on this planet gets exposed to, and truly, humans look like an incredibly small percentage of animals...  and that percentage goes down by an extreme factor when you account for ALL life on this planet...  we look very much different from plants, and single celled organisms.  

Even amongst the animal kingdom, it's pretty much just the birds and primates with exactly two legs.  

Now, having said that, if there were another planet with life, that has had ample time to evolve and whatever else may or may not go into developing biology...  it would seem to me that there is no reason another planet couldn't have just as much biological diversity as earth.  

In that case, it is almost guaranteed that bipedal creatures with two eyes could evolve.  But who knows, perhaps a species on another planet was able to physically evolve like us, but only have the intelligence of something much less...  and the 8 legged 8 eyed equivalent of the spider there is the intellectually dominant species.

It's also possible life could be extremely different, and almost unnoticeable.  Say, a species that has zero eyes, for it developed a different way to interpret the electromagnetic spectrum...  

The possibilities are truly greater than my imagination, and I'll just leave it at that.