Variations in alien races?

[MacroQuantum]

First of all, just for the record, I am NOT a xenobiologist.

 

Physcial Characteristics

Chances are that a creature from a non-Earth like planet or from an ocean would have a psychology so vastly different from humans that the chances of common ground are so slim that I pretty much left my speculations to earth type planets. That being said....

Eggs and marsupals are pretty much precluded by the maturatin times required. In the case of eggs, tying the parents to some sort of nest also becomes non-viable and creates a distinct vulnerability.

Cold blooded creatures are precluded by the temperature zone. Any planet where they could expand to a wide range would leave the equator a desert.

Tentcle (pseudo-pods) are precluded by the amount of muscle tissue necessary to work in a 1G environment. Less than 1G starts creating problems with a viable atmosphere. Greater than 1G only expands the problem of the necessary muscle tissue required.

A caraprice is precluded by the fact that if it were large enough to protect an 'intelligent' being it would crush the carrier, or, as I understand it, would bake the interior, hence no insects.

That leaves us with a internal skeleton mammal. Which also means an opposable thumb and a front set of 'paws' that would ultimately be purely manipulators, e.g. not for walking.

Color vision would certainly be a survival trait since its what allows distinctions to be made in non-moving objects. Like-wise for depth perception, definitely a survival trait, which would mean two eyes with a round iris. Also, becuase of the complexity of the nerves both eyes and ears are likely to be located close to the brain.

Chances are a generalist would be most survivable so specialized items like rotating ears (like a dog or cat) would probably breed out. Like wise an omnivore wold be more likely to survive than an herbivore or carnivore, which would mean an omnivore teeth set. It also seems to me that bipedal would be most likely. Whereas 4 (or more) legs might make running and carrying a bit easier it seems like the lack of flexibility would be a major drawback to surviving any sort of predator.

It also seems like I recall carbon would be the basic building element, that water would be a must and that an oxygen atmosphere is the only atmosphere that would support life. Don't ask me the reasoning on these three elements; they were something that I read years ago, so they may well be outdated by this time.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot some sort of pump (heart) and circulatory system to spread nutrients over the entire system. Some sort of lung to introduce oxygen, stomach to hold food for the digestive tract.

 

Socialology

Pre-tech I suppose any sort of variations are plausible. However once technology sets it (which is a must given intelligence) mechanical tech seems the most likely because of its simplicty. (Can't get much simpler than a lever.)

Any sort of tech would bring with it the need for money because of limited resources. Money, in turn, would give the pre-tech aggession something to focus on. I also think that tech would ultimately spell the doom of non-confirmable beleif systems, e.g. religion, because of the need for logic in tech, a logic that would eventually creep into society as a whole.

 

Now, these are actually little tidbits that I've picked up over the years so I certainly cannot vouch for their realibilty. But a lot of it does make sense, in some ways. But given all of that how much variation could you actually have in an alien?

 

Be kind its way to early in the morning to be to terribly rational.

[sunspot]

Your images tell something about how the environment has an impact on the evolutionary process. The environmental potentials keep the DNA moving in the required direction needed to maximize its conformity to the needs of the environment. It it goes off in the wrong direction, nature will set it straight, through it own natural progression.

 

When it comes to the psychological aspects, these, like the evolving genetics, are built on simpler things, i.e., natural instincts like hunger and mating. The higher life forms should be grounded on these instincts, unless the evolving mind attempts to disconnect itself from natural evolution. If it did, it would become something this is not natural to the planet, with less certainty of selective evolution being the deciding factor for evolution. In other words, selective evolution is causual to the planet, but noncausual selective evolution could push it down a unnatural path.

 

For example, if a monkey learns to use a stick to catch ants, this is a natural selective progression of behavior. If the monkey culture was out of synche with natural evolution, it may deem this natural, unnatural, killing the smart monkey less it spread its progressive behavior to the gene pool. In other words, if the alien culture follows natural instinct it will evolve down the fastest path and will end up similar to other higher life forms, since things like eating and mating will still be important. On the other hand, if it departs from the natural to become something truly alien to us, it will progress much slower because it will continue to shoot itself in the foot of natural selective evolution.

 

As a human example, hurricanes are common to certain areas of the country. Natural selective evolution would build up the smarts to avoid settling these dangerous areas. Unnatural selective evolution just keeps sticking their hands in the fire figuring someday the fire will feel comfortable. This unnatural behavior is made possible with the support of culture, since we have others helping us pull our hands from the fire at the correct moments and others who constantly treat the burns so we can do it again.

[pretender]

Is it not so, most planets are built of almost the same material but in different quantities,Also the building bloks of life would also be the same, therefore would life be somewhat the same?????