MichaelChristopherC.

Cruz

October6,2011

Bi14

Mr.RonaldAllanCruz

ExtraterrestrialHumans:theLongtermBiologicalIssuesofSpaceColonization
Cottle:TheirDNAiscompatiblewithours.
Baltar:...meaningwecouldbreedwiththem.
GaiusBaltarandDr.Cottle,onseeinghumansonEarth
BattlestarGalacticaSeason4EpisodeDaybreak,PartII

Inmany,ifnotmostsciencefictiontexts(eventhosethatarenotsetinEarth),human
charactersareubiquitousandareofteninpositionsofpower.Fromapracticalpointofview,the
reasonisobviousthetextsaremadebyhumans,forhumans,featuringhumanscienceand
followingorbendingitsrulesfromahumanperspective.
From an expansionist point of view, the colonization of outer space represents the
pinnacle of Human civilization. As humanitys population expands and consumes more and
moreofEarthsresources,andwiththeknowledgethatEarthitselfisnoteternallyhabitable,
leavingthehumanhomeworldonedayisanecessityiftheeternalsurvivaloftheHuman
speciesistobesecured.Thesheermysteryandpotentialforspacecolonizationmakesitno
surprisethatspaceoperaisoneofthemostcommonandmosteasilyrecognizable,yetleast
respectedformofsciencefiction.(Westfahl)Givinghomage,andreflectingthespiritoftheAge
ofExploration,spaceoperastoriesfeaturedistinctlyhumanstoriesofexploring,conquering,and
livinginouterspace,withhumancharactersorhumanoidaliens.
The genre itself begs a few crucial questions: in the long run, will a Homo sapiens
stretchedfarandwideintotheuniversesplitintovariousspecies?Howcanhybridsbepossible?
EXTRATERRESTRIAL HUMANS | MICHAEL C. CRUZ 1

LongtermExpansionandColonization
OnemarkofSpacebasedsciencefictionisthatinaparticularUniverse,theeaseand
prevalenceofspacetraveliscomparabletothatofairtravelinpresentdayEarth.Thisinturn
makesitpossibleforhumanitytoexpandwithoutfacingthedauntinglogisticalchallengesof
maintaininganinterplanetarypoliticalentity:whetherasaUNstyleFederalstate(StarWars,
BattlestarGalactica),acentralizedEmpire(StarWars,DoctorWho),acorporateledguild(Star
WarsTradeFederation,Alien,Avatar)oraFeudalstyleempire(Dune.)
However,thehypotheticalscatteringofhumansacrossspaceresultsinapotentialissue:
willaHomosapiensstretchedfarandwideintotheuniversesplitintovariousspecies?Wecan
comparethreedifferentSpacebasedtexts thatshowsuccessfulbreedingbetweenHumans
fromdifferentplanets.ThiscanbefoundinDune,StarWars,andBattlestarGalactica.
Species are a fundamental natural unit differentiated in practice by means of
morphologicalorpheneticcharacteristics.Usingthebiologicalspeciesconcept,thisdefinition
canbeextendedtogroupsofinterbreedingnaturalpopulationsthatarereproductivelyisolated
fromothersuchgroups.(Ridley348349)
Inallthreescifitexts,thecharacters(whoarehuman)areabletobreedwithhumansofa
differentplanet,evenwiththoseofdifferingphysicalcharacteristics;andthus,bydefinition,all
series are in fact portraying just one species (H. sapiens) that have somehow remained
geneticallycompatibledespitethedifferingenvironments.Onepossibleanswertothisisthatthe
environmentsarenotdifferentatallashumanssettleEarthlikeplanets.However,whilethis
maybeverytruefortheBSGseries,thesamecannotbesaidforDune(ortheouterrimworlds
ofStarWars),withtheirlessthanidealworlds.

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Speciationitselfishardtoidentify.Thekeyevent,accordingtoRidley,liesinastatehe
termsreproductiveisolation,withanaimtounderstandhowabarriertointerbreedingcan
evolvebetweentwopopulations,suchthatonespeciesevolvesintotwo.(382)

Therearethreepossiblewaysforthistohappen: Parapatric speciation,whereanew

speciesevolvesfromtheirancestorinthesamegeographicarea,Sympatric,whereanewspecies
and its ancestors are in a certain geographic range, and Allopatric, where a new species
evolvesbecauseofgeographicisolation.Thelastismostapplicableinspacebecauseofthesheer
distanceandrelativeisolationofhumanslivingnotjustindifferentzonesofoneplanet,butin
differentplanets,withdifferentenvironmentsandseparatedbygreatdistances.(382)
AccordingtoRidley:
[Thereis]abundantevidencethatreproductiveisolationevolvesasabyproductofdivergence
betweengeographicallyseparatepopulations...Ifseparatepopulationsadapttodifferentlocal
conditionsinnature,theyalsoevolvereproductiveisolationasaconsequence.(389)

WecancomparetheFremenofArrakisandtheHumansofTatooine(StarWars.)While
bothgroupsofhumanshavelonglivedinadesertplanet,onlytheFremenhavebeenshownto
actuallyevolvesignificantbiologicaladaptations totheirenvironment.Duneisuniqueinits
portrayalofthelocalevolutionaryadaptationsoftheFremenonArrakis,somehowgivingthem
notonlyauniqueculture,butalsouniqueadaptations.Forinstance,Fremenhaveauniqueability
toclottheirbloodmoreeasily,tosaveonmoisture.TheStarWarsseriesismarkedbythefact
thatallhumansarebasicallythesame:fromthemilleniaoldcitycitizensofCoruscant,the
green worldadapted people of Naboo, or the aforementioned Desert lifestyle of Tatooine
residents.
EXTRATERRESTRIAL HUMANS | MICHAEL C. CRUZ 3

In a universe where space travel is common and there is a general acceptance of

travellers,thehumansintheStarWarsseriescanindeedmaintainonegeneticallysimilarhuman
population,effectivelyachievingthegalacticequivalentofpresentdayEarthsGlobalization.
(Galaxificationisayetuninventedterm.)Incontrast,theprohibitivecostsofspacetravelinthe
Duneuniverse,aswellasthecultureandrelativeisolationoftheFremenhaveledthemtobe
moreisolatedandthusmorepronetodevelopingnew,uniquetraits.ButinDune,despitethe
FremennatureofChani,theyareabletoproduceachild.However,speciationitselfwouldtake
moretime,astrangenewpopulationlevelmutation,oramoredrastickindofisolation,suchthat
theresultinghypotheticalH.fremenisorH.tatouineasdevelopanallopatricrelationshipwithH.
sapienssuchthatinterbreedingismadeimpossible.
Geographicisolationisnot,initself,anisolatingbarrier.Anisolatingbarrierisan
evolvedpropertyofaspeciesthatpreventsinterbreeding.(Ridley,383)
NoisolatingbarrierhasevolvedbetweenthehumansofCaladanandtheFremen,or
betweenthehumansofNabooandTatooine.AnotherconsiderationisthefactthatStarwars
humans,andDunehumans(ignoringtheBeneGesseritdefinition),arealldescendedfroma
recent common ancestor. In Dune, despite the hostility of the Planet Arrakis, the basic
characteristicsoftheplanet(gascomposition,watervapor)makeitsimilartoEarth,evenifasa
whole,itisfarfromideal.
ThesuccessfulfertilizationsbetweenAnakinSkywalkerofTatooineandPadmeAmidala
ofNaboo;andPaulAtreidesofCaladanandChaniofArrakisarethusbiologicallyplausible.

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BattlestarGalacticaColonialsandNatives
However,thesamebiologicalprinciplesusedinexplainingtheplausibilityofthebirths
of Leto Atreides II and Luke Skywalker results in a problem for explaining the Battlestar
Galacticaseries.InthelastepisodeofBattlestarGalactica,theColonialrefugeefleetfindsthe
planetwenowcallhomeandsettlesit.
Unfortunatelyforthosetaskedwithexplainingthebiologicalplausibilityoftheentire
series,theColonials(andtheCylonsthatjoinedthem)arenotthesoleancestorsoftodays
Homo sapiens. Upon landing in what is most probably Africa, they encounter primitive
Nativeswhoare,interestingly,geneticallycompatiblewiththeColonials.
AccordingtoPatrickDiJustoandKevinGrazierofthecompanionbookTheScienceof
BattlestarGalactica:
HumansarepeoplelivingontheplanetEarthinthe21stCentury.ColonialsarenonCylon
peoplewholivedononeofthetwelveColoniesaroundthe

time of the Cylon attack.

Nativesarethepeoplelivinginprehistoricearth 150,000yearsago...Colonialsandhumansare
distinct.(77)

Dotakenotethattheshowdoesnothaveatimetravellingaspecttoit,soitisvalidto
assumethatunderalineartimeframe,thetwospecies (NativesandColonials),despitetheir
very similar appearances, evolved under very different circumstances in planets lightyears
away.BattlestarGalacticaWikisofficialsynopsissays:
KaraThracejumpsGalacticaintothevicinityofahabitableplanetalreadypopulatedbyarich
diversityofwildlifeandprimitivehumanswhoevolvedindependentlyfromthoseonKobol.

Theofficial(Syfychannel)synopsissayssomethingsimilar:
EXTRATERRESTRIAL HUMANS | MICHAEL C. CRUZ 5

Asaviortothefleet,Karasuccessfullyjumpsthem1,000,000lightyearsawaytoa
landalreadyoccupiedbyanadvancedcivilization.
Thekeywordsare alreadyoccupied.TheEarththeyfoundis not the13thcolonyof
KobolevolvedColonials(orCylonsforthatmatter),thisEarth,ourEarth,existedindependently
and so did the natives of the planet. It is like, to use an expression, the mother of all
reproductiveisolations.
Earth humans today area apparently are the product of interbreeding between Earth
natives, Colonials, and (through Hera) Cylons. According to the aforementioned companion
book, what happened was similar to Stan Goochs theory on how CroMagnons and
Neanderthalsinterbredandcausedtheformationofhumansinreallife.However,asexplained
earlier,thisargumentfailsonaverybasiclevel:theshowexplicitlystatesthatEarthnativesdid
notdescendfromKobol.NeanderthalsandCroMagnonshadaveryrecent)commonancestor.
Theyarenaturallyevolving(presumablyfollowingtheprimatelineofevolution)creatureswho
justhappenedtobegeneticallycompatiblewithColonials.

6 EXTRATERRESTRIAL HUMANS | MICHAEL C. CRUZ

Itisthusnexttoimpossibleforthemtomeetforthefirsttimeandsuddenlybeableto
mate.TheshowalsoestablishesthatEarthnativesandColonialsdifferintwomajorareas:first,
Colonials all have blood antigens (i.e. none of them have Type O blood), and second,
ColonialshaveimmunityagainstEncephalitis.Hera,thehalfhuman,halfCylonwhoissetby
theshowasMitochondrialEveexplainsthisbecauseofherpartCylonancestry.(diJusto,79)
Evenwiththeconceptofconvergentevolution,notwocreaturesthatevolvedconvergently,with
norecentcommonancestor(orinthecaseofColonialsandnatives,nocommonancestoratall,
have beenknowntosuccessfully mate. A basicexampleis theimpossibility offertilization
betweenfishandmarinemammals,orsalamandersandswamplizards.Conclusion
Analyzedfromalongtermperspective,themainissueswiththedepictionofhumansin
spacebasedsciencefictionlieinevolutionandthepotentialofhumanstosplitoffandforma
newspecies.However,thiscouldonlyhappenwhenonepopulationofinterbreedingorganisms
splitsintotwoseparatelybreedingpopulations.(Ridley382)
NosuchsplitoccursamonghumansinStarWarsorDunebecauseconstantcontactand
interstellartraveldoes notallow forisolation,effectivelymimickinghowhumans todayare
scattered all over the Earth in vastly different environmental conditions (and some level of
adaptation)yetthroughtravelandaccessibility,areabletobreed,andmaintainjustonespecies.
Hybridizationwithotherhumans,eventhosebornofotherplanetsarepossibleprovided
thatthesehumansstayasonespecies.Ifreproductiveisolationismadeareality,thensuchas
splitispossible.However,thereisnocertaintywhenandhowthiswillhappen,andevenifit
willhappen,itwilltakethousandsofyearsandtheevolutionofanisolatingbarriertodoso.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL HUMANS | MICHAEL C. CRUZ 7

ThecaseofBattlestarGalactica(ColonialsCylons&natives)isquitedifferent.Neither
speciescamefromacommonancestor,anddespitetheirverysimilarphysicalappearance,itis
trulyalongshotforanyunrelatedspeciestosuddenlybegeneticallycompatible.Theywould
havetofacealotofreproductivebarriers.
Ontheotherhand,theshorttermeffects ofspacetravel(radiation,gravity,etc.)are
explainedbythepresumptionthattechnologycombattingthesebasicproblemsexistsinmost
spaceoperatexts.

Bibliography
SyFy Channel.

Battlestar Galactica | Syfy. 2010. 5 October 2011

<http://www.syfy.com/battlestar/episodes/season/4/episode/>.
Ridley,Mark.Evolution,thirdedition.Malden:BlackwellPublishing,2004.
deJusto,PatrickandKevinGrazier. TheScienceofBattlestarGalactica.Ed.NBCUniversal
SyFy.Hoboken:JohnWileyandSons,Inc.,2011.
Westfahl,Gary."Spaceopera." CambridgeCompaniontoScienceFiction.Ed.EdwardJames
andFarahMendlesohn.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2003.197208.

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