Until one of these creatures develops something akin to our human hands and opposable thumbs, they won’t be mining, engineering or constructing much of anything.Ī cephalopod, however, is easier to picture behind the controls of a space ship, and for good reason. Now imagine them building complex tools, computers, or space ships and you see the problem. Just take a look at some other species we consider intelligent – dolphins, ravens, parrots, pigs and elephants. However, it is arguably one of the most important traits for an advanced species to have. We credit so much of our technological progress as human beings to our intelligence that we often forget the role our dexterity has played in that success. They also have bulbous heads, so we even have a visual shape that suggests a large brain.Īll of that is to say, when we imagine vastly different, intelligent aliens, this is perhaps the best local example we’ve got to run with. They display intelligence, and yet we know it must be a very different intelligence or form of ‘thinking’ to our own.
Why is that significant? Despite their very different physical and neurological make up, octopuses still exhibit complex behaviours, elaborate problem-solving skills and the capacity to learn. There are plenty of animals that have exhibited above-average intelligence on earth, but octopuses are usually cited as the most intelligent invertebrate, and have a large, dramatically different nervous system to humans. Unless they accidentally hitch a ride on a comet, aliens capable of travelling to earth have to be intelligent enough to develop advanced space travel. However, when you take a closer look, there are several good reasons storytellers keep returning to these deep-sea creatures for inspiration.
You might wonder why we don’t see other interesting types of aliens more often.
Some science fiction writers and filmmakers have branched out, making arthropod (bug-like) or reptilian aliens like those in Men in Black, District 9, or Alien, or even more difficult to categorise ones like the hairless, sloth-like extra-terrestrial in ET, but cephalopods still seem to be the go-to for most storytellers. The default non-humanoid aliens seem to always have bulbous heads, tentacles, and slimy skin. Arrival, Independence Day, War of the Worlds, The Simpsons… the list goes on. Have you ever noticed that extra-terrestrials in most “aliens-make-contact” science fiction usually resemble octopuses, squids, or other cephalopods? At least, when they don’t just look like humans in Halloween masks or cheap make up.
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