Will an extrasolar intelligence have a mouth with which to eat
and speak
and smile, smirk or grin? That seems an anthropomorphism too far. Surely an organism that is the outcome of an independent evolution in an alien environment will not have such similar bodily parts and reflexes? However, Uldwyr, a Merseian, grins in
The Day Of their Return, Axor, a Wodenite, smiles in
The Game of Empire and Targovi, a Tigery, grins later in
The Game of Empire. There is a single concession to species differences:
"Targovi imitated a human smile, keeping his lips closed because his carnivore's teeth could give the wrong signal."
This seems to mean that Targovi does habitually smile although with lips open. OK. But we need more alien extra-terrestrials. And Poul Anderson also gives us those, of course.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I partially agree and disagree. Of course non-human intelligent species will be different from ours in many ways. But I think you tend to minimize too far the possibility of some similarities to our species due to parallel evolution. That is, it's my belief evolution will tend to seek the simplest ways of doing things, some of which parallels what we have. Hence some species may be "humanoid": one head, two arms, two legs. And the heads of some species seems likely to have orifices for eating, sight, hearing, smell.
If my argument is borne out, some of these species will have body language paralleling ours. Meaning some species will have "smiles," as we understand that word. Also, assuming FTL and an interstellar community like that of the Terran Empire, there will be cultural interaction as varied species adapt to how best to interpret one another's body language, as we see Targovi doing.
Ad astra! Sean
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