| It was mentioned on a biology blog that archaeological | | | | are looking for planets similar to Earth regarding |
| engravings from the Tiwanaku civilization in Bolivia are | | | | temperature and chemical composition because they |
| unlikely to be depicting an ancient astronaut for the | | | | know life evolved here, so it is logical to assume that |
| reason that, even with an aquatic tail, the creature still | | | | life might also evolve on other similar planets. Likewise, |
| looks too much like a human. The underlying argument | | | | with similar planetary history, we might expect the |
| was that the evolution of life forms is so diverse that it | | | | evolutionary process on those other planets to |
| is highly unlikely an alien would come out looking even | | | | progress similarly to how it progressed here. |
| remotely like us. In essence, this is the opposite side of | | | | Question: Was the evolution of animal life with two |
| the pendulum to Hollywood's consistent imaging of | | | | eyes on Earth a random event, so much so that we |
| aliens as humanoids. | | | | should expect extraterrestrial life to have a different |
| The biologist ignored the decorative and symbolic | | | | number of eyes? I think not. Why? It is called natural |
| imagery added by the Tiwanaku artists and did not | | | | selection or survival of the fittest. Two eyes are the |
| consider the given premise of an aquatic alien inside | | | | minimum required to give depth perception and |
| helmeted spacesuit. I have to assume, therefore, the | | | | concentrated focus. Perhaps early on Earth there |
| biologist noted that the creature had two arms and | | | | were animals with five or ten eyes, but with a brain |
| two eyes, and since humans have two arms and two | | | | too small to orientate five directions, such species |
| eyes, the biologist concluded that this cannot be an | | | | quickly became extinct. Only two eyes survived. |
| alien. | | | | Should we expect something radically different on |
| What should intelligent aliens look like? Or, to phrase it | | | | another Earth-like planet? No. It is reasonable to expect |
| another way, what should we expect interstellar | | | | intelligent aliens to have two eyes, just like humans. |
| travelers who come here to look like? This is not a | | | | It is also reasonable to expect alien life forms to be |
| complete unknown. If the aliens are capable of | | | | imaginable from the diversity of life forms we see on |
| interstellar travel, they obviously achieved higher | | | | Earth, past and present. The Tiwanaku alien has |
| technology. What is necessary to achieve technology? | | | | features similar to a fish (fish mouth that seems to be |
| My opinion on this is that to achieve technology, a life | | | | breathing inside a water-filled helmet), features similar |
| form would need a complex brain and the ability to | | | | to a lobster (sea creature with two forward |
| see and manipulate objects. This implies eyes, fingered | | | | appendages for manipulating objects), and features |
| appendages, and perhaps a head relatively large | | | | similar to humans (large head and fingered upper |
| compared to overall body size. The Tiwanaku alien | | | | appendages). Only four fingers are depicted in the |
| has all these features. | | | | Tiwanaku drawings, versus our five, but this easily falls |
| The biologist might counter that the issue is not that | | | | within evolutionary feasibility. The alien's three-pod |
| aliens have eyes, but the number of eyes. Here on | | | | aquatic tail is also an imaginable evolutionary |
| Earth, higher animal forms evolved with two eyes. For | | | | development. |
| example, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and insects all | | | | I think the biologist's appreciation for the potentially |
| have two eyes, but on another planet the number of | | | | enormous diversity of life forms in the universe is |
| eyes would be different. There, perhaps, the life forms | | | | admirable. For those life forms that develop higher |
| would randomly have one, three, four, or even ten | | | | technology, however, it is likely, not unlikely, that they will |
| eyes. Is that true? Is the number of eyes a random | | | | have something in common with humans. |
| event in the evolutionary process? | | | | This article referred to Bella Online Biology comments |
| Astronomers searching for extraterrestrial intelligence | | | | on the Tiwanaku Alien pages of the website. |