That’s ascribing human motivations to non-humans. They could be fundamentally non-curious, only using their relative intelligence to solve actual problems in their environment rather than pushing for “what if?”.
If you have a species that doesn’t feel a drive to explore they would never leave the place they evolved, then they would be at high risk of extinction when their climate changed with plate tectonics
And perhaps it’s the drive to explore that has humans exploring ideas
I wasn’t talking about need or ability, only exposing themselves to extra risk, failing to discover important discoveries because they don’t explore ideas. I’m sure I wasn’t perfectly clear.
Bivalves such as mussels are aware of many stimuli but are generally incapable of safely relocating making them one of the incredibly few exceptions to the rule.
I would generally assume any alien lifeform we encounter would be closer to humans than bivalves.
That’s ascribing human motivations to non-humans. They could be fundamentally non-curious, only using their relative intelligence to solve actual problems in their environment rather than pushing for “what if?”.
If you have a species that doesn’t feel a drive to explore they would never leave the place they evolved, then they would be at high risk of extinction when their climate changed with plate tectonics
And perhaps it’s the drive to explore that has humans exploring ideas
Maybe you need to be like us to get into space
Most people don’t feel the need to kill someone, but if their life depended on it, they’d kill in self-defense.
You’re conflating the “need” with the “ability”.
I wasn’t talking about need or ability, only exposing themselves to extra risk, failing to discover important discoveries because they don’t explore ideas. I’m sure I wasn’t perfectly clear.
Um. The desire to explore is pretty innate to all life. Not just humans.
How much “exploring” do sedentary lifeforms (plants, mussels, etc) really get up to?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsal_root_ganglion
Bivalves such as mussels are aware of many stimuli but are generally incapable of safely relocating making them one of the incredibly few exceptions to the rule.
I would generally assume any alien lifeform we encounter would be closer to humans than bivalves.