Convergent Evolution: Would Aliens Really Look Like Us?

[@YoungGandalf2325]

Awww, Simon didn't even mention alien reproductive anatomy. I need to know...for science and stuff.

[@mikenapier3598]

And stuff.......me, the dog collar and the alien. No questions asked, no quarter given.

[@Brother_Kazarrion]

Can them cheeks be clapped? We need to know... For science and stuff😏

[@georgejones3526]

Probably similar to salmon. You go back to where you were born, dump your goodies in the water, then die.

[@badluck5647]

According to Star Trek, Star Wars, Mass Effect, and other science fiction franchises targeting teenage boys, convergent evolution demands female aliens to be beautiful women with big breasts.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

He probably didn't want to risk getting demonetized, lol.

[@badluck5647]

According to Star Trek, Star Wars, and Mass Effect, convergent evolution demands female aliens to be beautiful women with big breasts.

[@Confron7a7ion7]

Also various shades of blue and green skin for some reason.

[@benweagle23]

No fat twi'leks lol

[@claytonberg721]

And klingons have two ding dongs.

[@BaddBadger]

And non of them know the meaning of love. It is our duty to educate them!

[@JimAllen-Persona]

Well, based on Star Trek, whales apparently have some very intelligent ancestors.

[@afoolandhismoneychannel]

There's an entire species of aliens already on Earth broadcasting online under the alias of Simon Whistler. The Simon Whistler aliens are so numerous that they appear on nearly half of all KZbin channels. #fact

[@samr.england613]

You mean the democrats?

[@SFELNMOD]

I think the alien abduction stories are hilarious, because that's the kind of thing we would do if we were visiting an alien planet. I believe some day there will be true stories of alien abduction, told on other planets, about humans.

[@anvos658]

I doubt it as humans if were the progenitor alien are far more likely to just start colonizing the primitive alien's planet, and remove all doubt aliens exist from other aliens. Prime Directive shenanigans are just ridiculously hard to enforce and relies on human nature being more inherently good than it is.

[@samr.england613]

That's the kind of thing, YOU would do.

[@wawawuu1514]

We can also overcome such cruelty as a species and treat any aliens with the same respect we would wish to receive ourselves.

[@BargSlarg]

North Sentinel Island type action.

[@ViceZone]

Not all humans/aliens think the same

[@ThePhysicalReaction]

Yes, of course they would. - I'm a crab

[@terryenby2304]

This.

[@jorgelotr3752]

4:28 and to make things even better, cephalopod eyes and vertebrate eyes have independently come to (almost) the exact same anatomy (the only difference is that cephalopods don't have a blind spot because theit optical nerve start behind the retina, instead of from the interior of the eye like in vertebrates).

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:15 - Chapter 1 - The basics of evolution 3:25 - Chapter 2 - Convergent evolution 7:50 - Chapter 3 - What to expect when you're expecting 16:30 - Wrap up

[@raredoodah6649]

Why would you want to skip ahead in a video like this?

[@nathwhit3980]

More like this is to go back to your favorite section!

[@spamviking8591]

Honestly, they’d probably look like crabs.

[@tecwreck4067]

The hail mary project. An excellent book with a great depiction of possible alien anatomy.

[@WWLinkMasterX]

There's a sense in which humans look like crabs. That is, 'carcinization ' is really just the process where lobster-like crustaceans lose their tails to look more like crabs. Humans already lost their tails.

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

Not if they're tech level intelligence

[@klocugh12]

Electric eel disagrees on not being able to harness power of electricity underwater.

[@danlw212]

I was afraid that you were going to tell us that our new alien overlords are going to look more like Jabba The Hutt and less like Princess Leia in a golden bikini. 😡 My finger was hovering over the Unsubscribe button!😳

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Lol, I also hate it when people insist that aliens will be hideous monsters or so unlike humans or even any other animals that we might not even recognize them as life at all. In which case, who cares then? That doesn't count! The truth is that every planet is made from the same atoms (just in different proportions) and in order for life to exist there must be conditions similar to Earth. Therefore, they would have evolved similarly. And most other things that were pointed out in this video show how much sense it would make for aliens to have certain features.

[@DMTrance87]

That drawing at the very end is hilarious! The visuals and sight gags are always great on this channel.

[@DiceDecides]

"trees evolving to exploit ant labor a dozen times!" man I love the writing in these xD

[@jackvos8047]

Kangaroo fact check. Kangaroos have two forms of locomotion. These are bipedal hopping used for high speeds and pentapedal movement for slow speeds. In pentapedal movement the kangaroo uses its tail as a fifth limb. They do not use quadrupedal movement at all.

[@balazsvarga1823]

I would bring up spiders and eyes. Some spiders have 2 big eyes and a few smaller ones. So a few additional, smaller but less developed eyes may occur if the environment is conductive for that.

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

As was pointed out, it's about energy efficiency

[@balazsvarga1823]

@@The1stDukeDroklar Check out the spiders if you don't believe me.

[@balazsvarga1823]

@@AaronBeSpeedy Good point. If they evolved from nocturnal predators.

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

@@AaronBeSpeedy Except they wouldn't have evolved in space. Also, eyes are mandatory for developing technology. Echo location does not give the fine details required for tech.

[@anvos658]

@@AaronBeSpeedy Problem being evolving in space is highly unlikely, thus the species would be adapted to terrestrial life, which leads to their space craft being based around those needs. Not to mention even if a species had those abilities tech would still be superior, due to not being bound by biological needs.

[@claraphillips7900]

I understand that cooking made a larger difference than hunting. Imagine if elephants started cooking grains on a fire, farming with their trunk and tusks.

[@ericabadenhorst2115]

What if they see like daredevil sees with his echo location?

[@shadw4701]

Speculative biology is great for imagining what aliens could actually look like

[@djdrack4681]

I'd say more 'theoretical biology'...in that the serious attempts to assess what alien life 'could' be, takes into account things like; atmospheres, gravity, temp, tidal lock (y/n), chemical composition, distance from host star(s) and spectral class of host star : how do C/N/O/P/H/Na bonds react in certain test conditions (IE what would the atmosphere/body 'could be', pressures/temps/gravity), and when do those reactions stop/start... how do the aforementioned reactions occur on organic molecules (cuz pure inorganic chem doesn't help). THIS is where we can help to theorize possible energy needs (IE diet/calories), height/mass, base structure (IE DNA/RNA), bacteriogenesis/virogenesis vs abiogenesis vs panspermia.

[@djdrack4681]

We can say FOR SURE that our biology (DNA/RNA based) is in large parts of galaxies like ours: solar radiation sensitivity, Phosphorus being huge part of base biochem structures (It appears to be rare in high concentrations in many stellar nebulae, etc), we still haven't answered reason why large brains/certain brain structures would arise in evolution....when they require so much resources beyond 'the essentials'. Aliens will prob have resilience to their planets bacteria/viruses, but not ours necessarily. A higher chance of tolerance of cyanide, ammonia, VERY cold temps, and high concentrations of alkanes, sulfur compounds (thiols, sulfuric acid, etc)...I don't mean JUST intelligence life, but ANY...We see both in our solar system, and in observed exoplanet configurations signs that these conditions ARE more common, and (if not Fermi Paradox 'filters') then they'd be things the alien life would likely need to adapt to (or incorporate into their biochemistry)

[@samr.england613]

@@djdrack4681 You have no idea what you're talking about, now do you?

[@TonyMidyett]

My favorite aliens (because they DON'T look like humans) are The Old Ones from H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness", the Tripeds from Damon Knight's "Rule Golden", and the Martians from H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds".

[@taidee]

Nice thinking process. I often wonder about this because it's fascinating, it's like why aliens always look plain and rather ugly to us, and that's because we can't imagine something humanoid but more beautiful than us. I always hope we never really meet aliens, I have this sneaking suspicion that we would not be at the apex of the food chain to any species that's gained the ability for intergalactic travel. Those beings would have to have overcome quite a lot of challenges on their own worlds first.

[@JasonMazerolle-s3i]

I'm subscribed to a lot of Simon's channels and I think this is my favorite episode

[@bernieburton6520]

Why should intelligent life be "humanoid"?. Well, the most likely reason would be practicality. Humans have evolved for certain efficiency. Especially with the being bipedal and hands with opposable thumbs thing. The development of technology kind of requires a certain body design unless telekinesis actually exists.

[@ryguy1928]

I think the requirement of "hands" and efficiency could still allow for some relatively exotic body shapes, but this is mostly just speculation.

[@NorthOntarian]

my favorite fictional aliens are the hooloovoo's of the hitch hikers guide... hyper intelligent shades of the colour blue

[@SoManyRandomRamblings]

A separate entrance for eating than for breathing would be safer....no choking.

[@芦白龙]

I saw a Willy in the video, just flopping around, hanging out, swishing from side to side

[@gshaindrich]

1:52 Where is the mutation in theses two graphics? BOTH have exactly the SAME base sequence (as coded by colours)! A point mutation (also called SNP - single nucleotide polymorphism) has one base in at least one of the two DNA strands changed! NOT just, as depicted, the two strands are opened!

[@aliahope-wilson4449]

Sounds like evolution gave the aye-aye the middle finger...🙃💀

[@yajiewang7682]

10:19 "This might be what you'd refer to as your head" 😉 Brilliant Simon

[@gshaindrich]

4:22 WRONG! Get your eyes checked, the correct quote would be "eyespots have evolved at least 40..." and that is disputed. An eye is something very different to an eyespot.

[@Dreju78]

My feeling is two legs for locomotion is enough. The same argument as with two eyes. Two is enough with sufficiently deceloped nervous system equivalent and more is a waste of energy. It would be advantageous with lower 'processing capacity' perhaps,but we're talking about a technological civilization so high processing power, even at "idle" is a given.

[@jacksonstarky8288]

Things like the left recurrent laryngeal nerve... and the human prostate gland... also disprove the idea of intelligent design, because neither example is intelligent. On the subject at hand, though, trees in general are another example of convergent evolution, even more ubiquitous than crab-form creatures.

[@JS-wp4gs]

I'm calling it now - alien crab people

[@Cobbido]

5:00 don't forget the "dolphin shaped" reptiles, ichthyosaurs

[@matthewmckinney5387]

If another planet has the same conditions as earth, meaning makup of atmosphere, gravity and other aspects of nature, then life would very much have a chance to evolve like it did here on earth. Basically the conditions on the planet determine the evolution of life.

[@michaelsmyk]

There is an another solution to limbs to manipulate things. A trunk like elephants have it.

[@RainingAnarchy]

I think a major source of discussion needs to be made for size as well. In regard to energy consumption on a technological scale at least. There has to be a minimum overall size for the beginning of a technological species. Unless there are physics we don’t yet understand that is. Fire was needed, as you stated which rules out technological water underwater species, or at least one evolving solely under water. For this reason it would be near impossible for a say mouse sized species to become technologically advanced past the stone age, at least on Earth. Fire does not scale down well. Think of match sticks and how fast they burn, how little energy is released, how little if any useable coals would be created. Unless there is a way to entirely skip the need of fire to create technology there is a no smaller than I would think. Once a species is out of the industrial age and reaches the computer and nano era then I would think they could get smaller over time to conserve their energy needs, and in some cases could become a technological underwater species. I heard you touch on size based on gravity but thought size based on the use of fire is just as important.

[@Chuck-PK]

All become crab, crab become all, all is crab, crab people.

[@thequantumnexus4270]

As well as thinking of the sea as a very different environment, we can think of the insect world as a very different environment. Bugs don't follow the same conservation of energy rules larger animals seem to. Bugs can have any number of eyes, legs, don't necessarily need lungs, or even brains. And just as anything over a certain size needs a more advanced respiratory system, this size also precludes exoskeletons. So unless they evolve in low gravity with very oxygen rich atmosphere, we're not likely to find giant intelligent bugs. We often say we have only one example. But actually, there have been uncountable different species and evolutionary paths on Earth in any environment where life as we know it is possible. And only one has evolved technology.

[@SkinnyThor]

My cat really liked this episode and all the movement

[@userwl2850]

Human "like" evolution is inevitable.. Simon Conway Morris.

[@jmanj3917]

0:13 Some pretty smart people have written that yes, we should expect certain similarities between us and an intelligent alien life form. For instance, if it is life, then it has to eat. So it probably has hands with digits on them, and these hands must be capable of reaching to the being's mouth. Bipedalism (as a result of bilateral symmetry) is probably the most effective way to move around one's environment. Technology requires fire, too, Brain Boy, so they would probably have an atmosphere containing from twelve or fifteen percent oxygen on the low end, up to thirty percent or so on the top end. Any less oxygen, and their fires won't burn. Any more oxygen, and their fires will most likely get out of control...quickly. You covered the evolution of the eye, so I'll just say...Yeah. All of these traits, and others, are based not only on convergence(I wish I could remember the original source...or even the main author...of this paper for you Brain Boy, but I've had a lot of head injuries...lol). And there are many others. Edit: G*ddamn, I type slowly!..smh 10:00 There we go, Brain Boy. Now I'm wondering if you'll arrive at what is mostly a foregone conclusion regarding the necessity for intelligent, spacefaring life to resemble the supposed intelligent life that's already here on earth...

[@googleisacruelmistress1910]

They'd probably look like crabs tbh

[@dcsobral]

I just reread one of my favorite books, Hellspark. The plot of the book focus on non verbal communication, with the somewhat obvious plot twist being that intelligent aliens on a planet where thunderstorms are very common and very long developed language that doesn't rely on sound. I find this kind of speculation fascinating, but I'm more intrigued by the fact that none of the previous mass extinctions led to a successful intelligent species developing in the aftermath.

[@TheDreamStrider]

Assuming evolution is a result of seeking a competitive advantage in a given environment, it makes sense that isolated events that don't persist in the environment - extinction events - don't prompt an evolutionary response. You don't get used to something that happens only once in untold thousands of years.

[@dcsobral]

@@TheDreamStrider on the contrary. The biggest explosions in new species all followed extinction events. It's like the woodpecker and Madagascar: no woodpeckers evolved there because some other species already filled that niche.

[@marcusmoonstein242]

When you think about it, only one species (that we are aware of) out of the millions and millions of species that have evolved on Earth was capable of developing enough intelligence to make a technological society - us. This tells me that intelligence is NOT typically an evolutionary advantage. (Compare that to gigantism, which has evolved countless times as a survival strategy). We must have evolved in an exceptionally unusual environment or we were freakishly lucky to evolve intelligence as a survival strategy. I predict that in the galaxy, life would be surprisingly common (life arose on Earth almost as soon as the planetary conditions allowed for it) while intelligence would be very uncommon (due to it only evolving once on Earth).

[@sethhavens1574]

Simon wildly speculating, shock! 😮😂👍 nice work as always

[@martinfitzsimons5884]

Perfectly evolved, not designed. Small importance 😊

[@barrydysert2974]

Designed to perfectly evolve. Of ALL importance 😊

[@poonoi1968]

Certainly not designed. That hypothesis is just an attemt at keeping delutional beliefs alive a little longer.

[@insertname9736]

Not perfectly designed, but that doesn't mean we can't like the way we are and look.

[@mathieuleader8601]

its amazing how many creatures when it comes to evolution go for the crab option

[@izuela7677]

Earth life does keep returning to crabs, worms (snakes, eels) and fish (whales, various aquatic prehistoric reptiles) shapes. So we might very well find those on other planets if the environment is similar enough. As fr as looking close to human, basic rodent shape has also cropped up several times in mammals. With very fiddly little fingers. And while I am not aware of any reptiles or amphibians that use their "hands" for things other then running, climbing and scratching, there are a few that have front feet that look like they are ready to start grabbing and carrying stuff around any day now.

[@SgtSupaman]

But we are talking about intelligent aliens, so those forms don't really matter if they aren't conducive to intelligence. The creatures with those forms would have no use for technology-producing intelligence, so they aren't going to waste energy to evolve it.

[@Vincent-2057]

Craaaab people, craaaaab people

[@narrator69]

Pearson's Puppeteers

[@kevinsayes]

People should realize there is no goal. I think that truly understanding we’re not some ultimate or final beings would free the world of things like religion. We’re just another animal who made things really complicated for itself. Like we invented salesman and manual laborer that people have to spend their only existence doing because we decided that’s what you need to do to live safely and comfortably a long time ago. It sucks when you really think about it. If you don’t know the difference, would wandering the world just doing your thing in nature really be that bad?

[@EternalModerate]

I think religion is too deeply baked into human psychology for us ever to be rid of. People need to find and pursue their own goals; though manual and salesman are simply roles that exist due to demand.

[@QBCPerdition]

A head is not necessary, and is actually a fairly bad design. Having the most important organ in your body, the brain, sitting on top of a relatively fragile stalk, your neck, wouldn't seem to be the best solution. If we look at fish, having a head wasn't much different from the rest of their bodies. They don't have necks, per se. They just have their brains on the end closest to their sensory organs. As we evolved, the need to see higher and farther pushed the brain farther from the bulk of our bodies. However, that isn't the only solution. The brain and other sensory organs could have stayed bunched near our bodies, keeping them more protected, while eye stalks pushed our sight higher into the air. Antennae could have also grown upward to replace ears and noses.

[@paulcossey642]

Nerve conduction speeds might be a factor. Having the processing organ near the main sensory organs may give a small time advantage over organisms that put the brain more centrally. Having a segmental dispersed nervous system might work. Eg Octopus.

[@adityarajan592]

I think the convergent evolution argument is ridiculous from the get go, sharks and dolphins are both vertebrates, both part of kingdom animalia, just think that this one planet is home to things as different as plants, fungi and animals, is there an example of a fungus that evolved convergently to become like a shark? Alien life would most likely not even have the same building blocks, no DNA, Proteins, etc not be divided into kingdoms like animalia, plant, etc, it would have its own molecules and own divisions, so there would be no basis for convergent evolution

[@TommyTCGT]

Yes and no.. billy meier, see site, had over 800 face to face chats since 1943 with human ets, got 20K pages of data. They are 3500 years ahead us, get here instantly over a 400 light years distance. BTW we are all et here.

[@gshaindrich]

5:42 FALSE! Woodpeckers (Picidae) are a taxonomic family and therefore closely RELATED! Adaptations to the known characteristic lifestyle are at least ancestral to the Picinae subfamily that includes the "true woodpeckers".

[@Noah_E]

PLEASE get your editors to stop adding all the obnoxious noises. The swoops, crinkles, random bass, sizzles, etc. It made the video unwatchable about half way through. Unsubbed

[@jmanj3917]

15:00 A message for you, Brain Boy! Kangaroos do Not walk on all fours on a regular basis. However, this mistake is made as frequently as it is made, due to the usual and customary actions of many members of our Marcopic community. Yes, it may Appear as if they're walking on all fours, but I assure you this is not the case. The fact is, they aren't so much "walking around" as they are slowly and methodically cleaning the grass. So... 1. You're welcome...for all of the clean grass; and, 2. boiNG!! BOING!! BOing... ...An excerpt from the annual proceedings of the international community of the Kangaroo Industrial Complex.

[@Joe-Przybranowski]

I love being called 'unimaginative' by people too small brained to consider the implications of convergent evolution. I don't think there's any doubt that most if not all species filling roles similar to ours on other worlds will share our outline.

[@animalbird9436]

Hey simon your beards proper throwing my head on one 😂😂😂wtfs goin on with the right side where ye tache meets ye beard😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@dalelane1948]

Did that graphic really say Simon, alien, computer generated? Is the whistlerbot claiming alien origin on the DL?

[@xX_Gravity_Xx]

Why is it tha evey damn channel I click on is Simon.... I'm getting unironically sick of this man, but I've also got mad respect for the grind. Make that money man. Just, include some sort of Simon filter or something. It's not that I don't like the dude. But I've seen SOOO much of him. My mans is the Amazon of KZbin creators. If you're interested in it, Simon has covered it. Sometimes more than once on seperate channels.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

According to a LOT of illustrations of possible aliens tailor is not a common profession among them....

[@michaeldocker1009]

My dude, nothing in nature (beyond things we've made of course) is designed... It evolved. A shark is not designed perfectly, it has evolved to optimally fit into its ecosystem. Its a subtle but really important detail 😅

[@anvos658]

I think the argument against a six legged intelligence comes down to the energy issue, of you'd have to support the increased needs of a complex brain, and the needs of the additional appendages. Then add in that the mobility advantage of 6 appendages would be a detriment to life favoring the smarter/clever members of the species, if you can naturally out maneuver your predators or prey.

[@mikeg2306]

Human-like bipedality is very inefficient in locomotion and causes numerous structural defects such as back pain. An alien with six appendages could use four legs for locamotion while using two for object manipulation (the centaur scenario). On the other hand they could have bird-like bipedality which is much more efficient and then have four limbs total.

[@anvos658]

@@mikeg2306 6 limbs means more energy and brain required, which makes it hard to become human intelligent in the first place. The form of bipedal is also rather irrelevant, given we can't exactly say what issues other proportioned appropriately to have fine motor skills in top appendages would do. You can't just strap arms on an ostrich and assume the creature would work the same or be able to comparably lift weight.

[@Masud_S_Hoghughi]

Mostly humanoid, but some like the Negumak Gnomopo are non-humanoid

[@palmercolson7037]

As to whether aliens would have to be evolved from predators, it brings to mind what Larry Niven had a character in the book Ringworld say about the Puppeteer aliens. The character didn't think that the Puppeteers were not always so fearful and cowardly because they were so scientifically advanced and that "it doesn't take much intelligence to sneak up on a leaf."

[@mikeg2306]

The development of intelligent life at all is really a long shot. Multicellular life has existed for only 10% of the history of life on earth, and humans have existed for only .06% of the history of multicellular life. Add to that the energy costs of endothermy and an advanced brain and the chaces of it occurring on multiple planets is really astronomical.

[@CountCocofang]

While fire can be ruled out in the water, electricity can't necessarily be. While you can't work with higher powers most aquatic life actually uses electricity as a form of orientation and communication. Since water is such a potent medium for electricity a ton of aquatic life has developed somewhat of a sixth sense for it. They can for example sense the presence of other life forms purely by the electric impulses they emit. So a very delicate mastery of electricity when it comes to technology might be possible in the water. Additionally, the type of technology we are used to, as in machines created from minerals, isn't the only possibility. What about bio-technology? Bio-engineering? Instead of using inorganic material to build machines you could absolutely use organic matter instead. And humans already used the process of evolution to create modern dogs, farm animals, most plants we eat and so on. But what if that method of guiding evolution was the only way for an intelligent species to solve their technological needs? Obviously they would push it to much greater extremes and could become exceptionally good at it. Instead of doing something primitive like breeding an animal to give more milk, like we humans did with cows, they could instead breed an animal that has skin that can change color to such a fine degree that it functions like a television. Octopuses can already do something similar, now imagine if another species bred them to push that ability to its limits. Now add bio-engineering to the mix and you could absolutely see a world where all your daily appliances are alive. Organisms engineered and bred to perform singular functions and purposes. Grotesque for our understanding but to such a civilization the concept of a dead television made out of minerals and processed oil might seem equally crazy. Point being, technologically advanced aquatic life would look very different from what we are used to but there are most certainly a lot of possibilities to get by without the type of machines that we associate with "technology".

[@SgtSupaman]

Simon, you are human, correct? You realize that we didn't develop the same orifice for breathing and eating, right? Your nose is primarily for breathing while your mouth is for eating. Mouth-breathing is actually detrimental to your health and is only useful as a backup when unable to breathe through your nose for whatever reason.

[@The1stDukeDroklar]

The viable number of legs has to do with size, efficiency, environment, and speed. More legs allow for better stability with less brain power. The larger the brain the more efficient it needs to be and thus 4 legs provides better efficiency and more energy for a larger brain.

[@kevinfletcher1999]

Definitely not large heads on long skinny necks. Can’t play piano while holding up your head with both hands. 😂😂

[@vic5015]

Highky doubtful. Convergent evolution is the adoption of certain similar features to deal with a common environment. No real reason to think an alien world would hsve a similar environmental and evolutionsry history to Earth's.

[@chriss2031]

Now i wonder if i could compensate for increased energy demands with, let's say large moth like wings to sunbath for extra energy ontop of food intake. Not sure if that would net a positive enough benefit to be worth haveing those wings to begin with. Ignoring whenever or not they can be used for flight. Mothra like aliens anyone? :P

[@thomasrdiehl]

Why would we rule out gas planets? Sure, nothing living only in the air has evolved on Earth, but then again, Earth is not a gas giant. It's easy to step into traps like that were we over-extrapolate things that might be specific to Earth, or, at the very least, rocky planets like it. Having a sample size of one planet also means our statistical data is practically useless, so statistics cannot be used to determine what life on other planets, sapient or otherwise, looks like. It should also be noted that most examples of convergent evolution happen in cases with similar starting conditions. E.g. cancerification only happens in crustaceans and sharks, dolphins and whales are all vertebrates with four limbs.

[@Rangera-ct1xu]

i disagree with the details. convergent evolution will occur. But, the number of sensory organs do not require being paired. i agree at least two copies of a sensor, but more give more coverage. spiders have up to 8 camera type eyes. also, compound eyes are fixed focal length, but they are used to detect motion and each lens is like a pixel on your computer screen. land animals have 4 limbs and 6, 8, 10 and many, all are successful.

[@commanderrazor]

It's a bit of a poor phrasing to say "design" has anything to do with evolution. There's no design at work because there's no consciousness going "Hm, this mutation will work better for X". Natural selection is nothing more than blind and very brutal iterative process without any intent guiding it that tends to have certain emergent properties along the lines of "good enough to not die before reproducing". And that's why humans are riddled with all sorts of crap features; not bad enough to get in the way of passing those crap genes on.

[@eliahabib5111]

A few errors in the script. Bilateral symmetry is not a convergent trait. It is an hereditary trait. It's not even a trait that apply to the human body, since it is skin deep literally. Our digestive organs are not simetrical. What does seems to be convergent is some kind of superficial simetry. Aerial live might be an observer bias. Extinction event seems to affect the deep ocean the least. It stand to reason that air based life would be affected the most. In addition if any air based life ever existed on Earth it would be extremely difficult to find any trace of it on the ground or deeper down. As such air based life is improbable on any planet where there is an alternative environment for it to evolve, like a surface, seas or deep underground. But on a planet where such an alternative doesn't exist then aerial complex life might evolve and trive if it exists at all, like gas giant planet.

[@lsdesignweb]

Why Aladdin or Alice as alien CGI examples? Why?

[@mikeg2306]

Intelligent life would also need endothermy to support a large brain.

[@aq5426]

13:18 Politely suggesting: They could also be Elcor.

[@AchtungGefahr]

I really liked the video, but I missed a few sentences about bio engineering toward the end somewhere.

[@Shjeshje]

Considering there are animals in the ocean, and even in the river Nile, that quite literally produce electricity from their bodies I don't think it's in any way fair to say that it's impossible for aquatic life here or anywhere in the universe to be unable to harness that. Fire is another story, but even then, we can't say for sure. Seriously ignorant to say it's impossible for them to harness it.

[@spooky6408]

I belive two things...1. the great mayority of life is acuatic and non sapien and live in moons like europa rather than planets and 2. most sapien species that are able to create civilization are ape like just like us

[@elducces]

Did anyone else think the animation for developing mouths nightmare fuel

[@LeonardGreenpaw]

I want florescent communication in my aliens, like many cephlapods, which are coincidentally fairly smart creatures in terms of water biome. Yea fire and electricity are a limiting factor for our type of technology. but there is a possibility of organic technology. There are certain colonial organisms in the ocean, which do not exist as a singular identify of genetic information like multicellular animal but in fact are a colony of genetically distinct creatures that function collectively like organs. It stands as a possibility that a sufficiently intelligent marine creature might be able to harness and breed abilities and functions into this colonial organic machine. Marine creatures do use other creatures as tools. like the anemone glove wearing crab

[@anusblaster8671]

I want an extra pair of arms, and zoom on my eyes. Blowing fire could also be useful.

[@Twigsman]

Simon. You never even touched on the possibility of an intelligent slime mold.

[@preppertrucker5736]

It’s impossible to say either way because scientists claim no evidence of life in the universe 👍

[@Gentelmenghost]

The production quality is different on this video.

[@hiigguys7395]

I illustrate a sci-fi comic. I'm going to save this video for reference material.

[@marcusstenberg6062]

Requesting an episode on how bloody unlikely speech and language are!

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

One aspect just touched on was having a skeleton for rigidity and support rather than tentacles. The energy required to stand on tentacles or hold and manipulate tools is simply too much. I don't know if this would matter for fingers, but I suspect evolution would favor just one solution, not combining the two.

[@SgtSupaman]

For limbs intended to support the creature, that makes sense, but I wouldn't entirely count it out for limbs just meant to manipulate environment, because the energy to hold something would likely cost the same either way. I think of a monkey's prehensile tail being like a land version of a tentacle. However, due to its limited usefulness, I would think something more akin to hands would make sense as being more likely for more advanced technologies.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

@@SgtSupaman Bones also provide leverage for strength. The flexibility of tentacles would be handy, but I bet having bones for legs, especially four of them, makes tentacle arms pretty unlikely. Sort of like half track trucks; better all one way or the other.

[@thomasrdiehl]

That actually doesn't matter at all unless the species in question gets into direct competition with another that has an internal skeleton. Selection between two traits cannot occur if the one of them doesn't exist to begin with. Evolution tends to result in stuff that just happens to work instead of perfection. Otherwise, birds would have jet propulsion.

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

@@thomasrdiehl Evolution is not that limited. It has tried and succeeded at so many variations that one can only conclude it has tried and failed at many many more. I doubt there are any worlds which don't try just as many. The idea that any will have one but not the other is preposterous.

[@thomasrdiehl]

@@grizwoldphantasia5005 Two counters: 1) Internal skeletons are rare in nature, it's likely there are a lot of worlds where they never occured. 2) If we take Earth as an example, different tool-users do not compete for their ability as tool-users, thus ANY path to using tools is valid. Again, while evolution can do a lot of things, this is not a conscious design process. Evolution will roll with whatever it gets handed and not actively look for a better solution. A better solution will only win if it is available to begin with. Hence no convergence on the kangaroo bodyplan outside of Australia. And hence, tentacles are totally possible because the fact they are inferior to a solution that doesn't even exist on their planet is irrelevant.

[@IvoKintobor]

what is the thing on the wall over his shoulder? looks like it has 2 big buttons... can't tell the letter on the left, but the right has an s on it

[@monkey7534]

Humans evolved from scavengers, not predators

[@neilcampz4209]

And how we have so many beetles is kinda crazy or beetle like insects

[@ArchangelXCI]

We also don't have woodpeckers in Zealandia

[@sogerc1]

Why would 4 be the correct number of limbs? Have you ever worked on complex tasks requiring a lot of tools? How many times did you wish for a 3rd hand?

[@georgejones3526]

Energy consumption. A body has a finite power supply. Supporting a fifth limb that would only be occasionally useful would require a larger calorie intake, which means more time devoted to gathering food which may be in short supply. I answered this before finishing the video, so now I see Simon indirectly explains this at 11:02. Also at 14:09.

[@badluck5647]

There are benefits to symmetry

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

@@badluck5647 Right, so it would have to be two extra hands, instead of just one. However, a prehensile tail or an elephant-like trunk could also serve as extra limbs. I wonder if it could be possible for anything to have all of those features at once? Like, a tail, a trunk, 4 hands, 2 legs, and 2 wings? Maybe through advanced genetic engineering?

[@badluck5647]

@@MatthewTheWanderer It seems like you would need a lot more brain power to have the extra limbs to be useful. You have two hands already, but good luck writing with more than one at a time.

[@Joe-Dead]

4 is just the minimum needed for locomotion (bipedal) while keeping two free for manipulation. the exceptions even on our own planet in creatures that are quadrupedal that use mouth/lips/nose (trunk) for manipulation or birds that use beak/feet like corvids and parrots among others. a 'third hand' is unlikely in the extreme as just one or two manipulative body parts is enough, more adds complications and more energy use for no gain compared to the trade off.

[@mikeygallos5000]

It's space day in the Whistlerverse ✨

[@TexasStormChaser]

I'm convinced Simon doesn't have legs

[@richardthompson6079]

It's been a fun ride, but I can't take the AI crap art any longer.

[@ddsjgvk]

It they don't have thumbs they're not getting to space 😎

[@michaelclark572]

The real question is if we can mate with the space monsters.

[@georgejones3526]

It only matters if it feels good.

[@badluck5647]

Someone has played Mass Effect too much.

[@olencone4005]

Halflings, half-elves, half-orcs, half-drow, half-dragon, half-demon... centaur... if fantasy is an indication, we're sure gonna give it a try :P

[@tigran1982]

The aliens are going to have holes in their bodies for eating, speaking, and pooping so yes, we can definitely mate with them.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

@@olencone4005 Plus, every time different cultures, ethnicities, and races interact in the real world, they interbreed very quickly. There's no way that once we finally meet aliens that there won't be at least some attempt at interbreeding by someone. Oh, and by the way, halflings are not half-human, they are called that because they are half the size of humans.

[@kevinyoka4258]

Possible since there are planets that look like earth