Where Are All The Aliens? - The Argument For The Inevitability Of Technology

In the last article we asked the question of whether the emergence of technology is an inevitability, we looked at a scenario whereby humans did not get the chance to evolve because the dinosaurs didn't get wiped out, and so the most intelligent creatures on the planet lived in the sea. We also explored the possibility that capitalism and the need to compete drove innovation.

So today I am now going to make the case for the inevitability of technology emerging via a dominant and intelligent aliens species.

The Argument For Inevitability - The Race For Supremacy

The fact is we did evolve and it is us, not the meat eating dinosaurs of a bygone epoch who are the dominant species, and hunting and storing food freed up our time allowing us the space to develop technology. So perhaps we are arguing semantics here. The question should really be reframed as; is technology as much a result of physical biology as it is mental?

Again it is hard to view this from any other perspective than our own. But if we look around the creatures who are the most physically adaptable, they also tend to be the most mentally adaptable creatures.

A chimp has evolved to be master of its domain. Long arms and a short body, combined with an increased neural capacity for judging distance, making the chimp the king of the swingers.

However put a chimpanzee on the side of a mountain in freezing temperatures and it may not fair so well. More to the point the chimp's body is not best suited to carry things whilst walking.

In fact its long arms hinder a normal walking gait. A human cannot swing in the trees as well as a chimp, however our bodies are that bit better suited to adaptation. This is proved by the fact that it is humans and not chimps who are prevalent in almost every environment on earth.

As far as we can detect, there is nothing to suggest that it might not have been another branch of primates that spawned the dominant intelligent species.

Given another 2 million years without human beings around, chimps may evolve into something that resembles us. Just as any particular monkey could, so we boil down the question further; was the evolution of primates inevitable?

Given the amount of forestation, you would have to say on this planet yes; on another who knows?

However I would say this, the human body is made up of some of the most common elements in the universe. So perhaps we can jump to the conclusion that for a planet of our size and gravitational mass in a similar solar system. Primates in some shape or form will evolve, and if that happens they will use tools, and if they do that, it is only a matter of time before they make the computer one of those tools.

So biology is a key component to creating technology; however we can see that our particular biology is not that unique.

Adding to that there is the environment to think about. Species that have lived in stable unchanging environments for aeons, remain relatively unchanged. Think earth worms and mud skippers.

However creatures who live in rapidly changing environments will adapt or die. Luckily for us, our selfish gene decided to take the route of intelligence, over physical adaptation.

Not to say that we didn't cover our collective asses physically, by varying our diet to such an extent, that there aren't many foods on the planet we can't eat. This protected us from losing major food sources, however did little for the advancement of technology.

When we look for possible outside influences to technology, it is prudent to look at the biological make up of our planet.

A Recipe For Success

As discussed in the last article, the harnessing of fire was a major step forwards, and much later down the line led to the discovery of electricity.

However before that we used metal tools, the first copper mine was around 1840 BCE, almost 4000 years ago. For this to have been possible there needed to be copper present in the first place, and it needed to be relatively close to the surface.

So we live on an oxygen rich planet, with plenty of geological activity and readily available metals. These things are all necessary building blocks for a technological society.

Next if we look at how our brains work, we see that we have developed many parts that help us with technology. Apart from Broca's and Wernike's areas, which control our speech. We also have a brain region called the inferior temporal gyrus which is dedicated to processing numbers.

Without a concept of mathematics, there is no technology, and so therefore we come to another semantic fork in our philosophical road where we need to ask a new question.

Was the exaption of the inferior temporal gyrus, and therefore the discovery/invention of mathematics inevitable?

The answer has to be a resounding yes, if you look at the way our brains have evolved, each region has come about from a very specific set of circumstances.

We can easily argue that the inferior temporal gyrus happened by accident as a result of another event in our evolutionary history. However you can also argue that once the original events took place, it was inevitable that mathematics would one day be in use by the human race.

From the moment we started using pattern recognition techniques to help us develop language and physical tools, it was a sure path to lead us to logical reasoning.

Then of course we have the development of the frontal lobe and in particular the Mirror Neuron System.

It is within our frontal lobe that we are able to mentally travel through time and 'test' certain scenarios in our heads.

"I wonder what will happen if I go out later and try and bash that mammoth over the head with this club?"

So becausse all of this happened to us, does that mean it will happen to every alien species out there?

No, of course not; however I would say that every alien species, that live on a rocky planet, with plenty of oxygen and easily accessible metals, circling a middle-aged smallish star, has a good chance of developing technology.

Maybe it doesn't have to be primates, as long as what ever the species is, it has thumbs for grabbing, and limbs that it can use for walking, and yet others for carrying, it will develop technology.

If that is the case, then the conclusion has to be that technology is inevitable in our circumstances. Given the vastness of the universe combined with age, and apparent commonness of our biology. Then you also have to come to the conclusion that our circumstance is not that special and will be repeated many, many times over in our galaxy alone.

Thus if we keep looking and widen our scope with ever increasingly complex technology, then we will one day, at some point in our future, find the aliens.

WHAT ABOUT YOU; DO YOU BELIEVE TECHNOLOGY IS INEVITABLE; OR IS IT A RANDOM EVENT THAT MAY HAVE HAPPENED ONLY ONCE? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!

Cryptogee