| We’ve all seen Hollywood aliens – the classic | | | | the other hand, it’s possible that this assumption |
| little green man with the big head, black eyes and flying | | | | that alien life would have to look roughly likely us is a |
| saucer is forever indelibly imprinted on our brains, and | | | | failure of imagination on our part, and maybe the |
| when we think about alien life, that’s inevitably the | | | | similarities would actually be relatively few. One needs |
| mental picture that we get. But is it possible for us to | | | | only to look at the animal kingdom in order to see the |
| scientifically work out a better idea of what aliens | | | | massive variety of successful life forms that can arise |
| would like look like? | | | | even among carbon-based life forms inhabiting a |
| Assuming that alien life is, like us, carbon-based and | | | | planet like ours. |
| needs water to survive, then it’s entirely possible | | | | Carbon and water are chemically such great building |
| that it would look substantially like we do. This is | | | | blocks for life that it’s very likely that alien life will |
| because intelligent life is going to need | | | | also be constructed from these elements. So we can |
| three-dimensional vision (for this you need eyes with | | | | say that ancient astronauts looked like aliens In |
| overlapping fields of vision, at least two), a way to | | | | previous times. However, the other possibility is that |
| communicate through sound, at two arms with hands | | | | alien life might exist that isn’t carbon based and |
| for gripping things and using tools, at least two legs for | | | | water-requiring like we are. This concept is so |
| getting around… It’s possible to see that while | | | | ‘alien’ to us that it’s hard to even conceive |
| things like color, coverings like hair or fur, and | | | | what a non-carbon-based being could look like. |
| proportions could differ a lot, there are some basics | | | | Silicone-based life forms from a sulphuric-acid rich |
| that an intelligent life form couldn’t do without. | | | | planet? Our imaginations fail us here. |
| So this is an argument for alien life that is humanoid. On | | | | |