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Originally Posted by jammies
Radar is detecting radiation, and radar-sending organs are therefore a type of eye. Sonar is a kind of echo-location. Those are not alien concepts beyond human comprehension. Senses are just not a good basis to argue for truly alien aliens. Sex and reproduction is much more likely to be a source of mutual incomprehension, a species that has thousands or millions of young, of which very very few make it to adulthood, is not going to be able to emotionally relate to human culture and vice versa.
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You're agreeing with me, not arguing with me, here. Eyes were an example for the argument that there would be incomprehensible differences, not the argument in themselves. Whether it's reproductivity, emotional view of the universe (or something else to replace emotional motivation), or whatever you want to consider, it is reasonable to expect that there would be differences far beyond the 'aliens' that have been described by the claimants to date.
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As far as "prey" being an earth-centric concept, again there are a limited number of ways living beings can convert energy for their own use. Gathering energy by killing and consuming other beings is a low-effort solution, and I'd even argue that it's not possible to evolve complex ecologies without predators, diseases and parasites. Evolution is all about feedback from both the environment and other organisms, and sentient clouds (or whatever) peacefully munching on sunlight have nothing forcing them to evolve.
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Not sure that I agree here. I would think there are paths of evolution, and paths to sentiency, that don't include having a history of being a predator. It seems reasonable to assume that life could evolve on a planet, entirely composed of herbivores, or of acquiring all necessary nutrients from fluids, or whatever.
I think your point that nature requires some scarcity, some competition, to survive and thrive, is a good one. But that scarcity and competition could come from simply being more efficient at acquiring the limited (herbivorous or fluid) food sources.