Hi Tom,

Welcome to sbe.

in article ck4bng$2h53$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org, Country Loon at
fitlikemin{at}mearns.fairmers.co.uk wrote on 10/7/04 2:16 PM:

> Suppose a spaceship lands in central park and out pops the aliens - what
> (logically) will they look like. For instance they are unlikely to look like
> a green blob of jelly as they would have no mechanism for building tools and
> steering a spaceship.Can we therefore assume that such creatures would have
> hands similar to us, one head,two eyes and two ears and probably two legs.
> Maybe the star-trek idea of alien life is not far from the truth. I am not
> saying that green blobs will not exist but that space-travellers must
> necessarily look similar (though not identical to us). A dolphin cannot
> pilot a machine however smart it is unless there are 'speech' driven
> controls and even then there would have to be an evolution in technology
> from the primitive stage to get there in the first place.Or is this
> arrogance?

I am afraid that it is arrogance.  Note, for example, the research published
a few months ago on the successful development of a device (largely a
computer) that allowed the thoughts of a chimpanzee to be translated into
control of mechanical devices (like spaceships).  Once such a technology is
available, or speech control, as you mentioned, then it becomes possible to
control robots of any kind to build things (e.g., other robots) or mediate
the kinds of mechanical actions that you have suggested.  IMHO, the kind of
argument you described assumes false limitations on potential means of
control and should not constrain our expectation of what space aliens might
look like.

Cheers,

Guy
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