I have mentioned the implausible humanoid aliens in some Anderson short stories like "Backwardness." In that short story, the United Nations Secretary-General, conversing with a Galactic emissary, thinks:
"It was not for him to judge a superman." (Kinship With The Stars, New York, 1991, p. 159)
- and the Cardinal Archbishop of New York thinks that:
"Among the Great Galactics, a silence must be as meaningful as a hundred words..." (p. 163)
Humanoid aliens used to abound in popular sf and are still to be seen in Star Trek. One Golden Age (1938) humanoid, not only regarded as a superman but also called "Superman," is now presented in considerably more sophisticated narratives such as the Smallville novel, Silence by Nancy Holder. In this Smallville series, we see Lex Luthor striving for the best that terrestrial humanity can achieve and therefore opposing the importation and imposition of an extraterrestrial superhumanity that, he thinks, renders human effort meaningless. It is for Alexander Luthor to judge a superman.
7 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I'm a little puzzled by you repeating such statements as "implausible humanoid aliens" in more than one of your notes. I don't think it's implausible to think SOME non human rational races will be, broadly speaking, "humanoid." That is, have two arms and two legs. Intelligence in a species will need SOMETHING with which to make use of intelligence. And it makes sense to think a species might evolve from using four limbs for locomotion to only two, freeing the fore limbs for grasping and manipulation.
Needless to say, a humanoid non human race does not have to much look like humans from Earth. And Anderson was capable of decribing possible races like that. The Tigeries of Starkad being one example.
And we both know Anderson had the imagination to describe races which does not in the least looks like humans. Two examples being the Ythrians and Wodenites.
Sean
Sean,
You are right that bipedalism might be like sight and flight, evolved more than once. When I speak of "implausible humanoids", I should be more precise. Wheat I mean is that, in "Details", "Backwardness", Superman and many Star Trek episodes, there are many aliens indistinguishable from Terrestrials, in some cases even similar enough to interbreed, even though different Terrestrial species can't do that! (There was a Superman story in which Clark rightly told his foster-parents that they might not have any grandchildren when he married Lois.) In "Details", the various planetary populations throughout the galaxy are even described as "human", Homo Sapiens. They differ only in size or skin color like Terrestrials. In "Backwardness", every Earth-like rabbit exactly duplicates all Terrestrial species: rabbits, cattle, people etc. Krypton had not only human beings but also dogs and monkeys. That is what I find implausible.
Anderson was good at non-humanoid aliens like Ythrians but, even in Anderson's works, aliens were often based on other terrestrial species: Wodenites = dinosaurs; Cynthians = squirrels.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Now that you've explained your views more clearly, I understand better what you meant. I do agree that it does not seem LIKELY that so many non human races would resemble Earth humans as they do in some of Anderson's stories. Such as "Details" and "Backwardness." I could argue that Anderson did not necessarily becaue he believed that would literally be true, but because it suited the purposes of those stories. And Anderson certainly did not believe races which had evolved separately over billions of years on different planets could be so similar that they could have offspring.
As for Wodenites, I thought that race made senes, given the type of world they evolved on. Also, it would be an example of a six limbed species eventually evolving to free the forelimbs to become arms/hands. A "draco-centauroid" race, in this case. And Cynthians were more often described as resembling cats, not squirrels.
Sean
OK, cats, not squirrels! Still like terrestrial animals, though.
Yes, the extraterrestrial human beings in "Details" and "Backwardness" were not serious xeno-biological speculations but suited the purposes of those stories.
Hi, Paul!
Well, I thought "Details" a serious story about ideas well worth considering.
And, if, as I believe is the case, non human rational races exist, I still think it's reasonable some will at least RESEMBLE terrestrial life forms in various ways. Including even human beings.
Sean
Sean,
"Details" was certainly a serious discussion of what drives history. "Backwardness" asked a serious question as well. Have we just been very lucky in not having IQ's as low as those Galactics?
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Hmmmm, it does make me wonder, do we NEED high IQs just for survival's sake? Near the end of "Backwardness," Joe Husting did wonder if an average IQ of 75 was common among the Galactics. It would explain the surprisingly coarse and dull behavior of the Galactics.
It also makes me wonder what would happen in such a timeline if higher IQ Earthmen burst into the Galaxy. Would they overrun the less smarter Galactics? Yes, the Galactics did mention having warships for disposing of races who might become a threat to them. So, who knows?
Sean
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