Do sci-fi movies create unrealistic stereotype for aliens?

[Kellhound]

You fail to understand the point: if aliens expand exponentially they fill up ALL OF those planets (and asteroids and...).

And there is no rule that they must do so. It is a concept that only works if the system is perfect.

[Shadowferal]

Well, if the idea of a morphogenetic field is valid (middle ground between genes and evolution), then it really is anything goes.

[Deficineiron]

I think we tend to be incredibly anthropocentric in how we conceptualize extraterrestrial life, yes.

even imagining fire ants developing into tool-users is a very different world from a human tool user. throw in exotic (to us) environment, e.g. chlorine breathers, etc, and it gets interesting.

[Shadowferal]

Some here may enjoy this book:



Nor Crystal Tears (1982) is a first-contact novel written by Alan Dean Foster about the meeting of the insectoid Thranx and Man. This sets in motion the creation of the Humanx Commonwealth; the political body that is the union of human and thranx society which forms the foundation for many of Foster's science-fiction novels.

Nor Crystal Tears is written from the perspective of the Thranx and the cultural lens through which they encounter the monstrous, fleshy alien mammals known as humans. A primary theme is the paranoia and fear the two vastly different races naturally have for each other upon first contact, but also how individuals are able to overcome these innate fears and prejudices and set in motion the foundation for what would become Foster's Humanx Commonwealth.

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One of the takeaways in Foster's Humanx Commonwealth is that Humans are inherently violent to the point of being psychopaths...(according to the Thranx Later that's actually considered a positive when dealing with other vicious aliens as humans tend to be protective of their new friends)