When and if we find sentient extraterrestrial life, what do you think it will look like?

[MMohammed]

At this point, it feels like it's a matter of time before one of many planned launches (SpaceX or otherwise) eventually leads to contact with extraterrestrial life. Having read and watched so much science fiction, imagining what these beings would look like comes as second nature to me.

So, I'm wondering what the rest of the community thinks. When and if we do stumble across sentient extraterrestrial beings, what do you suppose they'll look like?

 

[COLGeek]

Seems that little grey/green humanoids with large heads and eyes dominate the perceived appearance.

 

[zclayton]

There are three questions here.
1. If we find life, will we recognize it is life?
2. If it is sentient, will we recognize it as sentient? the human race does not score well on this question. I.e, What is sentience?

How long did we insist that "slaves" were not human, but were trainable?​

How many indigenous cultures had a word for themselves meaning people that excluded anyone else?​

When did modern society accept that cetaceans are sentient?​

Do we think of the great apes and some birds as sentient?​

Octopuses?​

If the Bugs from Starship Troopers are sentient, what about insect colonies here on earth?​

​

3. After we can answer those questions, Then we can accept appearance questions.​

​

 

[rod]

Okay, this post is a popular theme in many areas today including other posts on the topic here too. Consider this though. There are 4374 confirmed exoplanets now reported at http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/

The min distance is 4 LY away, the max distance 35882 LY distance. Traveling at 25 km/s and a distance of 5 LY (distance/velocity = time), will take at least 60,000 earth years travel time or more (objects moving through space at different speeds, etc. can take longer trip times.)

Q:How far will SpaceX need to travel from Earth to encounter *sentient extraterrestrial beings*?

The same question applies for the *sentient extraterrestrial beings*. How far and long will it take them to travel near Earth before SpaceX can encounter them?

I recently watched a rerun of Star Trek Voyager where Cpt. Janeway discovered the missing 1937 folks on another alien planet, abducted and transported there from Earth. Cpt. Janeway and crew told Amelia Earhart there ship could travel at 4E+9 miles/s or 6.437376E+9 km/s. If E.T. phoning home in the Milky Way can travel that fast, it should not take long for *first contact* Star Trek Voyager could travel > 21,000 c in that episode

 

[David777]

If CHON based just look around at our varieties with some mods and variance. If some other matrix base variants then perhaps more differentiation. What ever it will be most likely in this universe a composite of electromechanical patterns and sequences emanating from sub atomic/molecular substructure mass effect interaction producing operational and structural semi static/pliable existence.

 

[voidpotentialenergy]

Since most of the worlds in the universe won't have advanced life i think life we will find will be bacteria and simple life for most or all of a planets life.
Earth itself will support simple life for about 90% of it's possible support of life.
ET=slime mold
Finding a world with advanced life will be a long look, finding worlds with a tech society might never happen.
We could be very rare freaks in the universe.
About 90% of the stars in a galaxy are wrong type or in the wrong location to support any life.
Probably 90% of the ones with a correct star and planet/moon in the perfect place that have any life will be bacteria for 90% -100% of it's lifetime.
Thin odds IMO

 

[David777]

Lot of existence for who knows how long. The long aspect just structural originating from need and our very limited amount and perspective.

 

[David777]

Probably way before that.

 

[Vincent Peri]

"What is sentience?... ...Do we think of the great apes and some birds as sentient?"

Hmm... I often wonder if
humans are sentient...

 

[Star]

This is the article that I posted on my blog on 2008:
We are not alone in universe

We are not alone in universe. in the last three years I captured many different images of aliens or space life. Some appeared repeatedly , few even more than 10 times. Most of space life’s pictures only show a small image. only those picture from close encounter and shows the object’s figure clearly, the image can be identified.
Here are the percentages of the different species of life from space:
Animal looked 7%
Amphibian looked 14%
Bird looked 6%
Fish looked 4%
Human looked and humanoid 19%
Insectoid 3%
Lizead looked 15%
Non earthly life looked 32%

 

[COLGeek]

This is the article that I posted on my blog on 2008:
We are not alone in universe

We are not alone in universe. in the last three years I captured many different images of aliens or space life. Some appeared repeatedly , few even more than 10 times. Most of space life’s pictures only show a small image. only those picture from close encounter and shows the object’s figure clearly, the image can be identified.
Here are the percentages of the different species of life from space:
Animal looked 7%
Amphibian looked 14%
Bird looked 6%
Fish looked 4%
Human looked and humanoid 19%
Insectoid 3%
Lizead looked 15%
Non earthly life looked 32%

Please share these pictures. Use imgur.com and then post the links here.

 

[Star]

 

[Star]

This photo was taken on the night of 29 August 2005. The invisible object looks like a worm which is formed by many of sphere UFOs. It shows their flying formation or a kind of alien project.

 

[Wolf28]

There are three questions here.
1. If we find life, will we recognize it is life?
2. If it is sentient, will we recognize it as sentient? the human race does not score well on this question. I.e, What is sentience?

How long did we insist that "slaves" were not human, but were trainable?​

How many indigenous cultures had a word for themselves meaning people that excluded anyone else?​

When did modern society accept that cetaceans are sentient?​

Do we think of the great apes and some birds as sentient?​

Octopuses?​

If the Bugs from Starship Troopers are sentient, what about insect colonies here on earth?​

​

3. After we can answer those questions, Then we can accept appearance questions.​

​

Great points - but a bit off topic, don't you think? This wasn't a political, sociological question. The OP just wants to know what you think they will look like. Whether or not we would recognize it as sentient life seems to be stipulated to in the question.

 

[Star]

Gas Giant Life 2 ( that is what the simple form of alien life looked liked )
posted on my blog on May 26 2010

(this sighting reported to MUFON) please add this file to case 18817 file (long term visitation). more details from: <<Link removed by moderator>>

Based on the simple life form’s photos that I have captured since year 2005 to 2010, they may belong to 7 different types. Some are primitive and some are a bit advanced than others.

The primitives look just like a piece meat with flesh or beige color. they do not even have eyes or anything else. The ordinary type: one have two large eyes on each side of the face( or body) with no hand leg or wing, but some of their eyes are protruding liked the gold fish; And another ordinary type may just have one eye on the centre of the head or body ( I cannot identify if this is an eye or mouth).

The advanced types are more dramatic or cartoon looking, they have oval shaped bodies which are similar to the primitives and ordinary type, they also have large eyes. But the difference is that they have two snail typed antennas on their head and two short stubbed legs.

The simple life form only makes up 18% of alien species that I can identify in my encounters, but they are appearing more frequently than any other in our sky. real UFOs could be various different things. Which includes another alien species and very small number of Alien’s mechanic craft.

 

[COLGeek]

Gas Giant Life 2 ( that is what the simple form of alien life looked liked )
posted on my blog on May 26 2010

(this sighting reported to MUFON) please add this file to case 18817 file (long term visitation). more details from: <<Link removed by moderator>>

Based on the simple life form’s photos that I have captured since year 2005 to 2010, they may belong to 7 different types. Some are primitive and some are a bit advanced than others.

The primitives look just like a piece meat with flesh or beige color. they do not even have eyes or anything else. The ordinary type: one have two large eyes on each side of the face( or body) with no hand leg or wing, but some of their eyes are protruding liked the gold fish; And another ordinary type may just have one eye on the centre of the head or body ( I cannot identify if this is an eye or mouth).

The advanced types are more dramatic or cartoon looking, they have oval shaped bodies which are similar to the primitives and ordinary type, they also have large eyes. But the difference is that they have two snail typed antennas on their head and two short stubbed legs.

The simple life form only makes up 18% of alien species that I can identify in my encounters, but they are appearing more frequently than any other in our sky. real UFOs could be various different things. Which includes another alien species and very small number of Alien’s mechanic craft.

You seem to have more encounters than the average person.

 

[Star]

Although accidental opportunities made me enter this field (or may be I found a different way to approach them), 8 years has cost me a great price, and even my health. Many UFO experts and scientists know my story and have seen photos of my alien creatures, but none of them came to investigate or publish my alien’s photos ( some letters from scientist are posted on my blog ). If I’m gone, I don't know when another person will have this opportunity again.

 

[george neal]

Squirming, bug-infested and homeless on big city streets and alleys is the life we look up into the galaxy for. NASA, the Hubble, etc, are a rich nation's elitist hobbies. In view of science, politics, religion, and advanced educations, human life rots at our feet.
Space travel is simply another expensive escape from reality.

 

[Star]

You seem to have more encounters than the average person.

Your view is correct, but most of them were come to visit me. And I can photograph for them: there are about 60 different space creatures, ranging from the size of sand to 50 meters, they were appearing in the air above my garden. This is why I can study them and their relationship with our planet and humans. Simple forms of space creatures come to visit most frequently, so I know best about them: where they live and why they live in the Earth’s atmosphere. Because of my health, I shouldn't study these items anymore. All articles about ufo are published on my blog.

 

[SkiBumm]

At this point, it feels like it's a matter of time before one of many planned launches (SpaceX or otherwise) eventually leads to contact with extraterrestrial life. Having read and watched so much science fiction, imagining what these beings would look like comes as second nature to me.

So, I'm wondering what the rest of the community thinks. When and if we do stumble across sentient extraterrestrial beings, what do you suppose they'll look like?

I am not inclined to believe we will meet any thing like us any time soon if at all. The distances are "astronomical". But if there is anything like us it will need water. And much like what our Earth needs, it will need a heat source to ensure there is water rather than ice. And given the many consequences it took for our existence, with the odds stacked to a point that when we look at how we got here and then factor in the entirely improbable events that lead to the mind boggling chemistry that occurred to get us here, our plausibility and odds lead to "it should have been impossible". But here we are. From micro bacteria to soup, to cells, to multi-cells, to organized interactions between them, to reactions, to, until recently, indescribable complexities that lead to division, feelings, animation, thinking and becoming the universe's reflection on itself. I see a similar product with similar problems that would of course reflect the environment it lives in.To be a thinker and doer it will need to be bipedal, have hands, eyes similar to us, body covering that could be reptilian as well as mammalian or maybe rubbery. There could be a possibility that sentient live could derive from a vegetable source breathing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen for the nitrogen and food it would need. Fleshy trees and ground cover may develop. Vegetarians would become murderous aliens (food for thought?).

 

[Vincent Peri]

Here is an article that was on Space.com in October of 2019:

Humans May Be the Only Intelligent Life in the Universe, If Evolution Has Anything to Say

We may be utterly alone in the universe.

www.space.com

I also believe we are the only intelligent life in the universe (just my opinion).

Hmm... don't forget Great
Apes...

 

[Ken Fabian]

I expect similar bio-chemistry and an outward form similar to animals of Earth - which leaves a lot of room for different shapes and forms, marine, aquatic, terrestrial (without capital "T"), air borne.

I think the air breathing bipedal humanoid form is just accident of evolution and is not required for sentience or tool making/use. Lacking hands can just make tools more important and their value greater, not less. Hands and limbs for throwing rocks or spears may have served early hominids well but snares, nets and other tools work very well without any requirement for exceptional dexterity or anything like a human hand.

An ability to work together on shared tasks - complex communication - is more important than the ability of any individual to do specific manual tasks; humans cross that threshold too, of needing to cooperate to be able to do complex tasks together that an individual, even with two hands, cannot. A smart critter with only a mouth to hold things with will need to develop that ability early, to be able to work together to do things a human might manage alone.

That may be a defining feature of sentient life - that it overcomes it's limitation through cooperation and invention; coming up against hard physical limitations and the need to work around them could come ealier, the LESS physically capable a sentient species is. Being more dextrous and physically capable might actually delay technological develpment.

 

[Star]

An ability to work together on shared tasks - complex communication - is more important than the ability of any individual to do specific manual tasks; humans cross that threshold too, of needing to cooperate to be able to do complex tasks together that an individual, even with two hands, cannot.

this posted on my blog on 11/12/ 2007

Synchronize

I have many pictures showing multiples of the same type of space life flying together. Some times they will fly randomly without any formation-close together or spreading out. But sometimes they fly with the varied formation. Synchronization is a prominent character of such extraterrestrial group movement; it doesn’t matter if they are humanoid,creature or simple form life.

In those fly humanoid pictures, there is always a pair of them flying without a facility and they keep a distance from each other. Those two humanoids face the same direction;flying with the some angles. Even their body, head, hands and legs are all on the same attitude, although one dresses like a man, while the other like a woman.

For other space life, especially the simple life form, when a large number of them flies at same time (few to hundred). They were in a few groups but each group keeps a distance and each group had same number of aliens. More astonishing is that all the groups are arranged to the same shape and fly in the same direction; which makes it look as if there are a few monsters hovering in the sky. From the picture you can see that they all move in the same pattern.

How they are so smart? They certainly don’t have early practice or training like us. Then they must have some sort of communication method to organize such a large scale air show. If we humans do not know about this secret of their communicate skill, how can we search for their signals in space?

 

[Star]

It is not easy to study ufo, especially those black triangles (some are with a light in each corner); boomerang; tube or even disk shape UFOs. This has almost exhausted people for decades. But if you understand that there are a variety of energy-simple form beings living above the earth and have information and evident of them, the above questions are easy to solve. In fact, all these are their group activities and their flying arrangement shapes. Even what is the ball lightning, this problem has always plagued scientists for many years. Did I solved all these mysterious?

good luck !

 

[Geomartian]

You will need a lot of self confidence when you see an alien;

They are going to point an appendage at you and start laughing.

Do you know how many Earthling jokes are circulating through the galaxy?