Wondering about what do aliens look like and what would happen if aliens visited earth in past years has kept children, adults, film producers, and scientists amused for years.
Everybody has created a picture in their mind about the appearance of aliens, and they try to use that imagination in movies, cartoons, books, and so on. Also, both Bollywood and Hollywood have given us an equal share of humanoid aliens.
If aliens existed, we would learn about what extraterrestrial life is like. The answer to this question also depends upon the deepest level of evolution that could take place on Earth or any other planet anytime soon.
Some recent studies have proved that evolutionary theory can help people answer what aliens look like. It has also been said that the same processes and mechanisms that allowed us to be a part of the family of Earth would explain how intelligent aliens’ life evolved.
Table of Contents
Aspects of Alien Biology
Convergence is a process by which unrelated animals nearly resemble each other. For example, the equivalent streamlined shape of animals like dolphins, tuna fish, and the extinct ichthyosaurs evolved independently from response to the similar selective pressures for swimming at speed through the water.
In our body, carbon forms stable but breakable bonds with other elements. For evolution to occur, storing and replicating information with honesty, mechanisms like DNA, RNA, or some other would be needed. And, it has been said that multicellular animals took approximately more than 3 billion years to evolve.
There is a probability that radiations from the alien sun or suns would be consumed in biochemical pathways as a source of energy on Earth.
What Do Aliens Look Like?
What do aliens look like? People imagine aliens as strange, powerful monsters – grey humanoids or insect-like killing beings. But, scientists have claimed that they could look a lot like us, and they are trying to understand their extraterrestrial intelligence.
Life on Earth is the only example to extrapolate to know what do aliens look like. Specific previous astrobiological approaches have been termed mechanistic by keeping in mind what is seen on Earth and what do scientists know about chemistry, physics, and geology to frame predictions about alien life.
Levin has attempted to use the evolutionary approach as an alternative approach to predict things that are independent of Earth’s details. Through this approach, theoretical predictions can be applied to silicon-based aliens, who do not have DNA and breathe nitrogen.
By assuming that aliens will go through some kind of natural selection, scientists have made conclusions like complex organisms have arisen from major transitions. Major transitions are extreme events that persuade separate organisms to evolve and rise into higher, and complex organisms.
Researchers have made a note that they can’t come to a final verdict about what do aliens look like, whether they have grey or brown or green skin or have large brains or any other look defining alien species. But, through continuous efforts, they have predicted the aliens could look more or less similar to human beings, and they can exist on other planets of the solar system.
Exploring Aliens
Dr. Arik Kereshenbaum got interested in scrutinizing the answer to what do aliens look like. He is a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and also a part of the board of advisors for METI.org, which is working on the topic of looking for extraterrestrial intelligence. He is also an author of ‘The Zoologists’ Guide To The Galaxy.’
Kereshenbaum emphasized evolutionary biology and not radical new theories while creating a perspective about aliens because it can be reflected in all great and small creatures on Earth. He utilized his learning from studying wild animals and got interested in exploring aliens using alternative perspectives.
Therefore, he tried to share his perspective through some stories in the novel, which aims to look at the question of why we can’t live without artificial intelligence. Read about his down-to-earth theory on ET evolution.Â
What will Aliens Eat?
Every life needs the energy to survive, and this energy comes either from sunlight or other creatures. Plants take in sunlight to prepare their food, but animals eat other animals and plants. Aliens will have predators and predators will have prey.
Prey will be required to defend themselves by either camouflaging or armoring. And, perhaps aliens will solve their problems either alone or in groups like wolves and zebras.
How will Aliens Move?
Aliens could either move through a gas or liquid, like fish and birds. Or they could also move through solid surfaces using their legs or slime, like crabs, dogs, or slugs. And, in some cases, wings or fins can be a good choice.
How will Aliens Sense Things?
There is a possibility that aliens might use light and sound to sense things because they are fast, exploratory, and easy to detect. But, both light and sound have a disadvantage- light may not reach the underground ocean, and sound doesn’t travel in a thinner atmosphere like that of mars.
Will Aliens be Symmetrical?
As we all know that life began on the seafloor of Earth, therefore, initially our ancestors crawled. So, there are chances that aliens that will evolve on the floor will crawl too.
Symmetrical animals move much faster than non-symmetrical animals. Symmetrical aliens will possess an even number of legs, whereas, non-symmetrical aliens could have at least any number of legs. And aliens can be circular or triangular or in any other shape.
5 Serious Conclusions About Aliens by Scientists
Popular culture and studies have allowed people to go through lots of ideas about what do aliens look like, behave, or interact with others. Here’s what scientists think about aliens:
1. The May Look Just Like Us
What do aliens look like? Simon Conway Morris, who is an evolutionary biologist at Cambridge thinks that there are maximum chances that extraterrestrial intelligence will look a lot like humans.
According to him, different species evolve independently but in a similar pattern, and it isn’t a huge stretch to locate extraterrestrial life on habitable planets if scientists would be able to find life on other planets like Earth.
2. They Might Send Machines to The Earth First
There are ambiguous answers to who will come first to the Earth. Some scientists state that extraterrestrials will step off from their spacecraft and land on the Earth. Whereas, some scientists believe that they would most likely send robots or computers first, or they could be the machines.
Some scientists have also said that there are chances that silicon-based creatures engage in space travels and would possess durable systems that are practically immortal.
3. Aliens Might Not Bring Peace
Stephen Hawkings once said in an interview, “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which did not turn out very well for the Native Americans.”
Later, he also stated that aliens would be billion years ahead of us, more powerful, and may not consider us as valuable. And, there is a possibility that extraterrestrials like humans would certainly prize natural resources.
4. They Might Take Us Out
Astrobiologists have considered that cross-planetary contamination is a harmful possibility. Therefore, safety protocols have been established to protect Earth from unknown creatures.
It is possible that there will be no similarity between the hot, wet human body and the cold, dry unearthly environment, and some environments on the Earth can be found which can support mars’ life if carried here by any mission.
5. They Will be Unforeseeable
No one is sure about what aliens look like or how they will act, so they have turned out to be unforeseeable creatures. Some think they would be like humans reaching trilobites because they could be billions of years ahead of us.
It has also been predicted that aliens could show aggression and peaceful behavior. Shostak said in an interview. “They could be aggressive — because aggression is favored in a Darwinian system — but they could be peaceful. No one knows.”
A Message to Take Away
We are indeed unaware of whether there are other alien life forms in the universe or not, did they ever exist or existed but were wiped off, or are there and waiting for someone to find them.
By now, it is quite evident to answer what aliens look like because people and scientists have made many predictions. While making predictions, it is mandatory to keep in mind that nature rules are authentic rules.
Hence, scientists or biologists can consider evolutionary biology to predict life, just as they use rules of physics to predict the amount of gravity. Due to science fiction, there is no doubt that there are potentially hundreds or thousands of habitual planets in the milky way galaxy alone other than Earth, and if we are not alone, what do aliens look like?
