Michael Shermer on Aliens

Why do aliens almost always look like bipedal primates? From the Skeptics Society library, Michael Shermer reminds us how rare a species we really are.

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  Science & Technology

[fromthescriptorum]

no worries.

[shatley123]

Yeah my bad, when i left that comment it had been a while sense i saw the video and forgot he said that.

[fromthescriptorum]

that's why he says bipedal primates. bipedal creatures aren't that rare, but bipedal primates are.

[mark kolb]

Alien, Alien, Alien, Carl Sagan, Alien...

[Skywalker91]

It is unlikely enough as it is that aliens would resemble Earth fauna (tetrapods, horizontally hinged jaws, two eyes etc.), so far he's correct. But IF aliens on a planet ended up looking like that, the stretch to an erect bipedal sapient is not too far-fetched - intelligence most often takes the ability to handle objects, and if you're a tetrapod, you either need to be bipedal (like us or birds), or have tentacles or a trunk, like an Elephant. Does not however mean they would look human.

[niceillusion1]

Shermer is anything but "Believable" - just a fanatic...

[Charlie Maynard]

Surely given enough time, a primate will appear and dominate the environment? If that environment allows for primates. Maybe there is a reason that a bipedal life-form is so intelligent and successful?

[shatley123]

As big as the universe is, i'd be surprised if there weren't alot of intelligent non-bipedal life out there. I highly doubt it would be an underwater creature, there just isn't enough resources or ability to accomplish anything similar to humans. And for land creatures, only a bipedal creatures has made it work. So i think there is a least a good probability intelligent life would be bipedal. Also if i'm correct, we aren't the only bipedal creatures, birds and some dinosaurs are bipedal?

[Joe Knight]

you don't need to be bipedal in order to be intelligent. Dolphins are really intelligent and apparantly have language and culture. And when it comes to technology and tools an ocoptus could do it as well with its limbs, it doesn't need feet and hands.

[shatley123]

I'd disagree. If we do come across intelligent life, i think it is a highly likely chance they will be humanoid. There has only been one bipedal species on earth but there has also only been one species that has managed to become really intelligent, humans.