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What bothers me quite a bit, both in more-or-less scientific conversations and in Science Fiction, is that we virtually always assume a human-like psychology fo

• chii 6y ago
  The "Three Body Problem" trilogy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three-Body_Problem_(novel) ) makes an argument for why the behaviour of an intelligent species is going to mimic humans (or more accurately, humans' behaviour converge towards a universal set of behaviour - one of survival of the fittest). I don't want to spoil the books so i won't discuss any further, but worth a think about if you have read the books.
  • drclau 6y ago
    Thanks, I had it on my list. I will pick it up sooner, then.
  • patcon 6y ago
    I've only read book 1, but I'm inclined to believe this as well. This video provides a neat complexity science view of intelligence: https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_wissner_gross_a_new_equation_for_intelligence https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_wissner_gross_a_new_equation_... I'm intrigued that it points toward a "curiosity" at the heart of all intelligences, that we will recognize.
  • kyriakos 6y ago
    Great books. Apparently they ate being turned into a Netflix TV series.
• patcon 6y ago
  Not sure if it's non-human enough, but A Fire Upon the Deep had central characters that had a very non-human way of thinking, though perhaps it could be said that they still "thought" like humans in the end. (I recall the specifics were a slow reveal, so I'm reluctant to say much more.)
• tjalfi 6y ago
  John Varley's Eight Worlds series has an alien species called the Invaders. They invaded Earth to protect cetaceans from the effects of human civilization. The Invaders divide sentient life into three tiers - species like themselves that evolve in gas giants, cetaceans, and vermin; we're in the third category. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Worlds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Worlds
• spaetzleesser 6y ago
  LWhat bothers me quite a bit, both in more-or-less scientific conversations and in Science Fiction, is that we virtually always assume a human-like psychology for aliens, and we judge what they may want or not based on our thinking. Even when we think about potentially highly advanced aliens, we still assume they'll have a psychology similar to ours, and they'll just be more advanced technologically (ie. the aliens and ants analogy).” Very true. A lot of our behaviors and instincts are based on how we procreate and the environment we live in. For example if you live forever or don’t have the pressure to procreate you will have a totally different perspective on the universe. Lifeforms that have developed differently most likely would have motivations we can’t even fathom to understand.
• alistairSH 6y ago
  Children of Time & Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky The first chronicles the development of sentient, space-capable spiders. The sequel follows the development of octopuses. I found both to be quick, easy reads - perfect for vacation or a rainy weekend. In both, the psychology of the species, and how humans can relate, is a plot point.
• burlesona 6y ago
  I agree with you, but I think it's worth remembering/noting that this happens mostly because it's very difficult if not impossible to imagine what a sentient being with a psychology entirely unlike our own would be like. I think that most people (who think about such things) realize that extraterrestrials, if they exist, may well be more alien than we can even imagine. But it's fun to imagine things, so we try anyway :)
  • f6v 6y ago
    Might be closer to “Solaris”, where we just won’t get it regardless how hard we try.
  • Balgair 6y ago
    For instance, try to imagine a new emotion that is not a composite of the emotions you have. We know animals have emotions, and they mostly map to our emotions. With less related animals likely having less related emotions to ours (like the emotions of a tuna fish compared to a chimpanzee). Now, try to map the emotions of life-form that from a completely different tree of life from ours. Their version of emotions may not even be mappable to anything like we can ever experience or imagine. Emotions are pretty core to our understanding of the universe and ET may have emotions so radically different to ours that their view of the universe is not understandable to us.
    • behnamoh 6y ago
      I agree. But at the same time, some things can be quite common across the universe. For example, evolutionary processes that arise due to competition in an ecosystem lead to certain traits (conservativism, being vigilant all the time, etc.) which could be common across life-forms that have very dissimilar trees of life. For instance, think of how birds, deers, and butterflies react to dangers around them. We as humans can relate better to deers and birds, but not so much to butterflies. Nonetheless, all of us share the same "fear" about surrounding movements and that has influence on our emotions and character.
• leokennis 6y ago
  I always think, why should any alien resemble us in any way? Couldn’t an alien be a sentient cloud of gas that feeds on sulfur? A 20km sentient wide floating rock that doesn’t feed at all? Sort of like the premise of “They’re made of meat”: https://web.archive.org/web/20190501130711/http://www.terrybisson.com/theyre-made-out-of-meat-2/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190501130711/http://www.terryb...