Posted by: monkDAN
Posted by: JFMK2
Posted by: marckasprzyk
In regards to the halos evolution of the human race seems more realistic and more acceptable as a future we could have. There could very well be aliens and we could very well have war with them. I also think one day we might have a second earth like reach. give me ur opinion...Of course we could very well have aliens, but could we really have 7 different alien species, each of which (excluding drones and hunters) are bipedal and near human sized, and all of which are extremely easily anthropomorphized, having extremely similar intelligence and pschology (sociological factors notwithstanding)? No, I really don't think that we would ever face anything like the Covenant. The only truly alien aliens would be the Hunters and Buggers, everything else is far too similar to humanity to be believable. The other two are probably correct, yet incredibly vague so it's no surprise.
i would say its the other way around. if we encounter aliens they will most likely be similar to us in many ways. it would be very difficult for species like buggers and hunters to technologically advance considering their physical features. actually i think it would be impossible for hunters considering their worms and the covenant put them in those bodiesSo, a bipedal structure, a similar (or near identical) facial composition, human intelligence, and a mindset, mentality and morality essentially identical to that of humanity, is synonymous with technological advancement? I really hope not to offend, but I highly disagree. Perhaps they're synonymous with cultural advancement, or at least what we would interpret to be culture ++(see last paragraph), obviously, but definitely not technological advancements. Why would a species have to have the same psychology and physiology as humanity to be able to think and harness the power of technology?
They wouldn't. Learning the principles of science and the application of them does not require a morality entirely compatible (perhaps identical) with our own, it does not require the self-awareness, empathy, cognition, consciousness, and other psychological traits that mark humans as unique from the rest of the animal kingdom (these traits are very distinct from raw intelligence, mind you), it doesn't require two arms, two legs, two eyes and a mouth below those two eyes, and it doesn't require near-human proportions and size. What it does require, is some measure of dexterity, some form of social intelligence, and the intelligence to put two and two toghether (figuratively speaking, that is). Hunters and buggers have these in spades.
We have no idea what ecosystems they evolved on, and as such, you can't assert that the same traits that would prevail on our planet, would hold on theirs. As such, you certainly cannot say that sapience (or our entirely subjective definition thereof) goes hand in hand with technology, on every planet, on every ecosystem, just because it did with us. We are a very small sample size amidst the seas of infinity. To clairify, the word "sapience" has very little to do with intelligence, and for once wikipedia has done a good job defining it, especially the last paragraph of this section.
++Edit: mind you, what I meant by "what we would interpret to be a culture" was a culture that shares a very similar evolution, history, composition, organization and what not with our own culture, a good example being the Covenant. This kind of culture would only arise as the result of a species having a similar psychology to our own, ergo, a civilization populated by beings with alien psychology would have nothing that we would be able to recognize as a culture.
As a side note, I'd like this post to be read very carefully, as there are some things that can be easily misinterpreted if skimmed over.
[Edited on 08.02.2011 12:17 AM PDT]