Why do humanoid aliens always have equal-or-less fingers on their hands than us?
80 replies, posted
Right off the top of my head, E.T., the Na'vi, and the Tau from 40k have four fingers. The prawns from district 9 have three. Every humanoid alien from Mass Effect except for the asari and batarians(maybe the vorcha too, I didn't check), have only three fingers. The rest have five, in the same plan as ours. you could get it for where it was prosthetics or animatronics, but you see this in animation and drawings too.
The only exception I can think of are the xenomorphs, who have six, I think.
Everybody already knows why they would have five fingers, I'm wondering about the less-than-five part.
Because five is the optimal path for evolution. Anything more than that and you have an excess you don't really need.
Same goes for less than five - it's optimal, so that's how they've evolved.
I guess it's normal for humanoid aliens to have the same number of fingers as us, so that they are more human.
More than five fingers is awkward to grab things with, and more than four claws means they have to be smaller making them more fragile.
The question you should be asking is, why are all aliens humanoid? Yet it's a virtual impossibility any alien life we encounter in our existence will be.
[QUOTE=Randdalf;28050559]The question you should be asking is, why are all aliens humanoid? Because it's a virtual impossibility any alien life we encounter in our existence will be.[/QUOTE]
Actually it isn't. It all depends on the conditions.
[QUOTE=Stopper;28050571]Actually it is. It all depends on the conditions.[/QUOTE]
... I know it is? I don't know if you're disagreeing or agreeing with me.
[QUOTE=Nerts;28050550]More than five fingers is awkward to grab things with, and more than four claws means they have to be smaller making them more fragile.[/QUOTE]
Who says six fingers would be awkward to grab things with, for a species that evolved to have them?
If more than four fingers would be too fragile, why do we have five?
[QUOTE=Randdalf;28050559]The question you should be asking is, why are all aliens humanoid? Yet it's a virtual impossibility any alien life we encounter in our existence will be.[/QUOTE]
We already know why aliens are portrayed as humanoid - easier to empathize with.
To finger us!
[QUOTE=Randdalf;28050591]... I know it is? I don't know if you're disagreeing or agreeing with me.[/QUOTE]
You said it's impossible for any life form to be humanoid, I said it's possible.
Ooh, I see, I wrote "Is" instead of "isn't".
[QUOTE=LCBADs;28050601]We already know why aliens are portrayed as humanoid - easier to empathize with.[/QUOTE]
Yet aliens are generally portrayed as the villains...
[QUOTE=Randdalf;28050643]Yet aliens are generally portrayed as the villains...[/QUOTE]
Not really.
[QUOTE=Stopper;28050639]You said it's impossible for any life form to be humanoid, I said it's possible.[/QUOTE]
I said it was virtually impossible. Life as it is on Earth is the specific result of billions of years of random events - even the slightest change could have completely altered the way humans turned out (they might not even have turned out at all!). For something as specific as humanoid creatures to develop independently of Earth is highly unlikely.
yet if they're anything like us
:downswords:lolhumansareevil:downswords:
fuckdammit
i keep getting ninja'd
the fact that they have fingers at all is ridiculous.
[QUOTE=LCBADs;28050601]Who says six fingers would be awkward to grab things with, for a species that evolved to have them?
If more than four fingers would be too fragile, why do we have five?[/QUOTE]
Well, having more "fingers" wouldn't be very good for grabbing but more "thumbs" could be an advantage.
I was talking about claws, not fingers, less and larger would mean they could be sturdier and exert the same amount of force, but on a smaller area.
My money is still on the fact that we have been found by a galactic, space faring civilization, that either knows of our existence, or have kept our existence hidden from the rest. I mean, we are self learning and self aware sacks of meat with a skeletal structure to give us form. Odds are that other civilization sees us as incapable of their language and/or technology, and perhaps the way we are hinders us from reaching out to our galactic neighbors.
Less fingers, more tentacles.
[img]http://animatedtv.about.com/library/graphics/zoidberg.jpg[/img]
I need to study on this subject.
Because if intelligent aliens look too different than us, we would be unable to emphasize with them and actually hate them and the movie/TV show would fail. Humans are shallow as fuck.
[QUOTE=Master117;28051543]Because if intelligent aliens look too different than us, we would be unable to emphasize with them and actually hate them and the movie/TV show would fail. Humans are shallow as fuck.[/QUOTE]
No, not necessarily.
We could also hate humanoid looking aliens.
[img]http://0.tqn.com/d/paranormal/1/0/B/T/alien_hand.jpg[/img]
this alien had six fingers, your argument is invalid!
Maybe some other form of life has gone so far they are entirely relying on technologies, or they are technology! When fingers are not a concern
Now THAT would be pretty awesome.
[QUOTE=MightyLOLZOR;28051751][img_thumb]http://0.tqn.com/d/paranormal/1/0/B/T/alien_hand.jpg[/img_thumb]
this alien had six fingers, your argument is invalid![/QUOTE]
Wrong, it has five. The thumb isn't a finger :smug:
[QUOTE=MightyLOLZOR;28051751][img_thumb]http://0.tqn.com/d/paranormal/1/0/B/T/alien_hand.jpg[/img_thumb]
this alien had six fingers, your argument is invalid![/QUOTE]
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/saatchi/15052-383833-7.jpg[/img]
Wait, what
Then the Simpsons are aliens.
Now I know why they're yellow
Your ring finger and middle finger typically act in unison or closely with each other, so it would make sense that the evolutionary path would merge the two together. From an animation standpoint it is also easier since you dont have to waste time animating two fingers doing almost the same thing.
Hell you can even tape your ring finger and middle finger together and get along just fine doing pretty much anything (even typing).
The reason we evolved as we did is because the features we have are ideal for our surroundings
This is true for most if not all animals, alien or otherwise, so it's safe to assume intelligent aliens will have followed roughly the same evolutionary paths as us and will have stuff like eyes, legs, and indeed fingers
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;28051980]Maybe some other form of life has gone so far they are entirely relying on technologies, or they are technology! When fingers are not a concern
Now THAT would be pretty awesome.[/QUOTE]
Honestly, that sounds like the [url=http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Mgalekgolo]Mgalekgolo[/url] to me.
[editline]14th February 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Timebomb575;28052299]Your ring finger and middle finger typically act in unison or closely with each other, so it would make sense that the evolutionary path would merge the two together. From an animation standpoint it is also easier since you dont have to waste time animating two fingers doing almost the same thing.
Hell you can even tape your ring finger and middle finger together and get along just fine doing pretty much anything (even typing).[/QUOTE]
Playing piano :colbert:
[QUOTE=Stopper;28050511]Because five is the optimal path for evolution. Anything more than that and you have an excess you don't really need.
Same goes for less than five - it's optimal, so that's how they've evolved.[/QUOTE]
Five isn't necessarily optimal. Growing five digits costs a lot of energy and resources. These costs may be an inefficient spending if four would suffice, maybe even three. Conditions are very important in this regard.
I think the main reason to make aliens have less than five digits in various media is to make them appear less human, but not too alien so we don't empathise them. What good is a story about an alien character if we cannot feel sympathy for it? More than five fingers would probably just be freaky. Polydactylysm is a rare medical condition in which the patient grows more than five digits.
This is just speculation of course. It's just a clever word for ousting some bullshit.
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