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Originally Posted by PepsiFree
I’m not even suggesting it’s a bad thing, it’s just a human thing. But that’s what makes picking and choosing what we can/can’t possibly understanding kind of… hilarious. Like hey, we’re capable enough in the areas where our understanding is really emotion based, but our capability is woefully insufficient it’s anything concerning advanced science or mathematics! It sort of defies logic.
When someone says they might view us like we view ants, for example, they aren’t just assuming how aliens view us, they are unintentionally assuming hundreds of different things about the existence of aliens just for it to even be possible for aliens to see us that way.
Looking at the way “believers” (not to be confused with those who are open to the idea or otherwise undecided) layer in heavy human biases into their beliefs of this is almost more fascinating than anything else. Regardless of anything else, the whole topic provides very cool insight into the human mind.
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There are numerous possibilities about what aliens could be like, in regards to their biology and motives and all could be true. Even aliens from the same civilization could have groups with different motives, just like with humans, there isn't agreement or consensus.
It's a big if, but if aliens were visiting Earth, they might not even see us significant enough to study, but they might. There is no reason to think one is more likely than the other. One of the common views is that they would be so far advanced, that they may not even see us as intelligent creatures. Then again, they may be so intelligent, that they see intelligence and worthy knowledge in everything. A thousand years ago, humans would have scoffed at thinking birds and marine mammals had complex social structures and communication abilities, but now that we are smarter, we have been able to see complexities that we used to miss. There is also the possibility that aliens aren't as advanced as we think they would need to be.
There is also a scientific basis for assuming the possibility that life follows some of the same rules. A lot of things have evolved on Earth independently under different conditions and pressures, so it seems that biology just does favour somethings. For example, things like flight, peristalsis, the ability to make mucus, certain shapes and symmetries, etc... The same thing goes with how creatures on Earth think. Practically all organisms have some kind of instinct to survive and propagate. In more intelligent species, the instinct to survive has manifested in a will to seek out new resources and a need to search out new things. Humans have evolved to the point that lead to deliberate exploration, but it really isn't that far removed from our basic instinct to secure resources for survival, which based on what we know about life, is a pretty universal thing.
If anything, I think the more humancentric view is to think that we are something unique and special, and that the way we are isn't just a predictable outcome from a few basic biological inputs that could happen very similarly anywhere the same environmental conditions exist.