(Un)expected Visitors
By: Paul Rommel Elvira
Tags: Universe, Evolution, Directed Panspermia, Alien, Genome

These recent years have been quite interesting especially for scientists and the general public who are into knowing more about astrobiology or the search for alien life. Early this year, the United States (US) Department of Defense released declassified video clips of “unidentified aerial phenomena.” Several months ago, a few scientists mused at the possibility that the interstellar object, Oumuamua, could be an alien spacecraft or a probe. And just a week ago, retired Israeli professor and General Haim Eshed made a controversial claim that a “Galactic Federation” has visited Earth and are, in fact, cooperating with the governments of US and Israel. It appears that we are a bit closer to the “truth” now than ever before. But, is there really substance in any of these claims?

When we think of discovering extraterrestrial life, we often look at it as if we need to either search for life forms on countless planets outside the solar system or catch them visiting our world. This is an Earth-centric way of viewing it, I think. You might ask, is there any other way of looking at it? Yes, one of which is based on the Zoo Hypothesis, proposed by John Ball in the 1970s, which implies that advanced alien civilizations are keeping us — Earth-based organisms — isolated from the rest of intelligent life forms in the universe. It is also used to explain Fermi’s Paradox, floated by Enrico Fermi, which basically asks why is it that we have not seen any aliens when the universe is so old and so vast that life should be found on (many) other planets aside from Earth.

To entertain the slim possibility that sentient beings could be watching us from afar means that we should also consider the fact that advanced civilizations can themselves disappear due to decline or after suffering cataclysmic events, thus leaving us on our own in this part of the universe. It is likewise possible that we had been created based on their likeness and that we had been designed to search for our creators in the end — which explains our extreme level of curiosity. For all we know, we are but a part of an intergalactic experiment and that instructions in our DNA leave us no choice but to make contact with our real ancestors. In other words, future human interstellar explorers could be, in essence, the message (i.e. that replaying evolution works) and the medium (our genome which reveals a lot about Earth’s status and history) for the alien scientists who are expecting our arrival.

Why would an alien civilization experiment on another planet? Maybe they are like us who want to know our origin and purpose in this universe. Maybe they wanted to replay the evolution of life on Earth and confirm the mechanisms behind their kind’s origin on their own planet. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, as they say, and I can only offer possibilities. In the book, Reporter Genome, I provide several points to support this conjecture however small the odds of it happening. I will be publishing its central chapters (Part Two) here and below is the first one:

Evolution of Intelligence

“But nature is remarkably obstinate against purely logical operations; she likes not schoolmasters nor scholastic procedures. As though she took a particular satisfaction in mocking at our intelligence, she very often shows us the phantom of an apparently general law, represented by scattered fragments, which are entirely inconsistent. Logic asks for the union of these fragments; the resolute dogmatist, therefore, does not hesitate to go straight on to supply, by logical conclusions, the fragments he wants, and to flatter himself that he has mastered nature by his victorious intelligence.” – Wilhelm His, Sr., On the Principles of Animal Morphology, 1888

Intelligence is often defined as “the ability to plan, reason, think abstractly, solve problems, understand ideas and learn.” However, this definition only takes into consideration the human species. Other animals are intelligent, too, to some degree. Are plants, fungi, bacteria or viruses intelligent as well? We already know that humans have a very sophisticated level of thinking. Sometimes we wonder if this capacity is a fluke of nature because humans are conspicuously smarter than other animals. Cetaceans, elephants, pigs, octopuses and crows are quite intelligent but they do not stand any chance when compared to humans. Why the large gap?

Actually, the question regarding brain power disparity is not really that consequential if we think that evolution is a seemingly random process, if not for natural selection, towards more complex life. The more pressing question is “is life on Earth evolving to produce the most intelligent organism for some important purpose?” As just mentioned, this is not the case according to Lineweaver. However, it appears that intelligence in different species has been increasing over time, at least based on the vantage point of humans. Surely, looking at the past, humans are bound to think that we are the peak of the evolution of intelligence. Not a single animal species has achieved awe-inspiring feat of creative or innovative thinking — only humans have done that. If that statement was false, then we should now be looking instead at ancient civilizations that feature non-human animals. But nothing of such kind can be found among the fossils or ruins on Earth.

If we think that evolution has anything to do with humans having powerful cognitive ability, the past should offer clues how intelligence has been shaping through billions of years. According to some experts, the evolution of animal intelligence began with tiktaalik. Tiktaalik roseae is an extinct species of lobe-finned fish that lived during the Late Devonian Period and discovered in 2004. According to the book Your Inner Fish, authored by Neil Shubin, tiktaalik is the missing link between fish and tetrapods. This species is said to demonstrate how vertebrates invaded land around 375 mya. By evolving limbs that propped up its flat head and propelled its body over land, the tiktaalik paved the way for tetrapods to roam new land territories thus pioneering the transition from water-dwelling fish to terrestrial animals [1].

Scientists believe that this decision to conquer land is a sign of primitive animal intelligence. Some might argue that it could be a result of accidents wherein fishes get thrown out the water and onto the shore because of strong waves and these fishes just slowly developed the ability to wriggle and ‘walk’ on land over time. Nonetheless, persevering in such conditions and looking for new ways to find food and survive in a new environment should qualify as an indication of a higher level of intelligence compared to that of its predecessors that were content with competing for food in the water with many other fishes.

It is obvious that intelligence evolved in different kinds of animals because they provided advantages to these organism. Parrots, according to research, have been found to be capable of addition and subtraction. These birds can even speak in complete sentences [2]. Intelligence evolved in parrots because they have a need for it due to conditions in their habitat. Experts believe that because parrots are faced with the challenge of surviving in a forest being rapidly affected by human activities and environmental changes, they were forced to evolve intelligence. Their intelligence arose from the need to know where food will be in the coming days, thus requiring the parrots to predict the future, according to the study’s authors.

So, can these other animals evolve to have intelligence equal to that of humans? If given enough time it might be possible for birds to have highly intelligent species of their own. What is clear, though, is that humans were able to reach extreme heights in intelligence because everything went well for us. These include appropriate diet, blood system and dexterity. All groups of animals have the capacity to evolve intelligence but in humans, the process was relatively quicker. Hominids are omnivorous and their diet was able to feed an ever-growing brain [3]. Hominids can breathe air which made it possible to support large brains. Hominids also have dexterous hands that enabled them to fashion tools and perform various activities [4]. Furthermore, hominids lived on land and were able to harness different kinds of resources such as wood and stone. Later, humans were able to achieve more advanced technological feats because bronze, iron, ceramics, glass, carbon fiber, silicon and rare earth minerals are available to humans or could be produced on land. Obviously, the same cannot be said if cetaceans wanted to build advanced technology underwater. Maybe they might be able to build submarine domes so we really never know!

As expected, intelligence has been discovered to be controlled by a set of genes in the human genome. Danielle Posthuma and her colleagues from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands, have found 1,016 genes associated with human intelligence.[5] Interestingly, her team also reported that the genes linked to intelligence are likewise implicated in maintaining cognitive health. Smartness genes were negatively correlated with depression, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. What is more intriguing, though, is that intelligence genes were positively correlated with autism and longevity. It is intriguing because extreme intelligence of child prodigies has been observed in autistic individuals, particularly those with Asperger’s syndrome.

If we are to dare assume that if the right genes for intelligence are all received by an individual and that this individual is also gifted with longevity, then this individual could become a fine specimen for extreme intelligence and productivity. In other words, a community or a country of this kind of super-intelligent humans can create many discoveries and engineering achievements for the benefit of their kind. But what would these gifted people build?

Throughout history, humans have demonstrated the capability to form civilizations and to make useful technologies that include roads, bridges, cars, ships, high-speed trains and spacecraft. At present, we are pushing the boundaries of space travel. We have sent spacecraft (Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) that can propel itself away from Earth and past the planets of the solar system [6]. There are also plans to colonize Mars and public-private partnerships have started designing and testing rockets that will bring people and building materials to the red planet. Powerful telescopes have been scouring the universe for Earth-like planets and any sign of life.

But, isn’t it perplexing that we are hell-bent on exploring deep space when we have not fully seen what lies below Earth’s oceans as if we are so sure that what we are looking for is not miles below sea level? What are we searching for anyway? Why are humans so obsessed with what lies out there? Many would say that we humans are looking for answers to questions regarding our existence. But, why do we want to know about our origin? Why can’t we find contentment here on Earth? Space exploration is technologically challenging, not to mention, very expensive. Yet, we pursue scientific discoveries when more pressing issues on Earth abound. Why can’t humans just sit and relax and experience all the pleasures that life can offer? Why do we risk our lives and limbs in search of the unknown? We might as well answer why humans are very curious in the first place. Is curiosity in our genes?

References

1. Shubin, N. (2008). Your inner fish: A journey into the 3.5-billion-year history of the human body. New York, United States: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

2. Hesse, B. E. and B. Potter (2004). A behavioral look at the training of Alex: A review of Pepperberg’s the Alex studies: Cognitive and communicative abilities of grey parrots. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior 20: 141–151

3. Aiello, L., and P. Wheeler (1995). The Expensive-Tissue Hypothesis: The brain and the digestive system in human and primate evolution. Current Anthropology, 36(2): 199–221

4. Rolian, C., Lieberman, D.E. and B. Hallgrímsson (2010). The coevolution of human hands and feet. Evolution 64: 1558–1568

5. Nagel, M., Jansen, P.R., Stringer, S., Watanabe, K., de Leeuw, C.A. et al. (2018). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for neuroticism in 449,484 individuals identifies novel genetic loci and pathways. Nature Genetics 50: 920–927

6. Stone, E. (2017). The Voyagers. Nature Astronomy 1(896)