This is what aliens look like according to Charles Darwin

Up until now, an a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳\’s physical form has been imaginary in nature, like Dracula or fantastical creatures, but one study applies the theses of famous biologist Charles Darwin to outline what the a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳s, which he dubs octomites, could actually be. .

The big-eyed grays we\’re so used to seeing in movies are still a pure product of fantasy, like the hit X-Files series, but how could they really be?

The study by West and his collaborators is not the first to use evolutionary principles to explore what a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳s might be like. One of the most cited speculations is that made in 1976 by astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Edwin Salpeter.

The two scientists imagined a gas giant planet like Jupiter in whose atmosphere three types of flying creatures could have evolved: those that are sinking, similar to the plankton of our seas; the floating ones, like large balloons that feed on those that sink; and the h̳u̳n̳t̳e̳r̳s̳, predators that chase the floats.

What would a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳s look like according to Darwin?
The researchers concluded that the a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳s must be “entities built by smaller ones in a hierarchy of levels of individuals”. West and his collaborators argue that this could occur from the lowest level, that of genes, to the emergence of \’a society of societies, where many different social colonies collaborate, with each society specializing in different tasks, so that some are completely dependent on others ».

A body with many arms
To illustrate this whole scheme, West and his collaborators propose as a model a fictional creature, \’Darwin\’s a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳\’, called \’octomite\’. It is an organism formed by a central body surrounded by several arms, each of which is the result of the evolution of individual beings.

Each arm is made up of parts similar to our cells, which in turn contain molecules capable of replicating like our DNA. “Each collection of lower-level entities has aligned its evolutionary interests so that conflict is eliminated,” the authors write. “These entities are associated in a division of labor with various parties specializing in diverse tasks, so they are mutually dependent.” Which seems to clip the wings of certain concepts sometimes managed by science fiction: goodbye to those a̳l̳i̳e̳n̳ beings constituted only by a kind of immaterial energy that can take any form.

What are researchers based on?
The researchers, led by evolutionary biologist Stuart West, relied on the fundamental rule that governs life on Earth: the Theory of Evolution, first enunciated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace in the 19th century, and which in turn has also evolved since its initial formulation.

Finally, the conclusion of this scheme of transitions also leaves us a lesson for our future: if we want our living planet to prosper by avoiding self-destruction, our next step in evolution must be that \’Society of Societies\’ that researchers talk about. .