Description

Michio Kaku dismantles the anthropomorphic interpretations and projections of aliens that Hollywood movies are so fond of.  In every movie aliens speak English, act like us, think like us, want the same kinds of things we do, and so on.  But our species-typical desires and ways of understanding the world are products of the unique pressures natural selection has placed on us.  For aliens these pressures are likely radically different.

Discussion Questions

• Why do most movies have aliens bent on conquering the world?  Why is this likely not the case?
• What are some other ways aliens might actually be like?  How could they be totally different from us?
• Imagine if some alien species is as different from us as we are from apes.  What might that be like?

Keywords: aliens, biology, evolution, minds, natural selection, consciousness, mind, intelligence