Everyone seems to assume that any aliens would be carbon-based lifeforms dependent wholly on organic chemistry (i.e. Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen) like we are.
If an intelligent lifeform evolved completely separately from us in an entire galaxy, then why couldn't they be dependent on sulfur instead? Maybe in our biology where we need water, they'd need a liquid form of chlorine. Maybe our planet would be considered inhospitable and need to colonise Jupiter instead?
And if these lifeforms that are intelligent enough to build transport able to carry them safely whilst sustaining them across many lightyears, would the be reliant fossil fuels? Would need our human/animal carasses for food?
Given we are the only observable lifeforms (certainly within our nearest planets) our evolution is a basically a fluke. Given the size and diversity of the universe other flukes would occur, that's for certain. But would other evolutionary flukes exactly replicate our biology? Of course not - unless we shared a common ancestor that was spread in different directions at the start of the universe. And given that the observable universe appears to lack multicellular organisms, its extremely unlikely.
Professor Hawking is a genuis of course, but I find it odd he doesn't consider this. Noone seems to apart from the writers of Mars Attacks! NASA are obsessed with finding water and consider that to be the root of extra-terrestial lifeforms.
Seems a bit short-sighted to me.
---------- Post added at 15:42 ---------- Previous post was at 15:40 ----------
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Originally Posted by foreverwar
Methinks his quotes have been misinterpreted - he said which, in previous discussions, was referring to the culture shock that happens when a more technically advanced people meet a more primitive one.
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Well he does say: "He explained: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."
But the prevailing consensus is that any lifeforms capable of such immense inter-steller travel would be highly evolved and therefore less hostile than us? Surely other aliens should avoid us instead?