"She could have been human - almost - had she not been so unhumanly fair. The Lorinyans were what man might be in a million years of upward evolution." (p. 20)
Poul Anderson describes slim, graceful, marble-white, humanoid bodies with long, silver, silk-like hair.
Even if parallel evolution favors bipedalism, it cannot possible produce perfect-looking human beings. Why do Kryptonians, Vulcans, Time Lords and Lorinya look exactly like human beings? An explanation is needed. In Brian Aldiss' "Visiting Amoeba," evolution in the next galaxy starts with human beings - very un-Darwinian evolution.
Posting in haste. Computer failing.
This lap top is becoming less and less usable. The present arrangement, which can be subject to delays, is that it will collected from here on Fri 24 Apr and returned, hopefully fixed, on Wed 29 Apr. There are bigger problems in the world so I am learning to live with this one.
4 comments:
Vulcans look exactly like human beings with pointed ears, not like non-human beings.
Kaor, Paul!
This is something of an old argument between us. I don't think it will be that odd if many Earth like planets will see SOME cases of parallel evolution leading to somewhat similar results. In this case "humanoid" races with one head, two arms, and two legs. But I will expect many DIFFERENCES, esp. inside the body.
Ad astra! Sean
But these aliens are physically indistinguishable from very beautiful human beings.
Kaor, Paul!
And that would be implausible, I agree! I would expect even very "human" looking non-humans to have have some differences from ours in appearances. Such as what we see in the Scothanians described by Anderson in "Tiger By The Tail."
Ad astra! Sean
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