Failure of the Planet of the Apes Hypothesis

Charley Lineweaver , a scientist with the SETI Institute , argue today that pure human conceitedness , not scientific evidence , leads us to believe that if humans were wiped off the side of the Earth some other species ( plausibly an ape of some variety ) would rise to occupy the “ intelligence service niche ” that we Homo sapiens currently engross . He name this the “ Planet of the Apes hypothesis , ” and consider that life here on Earth has already shown it to be false . That means the room we ’re searching for special - terrestrial life sentence — or even the number of look for itself — is terribly misguided .

Lineweaver ’s thought kind of sway SETI scientists ’ mission statement to the gist . Ever since Carl Sagan ’s famously framed the ET question “ are we alone ? ” as “ Are there functionally equivalent humans elsewhere in the universe ? ” SETI common people have been trying to respond it . It ’s a gargantuan task , and one that that Lineweaver argue we ’re making worse by don that there is something about humans that is alone or special , or that life on Earth “ wants ” to be human .

If there is any tendency for life story to evolve to get as functionally man - the likes of as possible , then Lineweaver asks why have n’t isolate part of Earth evolved man - like intelligence ? Madagascar has been separated from Africa for zillion of years , and should therefore be full of high - point primates or else of lemurs — emulator ’ distant cousins . New Zealand ( which because of its isolation Jared Diamond say was “ the best opportunity we ’ll ever have to analyze biography on another planet ” ) should be make full with super - intelligent giant birds .

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Lineweaver thinks that heavy mental capacity are n’t the be - all and cease all of evolution . In fact , he argue that the answer to Sagan ’s interrogative is “ no ” — functionally tantamount homo do n’t exist elsewhere in the universe . Instead , life elsewhere might be so weird as to be unrecognizable . “ Intelligence ” could easily take the form of some kind of system at heavy disequilibrium with its surround — something like a hurricane or a hotshot could be intelligent .

It ’s voice like he ’s begging to get the SETI Institute ’s funding pulled , and to announce the entire SETI operation utterly useless , and in a sensory faculty he is . But he also thinks it ’s worth continuing the hunt because there ’s a tidy sum of unexplored universe still out there to depend at . And he admits he could be incorrect — there could be a Planet of the Apes out there , too .

Lineweaver exhibit his theories at theAstrobiology Science Conference 2008 .

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