Vilani Language, Grammar and Lexicon

[sayatmenace]

Hans, I'm curious: what's your approach to the question of suspiciously/improbably convergent mental~cultural evolution of Homo sapiens (in your model ) on Vland and on Earth?

I mean, given that 'behavioral modernity', e.g. symbolic reasoning, language itself, etc., didn't arise on Earth until relatively very recently -- off the top of my head, I can't think of a suggested date earlier than -130,000 or something B.P. -- it seems extremely implausible (to me, anyway, coming from where I am) that the actual psychology and sociocultural systems of Vilani and Solomani are so radically similar.

Touch-up interference after -300,000 B.P. by Ancients? Or in the Traveller-verse, did behavioral modernity actually arise vastly earlier than in ours, before the transplantations?

 

[rancke]

Hans, I'm curious: what's your approach to the question of suspiciously/improbably convergent mental~cultural evolution of Homo sapiens (in your model ) on Vland and on Earth?

Frankly, I've never given it a second's thought. But now that you've brought it up and I've given it a full five minutes' thought:

Seeing as how most alien species seem to evolve psycologies and sociocultural systems that are quite similar to our own, I find convergent evolution of ideas much less of a strain on my willing suspension of disbelief than I find convergent evolution of hominid DNA to be.

Touch-up interference after -300,000 B.P. by Ancients? Or in the Traveller-verse, did behavioral modernity actually arise vastly earlier than in ours, before the transplantations?

Nah, convergent evolution of ideas is good enough for me. Apparently form follows function to an amazing degree when it comes to brains of intelligent species.


Hans

 

[sayatmenace]

Seeing as how most alien species seem to evolve psycologies and sociocultural systems that are quite similar to our own, I find convergent evolution of ideas much less of a strain on my willing suspension of disbelief than I find convergent evolution of hominid DNA to be.

Ahem. I had developed some severe tunnel-vision here. You are completely correct

(I love the OTU. But I am also desperately torn to "find" a TU that is not such an anthropological~archeological~sociological~linguistic~I'llstopnow comic-book zone.)

((Obviously the only solution is to let the Sayat take over. Rigorous social science realism; with no ulterior motive. Except, of course, to eradicate the extraneous and revolting multisexual mode of reproduction, imposed by Evil Alien Space Tamperers. But that is simply objective reality!!!))

K.