The
chances are, a sentient alien WON’T look anything like us.
Life
is incredibly diverse, just look at some of our sentient beings on Earth
We
shouldn’t expect other sentient beings on other planets to look like us. In
fact, we don’t resemble any of the top 24 sentient beings on Earth, not even our
cousin primates. And while they may or may not pass our human test for
sentience, (depending on who evaluates the test), I’m quite certain we’d fail
any test the other animals established to determine sentience. Can we
communicate emotions by changing the color of our skin? No? On the Octopus’s
test it’s a required feat.
We’d
also fail the memory test run by the elephants and sheep.
While
the dolphin and killer whales are not only adept in their languages, they have
taken the effort to learn to hand signals, whistles and voice commands of the
humans at Sea World who make them do stupid
tricks all day. Since none of us understand a word of their languages,
we’d fail their language tests.
Then
there is my dog Jess. I am a hundred percent confident that she fully
understands the English language. But do I understand dog? Not at all.
And
if the ant were to derive a test, the ability to track and communicate with the
nest would be extremely important. We would fail dismally.
Any
of the animals above could realistically become the top sentient being on
another planet. Just because our ancestor climbed out of tree doesn’t mean that
will happen elsewhere. If a planet is
covered in water, it is more likely the Octopus, squid, dolphin or killer whale
who would swim up and claim dominance. My money is on the Octopus. Seriously,
who needs a prehensile thumb if you’ve got a great many gripping tentacles?
Nor
should we expect all sentient beings on other planets to be water based like us.
(In case no one has mentioned this, humans are mostly comprised of water.) However, on Titan, sentient life could be
methane based. And since we’ve no idea how it might form itself, we might not
even recognize it as a living creature. Or even see it. A great many of our
sentient animals such as the Octopus are great at blending in with the
background.
As
for the most likely to become space travelers: I vote for the Octopus.
Its
brain has many complex features like ours, it’s very smart with amazing problem
solving skills. Add to this, it has longer, more flexible arms, plus it has NO
BONES. This would make it an excellent candidate for traveling in space. As any
astronaut will tell you, bones deteriorates in low gravity.
Also,
Octopi can adapt to almost any environment. And their ability to hide in plain
sight is phenomenal. They could make themselves look like a piece of furniture
or a pillow on the couch. While the Octopus can live out of water for a short
time, any ship built for them will certainly be filled with water, which would
lower radiation exposure during travel.
Throw in some crabs and fish, and they have a replenish-able food
source.
I’m
sure you’re thinking, hold on, won’t the ship short out with all that water. Not
if a flexible, non-leaking barrier seals all the electronics.
So
if someday you are sucked up into a ship belonging to aliens, don’t be
surprised if the aliens look rather like the octopus.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Liza O’Connor has recently published book 1, The Gods of Probabilities of her first Sci-Fi
series The Multiverses, and yes, there are sentient Octopi, as well as an Ocean
dwelling humanoid with gills. Book 2,
Surviving Outbound, you meet a sentient blue cow, and in book 3, you meet an
entire herd of the sentient bulls and cows. In book 4 Surviving Sojourn, you’ll
discover one of the humans, is actually a different species that looks quite similar
to us, but has the ability to alter their size. You’ll also discover two highly
intelligent T. rexes, but don’t ask to dine with them. They aren’t friendly at
all and would prefer to dine on you than with you.
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