Imagine that in the future, humanity will be able to visit other planets and discover more people. An astrobiologist at the University of Cambridge believes that the likelihood of this situation is higher than you would realize.
Evolutionary paleobiologist Simon Conway Morris of the University’s Department of Earth Sciences stated in a recent interview with the BBC Science Focus that scientists may “claim with fair certainty” that human-like evolution has occurred elsewhere in the cosmos.
The idea of convergent evolution, which holds that “random effects gradually average out, so that evolution converges, seeking the development of comparable creatures in any environment,” is the foundation of Morris’ views.
The article offered flying as an illustration, noting that it “independently developed on Earth at least four times—in birds, bats, insects, and pterosaurs.”
In summary, the idea of convergent evolution holds that evolution is a natural law, and that it follows logically that evolution would most likely occur on other planets in a manner similar to that seen on Earth.
In other words, there is a theoretical chance that the blue and green alien humanoids from Star Trek may genuinely exist.
Morris is not the only Cambridge resident who thinks that extraterrestrial life would develop “like humans.”
An entire book has been produced on the idea of extraterrestrial evolution by Arik Kershenbaum, a biologist at this prominent British institution.
According to Kershenbaum, “the principles we are unveiling on Earth should apply to the rest of the cosmos” since evolution serves as the universal explanation for life.
While it is “tempting” to envisage extraterrestrial races who do not share human cultural interests, such as philosophy and literature, Kershenbaum contends that we must keep in mind that they did not suddenly appear as highly developed technical creatures.
Even alien life forms with more advanced technology than humans should have “developed from a pre-technological form,” according to Kershenbaum.
In an interview with Quanta, he stated, “If this pre-tech kind developed everything we have today, then it’s likely that they were built on building blocks that served this social purpose – things like communication between group members, transferring information, and useful ideas between group members.
Because it serves the same function, a pre-tech extraterrestrial culture could sing, dance, and tell stories just like the pre-tech human civilisation did.
It is intriguing to think of other planets with humanoid life forms that, in Kershenbaum’s words, “sing, dance, and tell stories,” like they do on Earth.
And if the principles of evolution are as powerful as Darwinists like Kershenbaum and Morris contend, this will only strengthen our propensity to interact with extraterrestrial life and, regrettably, to wage war on it.
