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Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare

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On 05/27/2016 03:49 PM, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:
> On 5/27/16 4:01 PM, nuny@bid.nes wrote:


>>   We make assumptions like that all the time in SF. ST is often thrown
>> up as an example- why do all rubber-forehead alien races have
>> starships that look like design studies from competitors of the future
>> Boeing that got all of the Starfleet contracts? The most radically
>> different design that I recall is the Vulcan ringship design. If
>> that's so logical, why does *nobody else* use it- instead pretty much
>> everyone goes with one main hull or a split hull and two nacelles?

>> Still, if the Conspiracy Theorists who claim SF is intended to prepare
>> us to meet our Alien Overlords were right, you'd think there'd be more
>> Starfish aliens in stories.

>      Starfish Aliens are a pain in the ass to write, tend to be
> unsympathetic, and usually require a lot of explanation just to make the
> reader accept them and let the story move along. So they're just not
> going to be as common as "They may not LOOK like us but they think
> rather like us".

You need to read (or reread) some Poul Anderson, who gave us races
such as:
- The Shenna in _Satan's World_, some extremely aggressive (despite
   Niven's beliefs) and non-herd-oriented herbivores
- The Ruadrath and the Domrath of Talwin, who had a "time-sharing"
   arrangement in _A Circus of Hells_
- The Togru-Kon-Tanakh of "Hiding Place"
- The Didonians of _The Rebel Worlds_
- The Ythrians of "The Problem of Pain"

... to pick only a tiny selection of his alien races, and only taken
from his van Rijn/Falkayn/Flandry stories.

>   Especially since "us" covers awfully broad ground;
> delving into other HUMAN cultures can still have one hitting the
> "they're ALIENS" feeling quite often.

Anderson even did multiple ethnic groups within an alien species.
Most notable was the split within the Diomedeans in _The Man Who
Counts_, but I recently encountered another in _After Doomsday_.
In the first, the ethnic/cultural divide drove a lot of the action;
in the second, it was a throw-away, sketched with just a few
sentences.


-- 
Michael F. Stemper
87.3% of all statistics are made up by the person giving them.

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Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-05-26 06:51 -0700
  Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Stephen Allcroft <stephenallcroft@lycos.co.uk> - 2016-05-26 08:02 -0700
    Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2016-05-26 16:27 +0000
  Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> - 2016-05-26 08:18 -0700
    Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare nance@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance) - 2016-05-26 17:49 +0000
      Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Jack_Bohn" <jackbohn64@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 11:13 -0400
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2016-05-27 09:01 -0700
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare nance@math.ohio-state.edu (Anthony Nance) - 2016-05-27 17:17 +0000
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2016-05-27 10:44 -0700
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "nuny@bid.nes" <Alien8752@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 13:01 -0700
          Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 13:33 -0700
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Don Kuenz <garbage@crcomp.net> - 2016-05-28 01:17 +0000
          Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2016-05-27 16:49 -0400
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 14:23 -0700
              Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 15:34 -0700
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 15:33 -0700
              Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Juho Julkunen <giaotanj@hotmail.com> - 2016-05-28 08:17 +0300
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2016-05-28 00:09 -0600
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> - 2016-05-28 15:05 -0500
              Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> - 2016-05-28 17:01 -0500
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "nuny@bid.nes" <Alien8752@gmail.com> - 2016-05-28 19:16 -0700
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2016-05-28 21:09 -0600
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2016-05-29 05:40 -0700
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> - 2016-05-29 17:01 +1200
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-05-29 12:21 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2016-05-29 10:30 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-05-29 12:25 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2016-05-29 10:56 -0600
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Cryptoengineer <treifamily@gmail.com> - 2016-05-29 12:31 -0500
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Juho Julkunen <giaotanj@hotmail.com> - 2016-05-29 23:21 +0300
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> - 2016-05-30 12:12 -0500
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2016-05-31 08:05 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2016-05-31 08:14 -0600
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2016-05-31 10:30 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@csuohio.edu> - 2016-05-31 11:34 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2016-05-31 08:50 -0700
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2016-05-31 13:00 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2016-06-02 14:21 +0800
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)" <seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com> - 2016-06-02 07:59 -0400
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2016-05-31 12:01 -0600
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2016-05-31 12:48 -0700
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Bannister <robban@clubtelco.com> - 2016-06-02 14:22 +0800
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "nuny@bid.nes" <Alien8752@gmail.com> - 2016-05-31 11:15 -0700
                Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2016-05-31 13:13 -0600
          Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2016-05-28 03:03 -0700
  Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare patmpowers@gmail.com - 2016-05-27 04:28 -0700
  Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 13:24 -0700
    Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare David Johnston <David@block.net> - 2016-05-27 14:53 -0600
      Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 17:19 -0700
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 17:37 -0700
          Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Don Bruder <dakidd@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 18:54 -0700
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> - 2016-05-27 21:38 -0700
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 21:43 -0700
    Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-05-27 15:00 -0700
      Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 15:29 -0700
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare patmpowers@gmail.com - 2016-05-27 15:53 -0700
          Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 18:30 -0700
        Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Greg Goss <gossg@gossg.org> - 2016-05-28 00:14 -0600
          Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-28 00:17 -0700
            Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2016-05-28 10:30 -0700
              Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-28 15:48 -0700
    Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Gutless Umbrella Carrying Sissy <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 15:27 -0700
    Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare "nuny@bid.nes" <Alien8752@gmail.com> - 2016-05-27 19:55 -0700
  Re: Intelligent Life Could Be Rare Adamastor Glace Mortimer <nospam@no.invalid> - 2016-05-28 13:24 +0000

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