Aliens in Fiction

Aliens.

  • Humanoid aliens are reasonable.

    Votes: 16 43.2%
  • Species that are visibly inhuman, but generally humanoid are a fair compromise.

    Votes: 22 59.5%
  • Alien races ought to be unique.

    Votes: 23 62.2%
  • Humans are the scum of space!

    Votes: 10 27.0%
  • Meh. Humans. Pretty normal.

    Votes: 9 24.3%
  • The Imperium of Man shall rule the universe in the name of the Emperor!

    Votes: 16 43.2%

  • Total voters
    37
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i like my fictional aliens to be, well, ALIEN

its why I love babylon 5

not all the aliens had 2 arms and 2 legs

some were eldritchy abominationy
 
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I think we're missing something here, and that's behavior. A lot of scientists like to speculate that sentient aliens can be billions of years more advanced than us, but I disagree. At most, we're talking a few thousand years.

Think about it: it took four and a half billion years for our species to evolve on our planet. I'm willing to bet other worlds need a similar amount of time. Plus, we evolved to be the petty, shortsighted race we are because that aided survival. While they may look different, aliens might act just like us. Chilling thought.

And what if they're on a planet with fewer resources? You can't build a spaceship if you don't have enough metal to put together a cannon. We might have primitive, tribal societies out there. Instead of being the dumbest, we could be one of the smartest people in the room.
 
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I think we're missing something here, and that's behavior. A lot of scientists like to speculate that sentient aliens can be billions of years more advanced than us, but I disagree. At most, we're talking a few thousand years.

Think about it: it took four and a half billion years for our species to evolve on our planet. I'm willing to bet other worlds need a similar amount of time.

The earliest planets to have formed within our universe could have been formed several billion years prior to Earth's, so no, it's not limited to a few thousand.
 
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The possibilities of aliens are infinite. That is why I try not to think too much about them.
 
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I think we're missing something here, and that's behavior. A lot of scientists like to speculate that sentient aliens can be billions of years more advanced than us, but I disagree. At most, we're talking a few thousand years.

Think about it: it took four and a half billion years for our species to evolve on our planet. I'm willing to bet other worlds need a similar amount of time. Plus, we evolved to be the petty, shortsighted race we are because that aided survival. While they may look different, aliens might act just like us. Chilling thought.

And what if they're on a planet with fewer resources? You can't build a spaceship if you don't have enough metal to put together a cannon. We might have primitive, tribal societies out there. Instead of being the dumbest, we could be one of the smartest people in the room.
Our system is still pretty young, as far as solar systems go. The universe and the galaxies didn't form evenly across the cosmos. There could, in theory, still be other solar systems forming right now.
 
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@Dervish exactly!

Also, think about how many billions of stars had to die to make large elements like carbon and iron and others. That subtracts about five billion years from how long life has to develop in the universe. Minus also how long it takes for life to evolve to sapience, and you've used two thirds of the universe's age to make the earliest possible intelligent life.

So yes, @Asuras, I guess a race a few billion years ahead of us is possible. Assuming it hasn't blown itself up before then.
 
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I think that Aliens are going to be different from humans; but, we all are the same. If you get what I mean.

The universe and all of the wonderful galaxies and shit we have are each different than the galaxy we live in. So, I believe that Aliens are going to have similar things and not similar things to humans. We will just have to wait until we find out that if we are alone or not.

If we are alone in this universe, then I am going to be so upset.
 
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I think that Aliens are going to be different from humans; but, we all are the same. If you get what I mean.

The universe and all of the wonderful galaxies and shit we have are each different than the galaxy we live in. So, I believe that Aliens are going to have similar things and not similar things to humans. We will just have to wait until we find out that if we are alone or not.

If we are alone in this universe, then I am going to be so upset.
Considering NASA estimates there to be about 20 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone, I think it's safe to say intelligent life is all but certain.
 
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So yes, @Asuras, I guess a race a few billion years ahead of us is possible. Assuming it hasn't blown itself up before then.
Assuming it hasn't blown itself up or become completely unintelligible to us. Think back to the time of the Romans and try to explain what bacteria/germs are to them: Even if they conceptually understood you, they lacked the tools necessary to be able to detect microscopic organisms. They were so far backwards in comparison to us, that even something as commonly understood as germ theory was a complete unknown to them, and at a level where they would have had no chance of ever stumbling upon bacterial life, as it took hundreds of years of technological development to make it a thing. Now, keep in mind, this is a terrestrial lifeform--one that exists basically everywhere on Earth, across every tiny inch of space and we spent thousands of years not even knowing they were there.

Now throw in the Fermi paradox, where by sheer statistical probability, even a single alien civilization should have been able to spread across the entire galaxy with ease before our planet even formed, and it becomes a great deal of fun to ponder. Maybe in spite of all our technological progress, we are simply too infantile a species to be able to even remotely comprehend what's out there yet. We are ants. :ferret:
 
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I've always been fascinated with the idea of aliens. I suppose it's logical to assume intelligent life within our own galaxy is probable. I think at any given time there are alien organisms far more advanced then us and likely just as many far behind us in terms of both technology and evolution. The odds that we'd encounter an alien species simulair to us in tech, biological function, etc is so small. At the same time I don't believe our evolutionary process would be too different at all. Survival of the fittest would apply to any living organism anywhere, so i think it's likely an alien species would have, or used to have, a very similar thought processes to us. With that said you almost kind of have to ask yourself 'what would we do if we found an alien species less advanced then us'? I dont have any doubt in my mind that we'd either try to influence their evolution or just leave them alone. So I think there's a chance that if a alien species came into contact with a less evolved species, the less evolved species would be manipulated and rapidly evolve into something useful for the more advanced species (or if not necessarily evolving to be useful, the more advanced species would still guide the evolutionary process in a way to avoid creating a threat for themselves). Then again, I believe that for a species to advance to such a point would almost require them to evolve out of aggressive habits, because ultimately I think a species that would fail to evolve out of aggression would destroy themselves before they reached this point. However, what if a species did reach that level of tech before they evolved a kind of 'peace' gene? I think at that point a species could spread out quickly enough to avoid a possible self destruction event. I don't know, but they are all interesting thoughts.
 
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My idea of a believable alien species is something similar from Battle Los Angeles. Something completely inhuman in all physicality and biologically.

To think we are the only sentient beings in this galaxy is hubris. Despite how far we advanced in exploring the universe and how many theories that are the on the chalkboards we cannot define or prove that aliens do or do not exist.

Our ravenous curiosity will eventually find the answers but maybe not in our lifetimes. We shall see.
 
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Assuming it hasn't blown itself up or become completely unintelligible to us. Think back to the time of the Romans and try to explain what bacteria/germs are to them: Even if they conceptually understood you, they lacked the tools necessary to be able to detect microscopic organisms. They were so far backwards in comparison to us, that even something as commonly understood as germ theory was a complete unknown to them, and at a level where they would have had no chance of ever stumbling upon bacterial life, as it took hundreds of years of technological development to make it a thing. Now, keep in mind, this is a terrestrial lifeform--one that exists basically everywhere on Earth, across every tiny inch of space and we spent thousands of years not even knowing they were there.

Now throw in the Fermi paradox, where by sheer statistical probability, even a single alien civilization should have been able to spread across the entire galaxy with ease before our planet even formed, and it becomes a great deal of fun to ponder. Maybe in spite of all our technological progress, we are simply too infantile a species to be able to even remotely comprehend what's out there yet. We are ants. :ferret:

Plot twist: Weather is actually aliens.
 
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Even though Aliens will share no common ancestors with us, there is such a thing as convergent evolution. Sharks and Dolphins are only distantly related, but look very similar. Likewise, ichthyosaurs look like dolphins and sharks, even though they're reptiles.

Sentient Aliens, the kind the build spaceships and whatnot, will probably have a vaguely humanoid shape. But when I say that, I don't mean "rubber forehead klingons", I mean more like how Species 8472 is vaguely humanoid. The upright posture, and having at least 2 arms would be key to any sentient race.
They'll look as similar to us as Bats look similar to Birds.


In otherwords, Aliens will probably look neither completely alien, nor completely human.
 
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Oh, as for the topic of "will aliens be peaceful or not":

There exists an argument that aliens with FTL will necessarily be peaceful, otherwise they'd wipe themselves out. This is not necessarily true. They could be hive-minded like the Borg, for example. They could love each other, but hate everyone else. Nazi-Aliens are not an impossibility. Neither are Communist Aliens.

When aliens come, probably the best thing they can tell us is not "we want to help you" or "we come in peace" but rather "we want to sell you something!". The former two, they're probably lying. The last one, they're probably not (though, they're possibly lying about how awesome whatever they want to sell you is). It would also imply that they're unwilling or unable to attack us.
 
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The last answer on the poll is still not winning.

Fs3TQlP.jpg
 
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When aliens come, probably the best thing they can tell us is not "we want to help you" or "we come in peace" but rather "we want to sell you something!". The former two, they're probably lying. The last one, they're probably not (though, they're possibly lying about how awesome whatever they want to sell you is). It would also imply that they're unwilling or unable to attack us.
I remember a short story I read quite a few years ago about a human encountering an alien, throwing moonshine at it, then running for his life as said alien chased him... only to find out the alien wanted more moonshine. Story ended with this guy having a very nice trade deal going on with a whole host of aliens interested in purchasing his "product."
 
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Oh, as for the topic of "will aliens be peaceful or not":

There exists an argument that aliens with FTL will necessarily be peaceful, otherwise they'd wipe themselves out. This is not necessarily true. They could be hive-minded like the Borg, for example. They could love each other, but hate everyone else. Nazi-Aliens are not an impossibility. Neither are Communist Aliens.

When aliens come, probably the best thing they can tell us is not "we want to help you" or "we come in peace" but rather "we want to sell you something!". The former two, they're probably lying. The last one, they're probably not (though, they're possibly lying about how awesome whatever they want to sell you is). It would also imply that they're unwilling or unable to attack us.

It simply seems illogical that any alien species even mildly similar in thinking ability would go out of their way to attack us/enslave us.

1) Any material (save labor) found on Earth is infinitely more bountiful in other places in the universe, and far more easily obtained.
2) Any species looking for slave labor and capable of interstellar travel such that it's efficient probably also has robotic "slaves" already. Far less likely to revolt and far easier to produce and manage.

There is literally nothing on Earth but pure exploratory information that an alien species would ever really want or need.
 
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There is literally nothing on Earth but pure exploratory information that an alien species would ever really want or need.
Except for the moonshine... can't forget the moonshine! So, what you're saying is, they'd only come here for "recreational" purposes?
 
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