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Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, futurist, and professor at the City College of New York. He is the author of many fascinating books on the nature of our reality and the future of our civilization.

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When you think about entities that's out there, extraterrestrial, do you think they would naturally look something that even is recognizable to us as life?

We have the eyes of a hunter, stereo vision so we lock in on targets.

They have their eyes at the front of their face like lions, tigers, while rabbits have eyes to the side of their face.

They have to know how to hide, camouflage, sneak up, stealth, deceit.

So that's the first criterion, stereo eyesight of some sort.

The opposable thumb of some sort could be a claw or tentacle.

Hand-eye coordination is the way we manipulate the environment.

Because, you know, Mama Bear never tells Baby Bear to avoid the human hunter.

They never hand out information from 1 generation to the next.

So these are the 3 basic ingredients of intelligence.

Eye sight of some sort, an opposable thumb or tentacle or claw of some sort, and language.

I mean, the primates, they have a language.

Yeah, they may get up to maybe 20 words, but a baby learns a word a day, several words a day

And a typical adult knows about almost 5,000 words, while the maximum number of words that you can teach a gorilla in any language, including their own language, is about 20 or so.

And so we see the difference in intelligence.

So when we meet aliens from outer space, chances are they will have been descended from predators of some sort.

They'll have some way to manipulate the environment and communicate their knowledge to the next generation.

So functionally, that would be similar, that we would be able to recognize them?

Well, not necessarily, because I think even with homo sapiens, we are eventually going to perhaps become part cybernetic and genetically enhanced.

Already, robots are getting smarter and smarter.

Right now robots have the intelligence of a cockroach.

But in the coming years, our robots will be as smart as a mouse, then maybe as smart as a rabbit.

If we're lucky, maybe as smart as a cat or a dog.

And by the end of the century, who knows for sure, our robots will be probably as smart as a monkey.

Now at that point, of course, they could be dangerous.

They may have a different agenda than us.

You see, dogs think that we are a dog, that we're the top dog.

They're the underdog, that's why they whimper and follow us and lick us all the time,

in the future, we'll have to put a chip in their brain to shut them off once our robots have murderous thoughts.

In 200 years, the robots will be smart enough to remove that fail-safe chip in their brain and then watch out.

At that point, I think rather than compete with our robots,

So I think when we meet alien life from outer space,


Speaker 0: When you think about entities that's out there, extraterrestrial, do you think they would naturally look something that even is recognizable to us as life? Or would they be radically different?

Speaker 1: Well, how did we become intelligent?

Speaker 2: Basically, 3 things made us intelligent. 1 is our eyesight, stereo eyesight. We have the eyes of a hunter, stereo vision so we lock in on targets. And who is smarter, predator or prey? Predators are smarter than prey.

They have their eyes at the front of their face like lions, tigers, while rabbits have eyes to the side of their face. Why is that? Hunters have to 0 in on the target. They have to know how to ambush. They have to know how to hide, camouflage, sneak up, stealth, deceit.

Speaker 1: That takes a lot of intelligence.

Speaker 2: Rabbits, all they have to do is run. So that's the first criterion, stereo eyesight of some sort. Second is the thumb. The opposable thumb of some sort could be a claw or tentacle. So hand-eye coordination.

Hand-eye coordination is the way we manipulate the environment. And then 3, language. Because, you know, Mama Bear never tells Baby Bear to avoid the human hunter. Bears just learn by themselves. They never hand out information from 1 generation to the next.

Speaker 1: So these are the 3 basic ingredients of intelligence.

Speaker 2: Eye sight of some sort, an opposable thumb or tentacle or claw of some sort, and language. Now ask yourself a simple question.

Speaker 1: How many animals have all 3?

Speaker 2: Just us. It's just us.

Speaker 1: I mean, the primates, they have a language. Yeah, they may get up to maybe 20 words, but a baby learns a word a day, several words a day

Speaker 2: a baby learns. And a typical adult knows about almost 5,000 words, while the maximum number of words that you can teach a gorilla in any language, including their own language, is about 20 or so. And so we see the difference in intelligence. So when we meet aliens from outer space, chances are they will have been descended from predators of some sort. They'll have some way to manipulate the environment and communicate their knowledge to the next generation.

That's it, folks.

Speaker 0: So functionally, that would be similar, that we would be able to recognize them?

Speaker 2: Well, not necessarily, because I think even with homo sapiens, we are eventually going to perhaps become part cybernetic and genetically enhanced. Already, robots are getting smarter and smarter. Right now robots have the intelligence of a cockroach. But in the coming years, our robots will be as smart as a mouse, then maybe as smart as a rabbit. If we're lucky, maybe as smart as a cat or a dog.

And by the end of the century, who knows for sure, our robots will be probably as smart as a monkey. Now at that point, of course, they could be dangerous. You see, monkeys are self-aware. They know they are monkeys.

Speaker 1: They may have a different agenda than us. While dogs, dogs are confused.

Speaker 2: You see, dogs think that we are a dog, that we're the top dog. They're the underdog, that's why they whimper and follow us and lick us all the time,

Speaker 1: we're the top dog. Monkeys have no illusion at all. They know we are not monkeys. And so I think that

Speaker 2: in the future, we'll have to put a chip in their brain to shut them off once our robots have murderous thoughts.

Speaker 1: But that's in 100 years.

Speaker 2: In 200 years, the robots will be smart enough to remove that fail-safe chip in their brain and then watch out. At that point, I think rather than compete with our robots,

Speaker 1: we should merge with

Speaker 2: them. We should become part cybernetic. So I think when we meet alien life from outer space,

Speaker 1: they may be genetically

Speaker 2: and cybernetically enhanced. You

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Michio Kaku: What Would Aliens Look Like? | AI Podcast Clips