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There Are No Extraterrestrial Peacocks
Why humanoid aliens are pure fantasy
Humanoid aliens are a main staple of science fiction. Klaatu, Superman, Ford Prefect, Mork, Yoda, Doctor Who, Thor, and Spock are all extraterrestrial lifeforms and yet they either look completely human or like humans suffering from a slight ear deformity. (Yes, I know Spock is half-human, but that just makes him all the more implausible)
In this article, I will explain why real aliens, if they exist, will not look at all like humans.
Before I get into the details, we have to be clear on what we are talking about. What exactly does “humanoid” or “similar to humans” actually mean? Since similarity is such a vague and subjective concept, I should at least attempt to clarify what I mean by it.
To me, humanoid means ‘like a human’ but possibly with a slight modification, such as blue and/or scaly skin, pointy ears, bulbous black eyes, lumpy forehead, bat wings, or antennae.
A bird is bilaterally symmetric, has four limbs, is bipedal, has an endoskeleton, a head with eyes, ears, and mouth, breathes air, has its reproductive system mixed with its excretory system, and uses the same orifice for eating, breathing, and vocalizing. I wouldn’t call a bird humanoid, even though it shares a lot of characteristics with humans, but…
