4 ms·

Correct me if I'm wrong but is this (panspermia) the justification given in the Star Trek canon of why all the aliens have two arms, two legs, can speak, and sp

Correct me if I'm wrong but is this (panspermia) the justification given in the Star Trek canon of why all the aliens have two arms, two legs, can speak, and speak English? Regardless, it'd be extremely cool to have some distant cousins swimming around that far away. It'd also be extremely cool to find completely unrelated life.

hinkley 2y ago
My take is that fungi have built most of Nature. They are the first farmers. So if the right branch of the fungal kingdom and anything else lands on a planet, you’ll get the rest eventually.
- FredPret 2y ago
  If by "the rest" you mean complex life, sure. If you mean "aliens" that speak English with an accent but look suspiciously like human actors in funny hats... well, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief.
  - hinkley 2y ago
    Star Trek is - I love it but still - kinda bullshit that way. The Hainish model is more likely. Attempt at galactic empire fails completely, and hundreds or thousands of generations later some civilizations who remember their origins reacquire the ability to travel between systems and attempt to remind each other that we are all brothers even though we have evolved very different traits.
tredre3 2y ago
Star Trek canon says that humanoids were deliberately seeded across the galaxy by an ancient race, not random panspermia. It was established in the TNG episode "The Chase". It's mentioned in some other episodes but it's typically kept on the down low to prevent hurting/contradicting religious feelings/origin stories (in universe). https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Progenitor https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Progenitor
Mistletoe 2y ago
I wouldn’t be surprised at all that aliens that can do space travel are bipedal. It’s just a great way to manipulate things with arms. No manipulating equals no spacecraft. Speaking would be the same. I always thought the aliens in Star Trek spoke their own language but the universal translators translated it? > By the 24th century, universal translators had advanced to the point where a full-fledged UT could be built into the combadges worn by Starfleet personnel. The translation was so natural and seamless that beings unaware of them believed that others spoke their own language.
- hinkley 2y ago
  Whatever your body plan, I suspect higher order intelligence is a sort of snowball effect from having dexterous appendages you can use while walking and making noises at the same time. Without that trio it may just be too difficult to keep going up the ladder to tool user and sentience. That doesn’t eliminate crab people. It may not eliminate cephalopods. It may eliminate sea mammals without external help (David Brin gives dolphins prosthetic arms via human assistance). It may also be that we need combustion to advance, or that may be only a problem on planets with our parameters.
- FredPret 2y ago
  There are creatures here on earth that would fit the bill if they evolved differently: - monkey - dry-land octopus - eagle with four claws (perch on the back two and handle things with the front two) - big raccoon (yikes!) - big spider - honey badger - many lizards have hands If any of these could be large enough and smart enough, they’d make a convincing alien. And these are based on Earth creatures - I’d expect a huge variety of much weirder things in a Star Trek universe.

hinkley 2y ago

My take is that fungi have built most of Nature. They are the first farmers. So if the right branch of the fungal kingdom and anything else lands on a planet, you’ll get the rest eventually.

FredPret 2y ago
If by "the rest" you mean complex life, sure. If you mean "aliens" that speak English with an accent but look suspiciously like human actors in funny hats... well, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief.
- hinkley 2y ago
  Star Trek is - I love it but still - kinda bullshit that way. The Hainish model is more likely. Attempt at galactic empire fails completely, and hundreds or thousands of generations later some civilizations who remember their origins reacquire the ability to travel between systems and attempt to remind each other that we are all brothers even though we have evolved very different traits.

tredre3 2y ago

Star Trek canon says that humanoids were deliberately seeded across the galaxy by an ancient race, not random panspermia. It was established in the TNG episode "The Chase". It's mentioned in some other episodes but it's typically kept on the down low to prevent hurting/contradicting religious feelings/origin stories (in universe). https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Progenitor https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Progenitor

Mistletoe 2y ago

I wouldn’t be surprised at all that aliens that can do space travel are bipedal. It’s just a great way to manipulate things with arms. No manipulating equals no spacecraft. Speaking would be the same. I always thought the aliens in Star Trek spoke their own language but the universal translators translated it? > By the 24th century, universal translators had advanced to the point where a full-fledged UT could be built into the combadges worn by Starfleet personnel. The translation was so natural and seamless that beings unaware of them believed that others spoke their own language.

hinkley 2y ago
Whatever your body plan, I suspect higher order intelligence is a sort of snowball effect from having dexterous appendages you can use while walking and making noises at the same time. Without that trio it may just be too difficult to keep going up the ladder to tool user and sentience. That doesn’t eliminate crab people. It may not eliminate cephalopods. It may eliminate sea mammals without external help (David Brin gives dolphins prosthetic arms via human assistance). It may also be that we need combustion to advance, or that may be only a problem on planets with our parameters.
FredPret 2y ago
There are creatures here on earth that would fit the bill if they evolved differently: - monkey - dry-land octopus - eagle with four claws (perch on the back two and handle things with the front two) - big raccoon (yikes!) - big spider - honey badger - many lizards have hands If any of these could be large enough and smart enough, they’d make a convincing alien. And these are based on Earth creatures - I’d expect a huge variety of much weirder things in a Star Trek universe.