What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans?

[john titor]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

We're forgetting that they have to be equal, neanderthals were not equal to homos. Similarly aztecs didn't have the same level of technological sophistication as the europeans.

 

[TedShatner10]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

We're forgetting that they have to be equal, neanderthals were not equal to homos. Similarly aztecs didn't have the same level of technological sophistication as the europeans.

Yes and no on both counts - Neanderthals were advanced enough tool users, they had language and family groups, and their cutting tools were actually more efficient than the tools of earlier homo-sapien-sapiens, however their culture was not abstract enough and their whole mindset seemed autistic, so Neanderthal tribal groups were more isolated. The Aztecs and Mayans were not steeped in guns and steel, yet their cultures and technology were still highly sophisticated, only in a different way and had major gaps (like the widespread use of the wheel, as a big example, and the wheel had been around for millennia in Eurasia).

Who says this hypothetical primate humanoid species will be vastly different from actual Neanderthals? And they would be subjected to the same conditions that somehow hamstrung the isolated homo-sapien-sapiens for thousands of years.

 

[Docbrown777]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

Assuming they are of the same mental capacity and relatively same advancement in technology but are say 7 foot tall lizard creatures with a totally alien language then I would guess both sides would declare war claiming that each other are the unholy spawn of hell (or whatever the lizard creature version of hell is. Possibly an ice land of some kind). If not that reason then another will be given but the root of the reason will always boil down to how diffrent and alien the creatures are (human or lizard) and how their presence and strength and potential to increase in strength scares the other speices. That's what it would boil down to.

However the war might not happen until later because the technology at the time made it very hard to move a large effective army over that great a distance and supply it. Let us assume the lizard people have a pretty large population equal or about equal too Europe and Asia at the time. Any war probably would not lead to the complete destruction of one or the other but rather the subjection of one species to the other creating a 2 species caste system.

If each side as suggested has a very large population then the war could be extremely destructive and last a long long time.

Another important point is that such a war would probably unite humanity (and the lizard creatures in turn). It's the same concept as if aliens were to invade Earth tomorrow. The vast majority of humans would be able to put aside differences with each other to fight one force that threatens them all. Such as an impending war with lizard creatures who are disgusting because they eat with only their tongues and have eyes that look two ways at the same time.

 

[polyharmonic]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

Assuming that the western hemisphere was densely populated similarly to Eurasia and that the non-human had comparable technology and comparable intelligence, there is no way that either side could have wiped out the other prior to the nuclear age. Its just not logistically feasible.

Now if these non-human creatures clearly were intelligent and had civilization, then the two sides would quickly learn to communicate. And there would be individuals on both sides trying to establish relations between the two species.

I think that once communications and relations were established, the drive to exterminate each other would go down and we'd learn to happily coexist. Between the Age of Discovery and the nuclear age was about 500 years. During those 500 years we'd figure out how to live side by side and share the planet.

 

[NickInABox]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

Dey'd teyk arr jerbs.

KILL IT!

 

[polyharmonic]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

Who says this hypothetical primate humanoid species will be vastly different from actual Neanderthals? And they would be subjected to the same conditions that somehow hamstrung the isolated homo-sapien-sapiens for thousands of years.

The scenario I proposed didn't limit the non-human intelligent species to primate humanoids. The only restriction was that the non-humans be equally intelligent and have the same level of technology. I made this restriction simply so that the discussion could be more interesting.

If the non-human but equally intelligent creatures had technology on a level much lower than humans, then they'd simply be overwhelmed and wiped out and that would be that. But if they were equally intelligent, had large numbers and had equivalent technology, then the situation becomes much more interesting and the future outcome of such an Earth much less predictable.

This scenario has actually been dealt with in other worlds in the Trekverse I'm sure. However the only notable case that I know of is Xindus. But Xindi history seems implausible. If the different species couldn't get along, they would have killed each other during the nuclear age. And if they got along up till warp techonlogy, then they would have learned to live together already after sharing the planet together for so long.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Re: What if the New World had been populated by intelligent non-humans

I think the way it was presented was that they learned to get along by setting up the Council to save themselves from killing each other. It was a tense, but workable, solution until the Sphere Builders and Enterprise came along to shake things up and revive old animosities.