The Trouble with Humanoids
Colin Biggs ©

"It is highly probable that throughout the universe, on countless thousands of liveable worlds, the blind forces of evolution have produced some form of humanoid, or manlike creature, displaying only minor differences from earthly humans" (O. Bincer, 1978, p.110)

"Life... may exist out yonder in the dark. But high or low in nature, it will not wear the shape of a man... nowhere is all space on a thousand worlds will there be men to share our loneliness." (L. Eiseley, in C and J Lorenzen, 1976, p. XIV)

In a previous Journal article I briefly examined the principal objections that have been advanced against the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH) in relation to the origin of UFO's and their occupants. Purposely omitted, however, was one major objection which all ufologists should take very seriously if the ETH is to be retained as a viable explanatory model for the UFO phenomenon; namely, the overwhelming predominance of humanoid beings involved in UFO occupant reports. For many, it is the vast, seemingly unbridgeable distance of the interstellar void that constitutes the main stumbling block in their acceptance of the ETH. For others, it may be the apparently absurd and purposeless behaviour of many UFO occupants. For me, the principal objection has always been the human appearance of our alleged alien visitors. The purpose of this article is to examine this troubling issue from a variety of viewpoints, to see if it can be reconciled with the ETH, bearing in mind that even if all the eight objections which I posed in my previous article can be negated, this one single problem, if proved insurmountable, has the potential to torpedo the ETH out of the water.

Jaques Vallee's incisive arguments will serve as a useful starting point to this discussion. Humans, he asserts, have arisen within the confines of a very narrow set of constraints. If our Earthly environment had differed significantly with respect to mass, gravity, distance from the sun, temperature, inclination of Earth's axis, the length of the average day, atmospheric density and composition etc, then 'mankind as we know it could not have evolved or survived at all. How, then, can we expect that extraterrestrial visitors from a completely different planetary environment could not only resemble us, but breathe our air and walk normally on the Earth?' (J. Vallee, 1991, pp270-271)

But this is only the beginning of the argument against UFO humanoid occupants being ET visitors, the broad structural similarities between said visitors and human beings (to the point of actual identity in some cases) argue strongly in favour of similar genetic structures, but the likelihood of intelligent life evolving independently on other planets and coming to resemble us so closely is considered so statistically remote as to constitute an impossibility, a complete contravention of currently understood models of evolution. Even if other planetary environments were virtually identical to our own and all life began from the same starting point, the slightest deviation in the thousands of genetic mutations required over the millions of years of evolutions would have resulted in an end product quite different from Homo Sapiens. Some scientists maintain that truly alien life is likely to be organised along such widely different principles that we might have difficulty even recognising it as life at all.

Unanimity of opinion is so rare in science as in most other human endeavours, and this issue is no exception. Some maintain that the genetic code derives from a precise chemical interaction that would occur anywhere in the universe given the same conditions, and thus life on other worlds would at least get started on the same chemical basis. One school of thought, albeit a minority, concludes that the most efficient structural lifeform capable of evolving a high intelligence and technological civilisation would inevitably resemble something like us. Even the advocates of this position, however, state that while the end products of independent planetary evolutions would be similar in outward form, they would in all probability be so differently constituted internally and genetically as to absolutely preclude the remotest possibility of crossbreeding. Here we are brought face to face with the most compelling argument against the reality of the ET humanoids. It is strongly suspected by abduction researchers, for example, that one of the prime motivations for the thousands of abductions worldwide may be the possible creation of an alien/human hybrid race, other reports, such as the well known 1957 Villas-Boas case from Brazil, which involved a straight out mating between the earthly male protagonist and a female 'alien', are even more unambiguous in their imports.

Something is seriously amiss here, as crossbreeding is only possible between species with a comparatively recent common ancestry whose DNA is practically identical. Horses and donkeys can unite to produce offspring, for example, but humans and chimpanzees cannot, despite the latter pair sharing about 99% of their genetic inheritance. 'It is an utter impossibility for living organisms of separate evolutions to sexually unite their genes… unless they were of common genetic background.' (C and J Lorenzen, p379) It is the awkward by inescapable fact which must be confronted by those researchers such as Otto Binder and Zecharia Sitchin, who talk endlessly about hybrid races while ignoring the sever constraints outlined above.

How is it possible, then, to reconcile the notion of alien humanoids with the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH)? There are several avenues we can explore, and we will briefly consider each in turn. They are:

1. Things are not as they seem with regard to the alleged humanoids 2. Our current understanding of evolutionary process is fundamentally flawed 3. Alien humanoids look like us because they are us, i.e., they are fully human 4. Earthly humanity and ET humanoids share a common ancestry, i.e. we all belong to a wider, cosmic, human family

It has long been the contention if some UFO researchers that things are not as they seem with regard to the UFO phenomenon in general, and their humanoid occupants in particular. Their arguments take several forms. Robert A Wilson, for instance, proposes that 'the universe is full of invisible intelligence. It is very hard for us to contact hat intelligence without clothing it in projected humanoid form.' (R A Wilson, 1997, p16) Others see the supposed alien intelligence taking the more active role, hypnotically inducing unreal screen memories in the eyes of human observers. Yet others envisage alien intelligence composed of insubstantial energy bodies able to change shape at will to suit the desires or expectations of the contactees. Jaques Vallee in particular argues that humanoid UFO occupants are simulations of the human form designed for purposes of communication, perhaps, but more likely for manipulation and deception. Such activity throughout human history, he maintains, has spawned entire mythologies and bodies of folklore involving gods, angels, demons, fairies, elves, and a host of other non-human entities, whatever their line of argument, all these researchers agree in asserting that the humanoid forms seen in association with UFO's are not the real thing, but a mask, images, or projections.

In my opinion, this approach tends to raise more problems than it sets out to solve, while offering few clues as to the origin, nature and purpose of the 'real' aliens manipulating this alleged charade. There is a possibility, however, that at least some UFO reports may be manifestations of that 'counterfeit aspect' to the genuine UFO phenomenon alluded to by Warren Aston in a previous Journal article (W. Aston, 1997, p4) Such entities, for whatever malicious or simply mischievous purposes of their own, may indulge in masquerade and mimicry of the human form to confuse human observers. To sum up then, the 'all is not as it seems' approach would regard all discussion of evolutionary theory and hybrid races as irrelevant to this issue, as in its eyes the 'alien' humanoids are not real, substantial lifeforms at all.

But what if the humanoid UFO occupants are indeed real and substantial, as many give every indication of being? Can it be that our current evolutionary models are incomplete or even totally wrong. If we are speaking only of the Darwinian concept of evolution through natural selection, then it is very difficult to reconcile this with ET humanoids, could it be, however, that the human form is a kind of universal 'template' for intelligent life everywhere, with the many steps leading to this evolutionary end product being identical throughout the cosmos in accordance with some larger principle or plan? There does exist, in fact, an alternative evolutionary scenario lurking at the fringes of modern science, which could throw some light on the question. This theory involves the principle of the hologram, of which the smallest element contains all the information of the whole. Some researchers have proposed that the entire universe is organised along the lines of a superhologram in which blind evolutionary forces of the Darwinian type play no part, but rather there exists only a universal blueprint for evolution which is transmitted to all parts of it, perhaps through the principle of so-called 'morphological resonance'. This implies that not only is the universe full of life, but also that 'every suitable planet is destined to develop life and also that on every inhabited planet the same patter of evolution develops' (M Hesemann, P Mantle, 1996, p193) Some additional support for the 'universal man' hypothesis comes from channellers and contactees (though the potentially dubious nature of information derived from these sources must always be borne in mind). For example, one Italian contactee was told that the human form is universal throughout the cosmos with only superficial differences for the most part, though in some cases arrangement and function of internal organs may be different. (T Good, 1998, p216)

Something like the hologramatic theory outlined above may indeed be valid, but perhaps there is no need to invoke alternative evolutionary models to account for ET humanoids. If the latter resemble us (in some cases exactly so), breathe our air, walk normally on our planets surface, display recognisable human emotions, speak our languages, and above all, perhaps possess the capacity to interbreed with us, then maybe they are us in a quite literal sense. M. Davenport has presented much impressive evidence in his excellent and thought-provoking book, Visitors from Time, to the effect that at least some proportion of our current 'alien' visitors are actually humans from various points in Earth's own future visiting their past on a variety of different missions, i.e., time travelers rather than space travelers. It is the physical appearance of some 'alien' groups which lends support to this hypothesis, particularly the so-called 'groups' which figure so prominently in many accounts of abductions. Their enlarged craniums and body proportions, especially, are precisely what we would expect our descendants of the distant future to look like, given a continuation of past evolutionary trends. Alternatively, some of these humanoids may have been genetically engineered, perhaps by the more human appearing types who are often seen in close association with the Greys and may be controlling the activities of the latter. Says Davenport - 'These time machines (i.e. UFO's) are peopled by a complex mixture of human beings , evolved forms of human beings, genetically engineered lifeforms, androids, robots, and/or alien lifeforms' (M Davenport, 1996, p216)

Another variant on this theme comes from Raymond Fowler as a result of his extensive research into the multiple abduction experiences of Betty Andreassen, surely one of the most thoroughly investigated and credible abduction cases on record. Betty is informed by the 'aliens' that they belong to a category of being known as the 'Watchers', who are of the same substance as Man, have been with us since the inception of Mankind, are the caretakers of all Earth's lifeforms, and are the products of the foetuses which are implanted into, and later removed from, the wombs of female abductees the world over. This latter piece of information is intriguing, as many abductees have likened the Greys to enlarged foetuses. If they indeed represent and altered form of human, then they exhibit clear signs of an evolutionary trend known as neoteny, which occurs when a foetal at larval form of a species reaches maturity without passing through normal adult developmental stages, retaining foetal characteristics in the fully adult form. An artificially induced neoteny would explain why the Watchers, or Greys, or whatever we care to label them, display the following features: 1 Their facial appearance, 2 physical proportions, 3 lack of hair and pigmentation, 4 diminutive sex organs 5 cranial width is normally greater than pelvic width (implying a need for artificial birthing) 6 their apparent lack of speech and use of mental telepathy. Commenting on these traits, Fowler speculates that 'the Watchers and human beings may be genetically tailored variants of the same lifeform… we are confronted with the though provoking possibility that both Watcher and Man may be genetically related to a common ancestor.' (R Fowler, 1990, pp225-227) The mention of a 'common ancestor' inevitably leads to a consideration of the final hypothesis to account for a shared genetic inheritance between Earth humans and alien humanoids, i.e. the notion of a widespread human galactic 'family'. The idea can take various forms. For example, R. Fowler (above) envisages a common progenitor to both Earth humans ad Watchers (or Greys) who genetically altered one of the Earth's early primates to remake it in their image. The ancestral species, he postulates, may be the tall, blonde, robed entities seen by Betty Andreassen and others, known as 'The Elders'. A different scenario would have it that humanity did in fact first arise on this planet long ages ago and spread throughout space. The hypothetical original Earth civilisation was then obliterated by great geophysical catastrophes (shades of Atlantis?) and the UFO occupants we see today are the descendants of the human galactic diaspora returning to the ancient home world of the species.

The theme that Earth humans are a hybrid race between aliens and an indigenous primate species is very popular among the advocates of the 'ancient astronaut' hypothesis. Numerous mythologies worldwide strongly hint at such intermixture. However, if the sons of God were able to produce viable offspring with the daughters of men, then alien intervention would need to have commenced a long time before the first primitive hominids arose from ancient primate stock, for all 'hybrid race' theories founder upon the inescapable fact that we share about 99% of our genetic material with the higher primates, which means that in a purely physical sense, at least, humanity is not only indigenous to this planet, but linked in a great chain of life far back to the most primeval organisms of Precambrian times. Authors such as Otto Binder, who consider present day humans to be half indigenous primate and half 'starmen', and imagine vast, interstellar 'arks' transporting various alien flora and fauna to Earth on a regular basis throughout geological history, simply fail to take into account these basic facts. Perhaps the most reasonable approach to the 'common ancestor' theme is to imagine that original humanity arose on some distant planet uncounted millions of years ago, discovered our solar system and seeded this planet with its earliest primitive lifeforms in the process known as 'directed panspermia.' This primitive life would thus share the same, basic genetic code as its dispersers, who theoretically shepherded the developing life in the desired direction throughout geological history, thus ensuring that the evolutionary end product came to resemble them in both outward form and genetic structure, eventually rendering interbreeding possible. The vast spans of time involved in this scenario may have proved no impediment to a civilisation possibly capable of manipulating time as well as space. Earthly humanity could thus constitute just one (possibly very minor) branch of a widespread cosmic human family.

We have not yet quite exhausted all the hypotheses linking humans with ET humanoids. Hitherto, the discussion has focussed on evolutionary scenarios, shared genetic inheritance etc, at a purely physical, three-dimensional level. There exists the very real possibility that many of the UFO's and their occupants encountered by us represent denizens of parallel worlds, alternate realities, higher dimensional realms and vibratory planes, and the cosmic 'family' postulated above may stretch across dimensions as well as throughout three-dimensional space. The inhabitants of parallel worlds, being simply alternate versions of Earth, would thus be fully human in every way, physical beings like ourselves, some more technologically advanced, and others not. Actual higher dimensional entities may possess the ability to 'downstep' their frequency to harmonise with our own in such a way that even interbreeding may be a possibility. Of potential relevance here could be information supplied by the channeled entity Bashor to the effect that when civilisations like ours first begin to encounter other life forms, they usually attract those forms operating closest to their vibrational frequency, who closely resemble them in physical structure. (D Anka, 1990, p232)

On the same theme I feel obliged to mention the information presented in a remarkable book called Entering the Circle, which is not about UFO's at all, but rather a journey of inner discovery by a female Russian doctor involving the ancient shamanic practices of the Altai region of southern Siberia. Nevertheless, it contains what I believe to be very pertinent information concerning the topic under discussion. In her climactic shamanic experience, the doctor receives the following revelation, which deserves to be quoted at length: 'Your people are not the only representatives of humanity… each stream was meant to explore a different dimension of human potential… the final integration of all the different streams will take place soon… you will soon intersect and experience many of the different facets of human nature that have been developed within other human reality structures. These people will know a little about your beliefs and ways of life as you know of theirs… one of the most important lessons to remember is that the entities you will meet from other reality streams - worlds - are human beings like you who simply have experienced a different form of evolutionary growth' (O. Kharitidi, 1996, pp161-163)

My instincts, for what they are worth, tell me that this is an alternative means of expressing, albeit within a different frame of reference, the idea of the 'cosmic human family' we have been exploring.

We seem to have come a long way from our original starting point, but then isn't that the very nature of investigation into the UFO phenomenon? In attempting to reconcile the observations of humanoid UFO occupants with the ETH, we are inevitably led to a consideration of the nature of the universe and our own ultimate origins. In the final analysis, there is no reason why any of the hypotheses and points of view alluded to in the course of this essay need be mutually exclusive. In all likelihood, the myriad of humanoid types encountered by observers, contactees and abductees represent such diverse points of origin as time travellers from our future, fellow members of a widespread cosmic human community, the human inhabitants of multifarious dimensions and alternate realities, and many many more, with occasional mimicry by mischievous entities thrown in for good measure. In the end, I have reached the conclusion that humanoids and the ETC can be reconciled, as long as (a) the term 'extraterrestrial' is understood in its widest possible context (a point I emphasised at the conclusion of my previous Journal article), and (b) we abandon the search for single, all-embracing explanatory models in favour of a diversity of approaches.

Bibliography

Darryl Anka Bashor, Blueprint for Change, New Solutions 1990
Warren Aston, UFO Encounter Issue 177, July/Sept 1997
Otto Binder, Flying Saucers are Watching Us, Horwitz 1978
Marc Davenport, Visitors From Time, Greenleaf 1994
Raymond Fowler, The Watchers, Bantam 1990
Timothy Good, Alien Base, Century 1998
M Hesemann, P Mantle, Beyond Roswell, Michael O'Mara 1996
Olga Kharitidi, Entering the Circle, Harper 1996
Coral and Jim Lorenzen, Encounter with UFO Occupants, Berkley 1976
Jaques Vallee, Revelations, Ballantine 1991
Robert Anton Wilson, Cosmic Trigger, Abacus 1977

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