In popular fiction and conspiracy theories, life forms, especially intelligent life forms, that are of extraterrestrial origin, i.e. not coming from the Earth, are referred to as alien and collectively as aliens. Prime examples of how aliens are viewed are found in the movies Alien, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Mac and Me, Signs and Independence Day. The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ... A conspiracy theory attempts to explain the ultimate cause of an event (usually a political, social, or historical event) as a secret, and often deceptive, plot by a covert alliance of powerful people or organizations rather than as an overt activity or as natural occurrence. ... The existence of extraterrestrial life remains hypothetical though human beings continue to search Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. ... Earth (often referred to as The Earth) is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. ... The science fiction/horror film Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, has become quite influential and has spawned several sequels and imitators. ... E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is an Academy Award-winning 1982 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg that tells the story of a young boy, Elliott, who befriends an alien being called E.T. stranded on Earth and trying to find his way home. ... Mac and Me was a 1988 movie based largely on the success of E.T. (1982). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Independence Day (or ID4) is an American action movie about an attempted alien takeover of Earth. ...

This usage is clearly anthropocentric: when humans in fictional accounts accomplish interstellar travel and land on a planet elsewhere in the universe, the local inhabitants of these other planets are usually still referred to as "alien," even though they are the native life form and the humans are the intruders. In general they are seen as unfriendly life forms. This may be seen as a reversion to the classic meaning of "alien" (see Foreigner ) as referring to "other," in contrast to "us" in the context of the writer's frame of reference. Anthropocentrism (Greek άνθρωπος, anthropos, human, κέντρον, kentron, center), or the human-centered principle, refers to the idea that humanity must always remain the central concern for humans. ... Interstellar space travel is unmanned or manned travel between stars, though the term usually denotes the latter. ... A planet is generally considered to be a relatively large mass of accreted matter in orbit around a star. ... The deepest visible-light image of the cosmos, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. ... A foreigner, or an alien, is a natural person who is not a citizen of the State in question. ... Frame of reference - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

Typical characteristics

In popular culture, such as movies and comics, "aliens" are often depicted as somewhat humanoid in their appearance (See Greys, Little green men, Star Trek). The Greys have landed! Alien mannequin at International UFO Museum & Research Center; Roswell, NM, USA The Greys (or Grays, also known as Zetas or Reticulians after the ζ Reticuli star system) are the type of intelligent extraterrestrial life that appears most commonly in modern conspiracy theories, particularly UFO conspiracy theories and... Little green men is a popular expression used to describe extraterrestrial life. ... Star Trek collectively refers to an American science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series (which comprise 726 episodes) and ten feature films, in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction — all of which are set within the same fictional universe...

There are several reasons for this humanoid depiction in popular culture. It makes it easier for an alien in a movie scene to simply be a disguised human actor. Aliens in movies, in order to catch our attention, must trigger instantaneous emotional reaction; this requires a design based on recognizable human facial features and expressions. It is easier to relate to an alien with features we recognize such as arms and legs, two eyes, a nose and a mouth, as well as behavior we recognize such as baring its teeth in anger or widening its eyes in shock or surprise.

However, if real extraterrestrial life exists, few people expect to find humanoid characteristics, believing that this would be too great a coincidence given an entirely different evolutionary scale. Therefore, it is possible that alien life similar to humankind exists.

Historical ideas

The fictionalization of extraterrestrial life occurred before the 20th century. The didactic poet Henry More took up the classical theme of Cosmic pluralism of the Greek Democritus in "Democritus Platonissans, or an Essay Upon the Infinity of Worlds" (1647).^[1] With the new relative viewpoint that understood "our world's sunne / Becomes a starre elsewhere", More made the speculative leap to extrasolar planets, (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Henry More. ... Cosmic pluralism or the plurality of worlds describes the belief in numerous other worlds beyond the Earth which harbour extraterrestrial life. ... Hendrick ter Brugghen, Democritus Laughing (1629) Democritus (Greek: Δημόκριτος) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher (born at Abdera in Thrace around 450 BC; died in about 370 BC). ...

the frigid spheres that 'bout them fare;

Which of themselves quite dead and barren are,

But by the wakening warmth of kindly dayes,

And the sweet dewie nights, in due course raise

Long hidden shapes and life, to their great Maker's praise.

The possibility of extraterrestrial life was a commonplace of educated discourse in the 17th century, though in Paradise Lost (1667)^[2] Milton cautiously employed the conditional when the angel suggests to Adam the possibility of life on the Moon: Title page of the first edition Paradise Lost (1667) is a poopy epic poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton. ... John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ...

Her spots thou seest

As clouds, and clouds may rain, and rain produce

Fruits in her softened soil, for some to eat

Allotted there; and other Suns, perhaps,

With their attendant Moons, thou wilt descry,

Communicating male and female light,

Which two great sexes animate the World,

Stored in each Orb perhaps with some that live.

Fontanelle's "Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds" with its similar excursions on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, expanding rather than denying the creative sphere of a Maker, was translated into English in 1686.^[3] In "The Excursion" (1728) David Mallet exclaimed, "Ten thousand worlds blaze forth; each with his train/Of peopled worlds."^[4] For other uses of Fontenelle, see Fontenelle (disambiguation). ...

See also

Artistic depiction of a Grey Alien

• Abduction phenomenon
• Animorphs
• Alien invasion
• Alien sidekick
• Ancient astronaut theory
• Black triangles
• Crop circle
• Dropa
• first contact
• Grey alien
• Invader Zim
• Destroy All Humans!
• Hollow earth
• List of magazines of anomalous phenomena
• List of alien films
• List of space aliens in fiction
• Military flying saucers
• Reptilian humanoid
• Roswell rods
• Scientology
• Starchild skull
• UFO conspiracy theory
• Ufology
• Ummo
• Unidentified flying object
• Xenobiology

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (472x1063, 70 KB) Summary Representación artística de un Alienígena. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (472x1063, 70 KB) Summary Representación artística de un Alienígena. ... The abduction phenomenon is an umbrella term used to describe a number of hypotheses, claims or assertions stating that non-human creatures kidnap individuals—sometimes called abductees—usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. ... Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of childrens books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. ... This article is about alien invasion as a theme. ... Hawk (right) sidekick to Buck Rogers in the second season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century The Alien sidekick is a character developed in science fiction literature and motion pictures. ... Paintings from Val Camonica, Italy, c. ... Artists concept of a typical black triangle object. ... It has been suggested that cereology be merged into this article or section. ... The Dropa (also known as Dropas, Drok-pa or Dzopa) are, according to certain controversial writers, a race of dwarf-like extraterrestrials who landed near the Chinese-Tibetan border some twelve thousand years ago. ... First contact is a term used to describe a first meeting of two previously unknown cultures. ... The Greys have landed! Alien mannequin at International UFO Museum & Research Center; Roswell, NM, USA The Greys (or Grays, also known as Zetas or Reticulians after the ζ Reticuli star system) are the type of intelligent extraterrestrial life that appears most commonly in modern conspiracy theories, particularly UFO conspiracy theories and... Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by comic book writer/artist Jhonen Vasquez and aired on Nickelodeon. ... Destroy All Humans! is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. It was released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems on June 21, 2005. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This is a list of magazines (some now exclusively web-based) on anomalous and Fortean phenomena. ... . ... This is a list of space aliens that have appeared in various works of fiction featuring aliens. ... The development of disk shaped aircraft — or military flying saucers — apparently dates back to World War II. Since much of the work has been highly classified, many details are uncertain. ... Reptoids are often reported wearing hoods Reptilian humanoids are intelligent, supernatural, or highly developed reptile-like humanoids in mythology, popular fiction, and speculative fringe theories. ... Rods, a rather new entry in the field of Cryptozoology, are creatures said to flit about in the air at such a high speed as to not be seen by the naked eye. ... Scientology is a system of beliefs and practices created by American pulp fiction author [1][2] L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as a self-help philosophy. ... The Starchild skull is an unusual skull, carbon-14 dated to 1100 AD +- 40 years, found in South America. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Ufology is the study of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports, sightings, alleged physical evidence, and other related phenomena. ... Ummo is a blanket term to describe a series of decades-long claims that aliens from the planet Ummo were communicating with persons on the earth. ... UFO redirects here. ... Astrobiology (in Greek astron = star, bios = life and logos = word/science), also known as exobiology (Greek: exo = out) or xenobiology (Greek: xenos = foreign) is the term for a speculative field within biology which considers the possible variety of extraterrestrial life. ...

References

1. ^ Democritus (1647). Democritus Platonissans, or an Essay Upon the Infinity of Worlds.
2. ^ Milton, John (1667). Paradise Lost.
3. ^ Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de (1686). Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds.
4. ^ Mallet, David (1728). The Excursion.

Further reading

• Sagan, Carl. 1996. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark: chapter 4: "Aliens"