Avian Aliens
Civilization-Clusters
Scientific Speculation And An Artistic Convention
Intelligence is not inevitable. Many species survive without it. There may be planets where no species is naturally selected for intelligence. Alternatively, some active, alert, adaptable animal able to change its behavior in response to environmental alterations might nevertheless be overcome by circumstances and fail to survive before it has become a talking tool-user.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Your last sentence above reminded of what I read in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS about Dennitza having a tool making species which might have been intelligent. But they were wiped out by the glaciers which covered the planet. Some remains of them were found by the human colonists long afterwards as the glaciers receded.
Alternately, tool making or using species don't have to always be intelligent. One example being Anderson's story "The Serpent In Eden." One of the humans stranded by an accident on that planet discovered that fact when she realized the dinosauroid creatures there had no interest in communicating with them, lack of curiosity, lack of community, the young being able to fend for themselves from the moment of hatching, willingness to attack and eat each other, etc.
A WORLD NAMED CLEOPATRA (1977) is one of those robin books collecting stories by several authors using a common theme or location/planet. Poul Anderson contributed two parts: an essay/introduction called "A World Named Cleopatra," and the story "The Serpent In Eden." Unfortunately, I did not like the stories by the other authors. Largely because they seemed ponderous, heavy, and flat.
Sean
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