From: Andrew Plotkin (zarf@cs.cmu.edu)
Date: 13-Feb-95 (19:42:55 GMT)
Subj: more psych and biology

Following up on Mario Martinez's post (I won't try to do excerpting): I don't know if you've looked at the "portrait" image in message 3, but the critters appear to be hexapodal, with two legs and four manipulating limbs (or at least limbs that don't touch the ground.) There isn't any more detail, so we don't know about fingers or other subdivisions. The head seems to have two thingies sticking up (eyes? ears? antennae? horns?) There is bilateral symmetry. Here's a wacky idea: they are herbivorous. Why do I say this? Because the message syntax appears to be structured in threes -- three parts which must all be apprehended at the same time. Compare our syntax, which has one or two parts (subject or subject+object) which are read in sequence. Our eyes are hunter eyes -- front of the head, set to focus on one thing at a time with depth perception and maximum detail. Tau Ceti perception seems more like prey perception -- set to watch in all directions at once. So they (or their ancestors) ate grass and always had an eye out for the lions. Well, I said it was wacky.


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