Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: The Non-Prevalance of Humanoid Equivalents

Having just one data point on such an important subject is so frustrating
Socrates II — (archived)

I see that even Charles Lineweaver, the author of the linked paper that
is the focus of this thread, said in his conclusion how he supports SETI
despite his written theme due to its inexpensiveness and the possibility
that he may be wrong - all due to that one data point, Earth life.

Since we are making educated guesses, mine in this on the topic:

While I have my doubts we will encounter a Star Trek type galaxy full of
humanoids who resemble us in oh so many ways - unless we and the rest
really were seeded by an original humaoid race ages ago as one ST:TNG
episode had as its plot - certain environments might evolve certain common
forms.

For example, most but of course not all aquatic fish have a basically
similar design form to move around in their liquid environment, and white
fur and carnivorous appetites dominate the mammals of the Arctic.

So perhaps for those beings who are still in the biological stage on
planets similar to Earth, there may be common physiologies between
them and us, despite evolving on distant worlds. Note how stars and
galaxies are so similar despite their numbers and extreme distances.

But this is why it is so important to search for them so we can finally
stop the field from being almost completely speculative.

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