this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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Convergent evolution. Maybe bipedal locomotion gives some sort of advantage to intelligence.
It is kind of the minimalist form to let a brain interact with its environment, You have the second lowest number of locomotion limbs but significanly higher efficiency than slithering (0) which means more energy for the brain, And 2 manipulating limbs is the minnimum neccesary to grasp items in a way that allows you to apply torque or brace objects.
If you're bipedal you have free arms to throw rocks and make tools.
Maybe humans are the crabs ~~crackheads~~ of spaceflight
Yeah, this is a viable explanation, although it is dependant on life evolving mostly the same way across the galaxy. If life mostly evolves on ocean planets in the Goldilocks Zone frim the same basic elements, then sure, prokaryote, fish, tetrapod, biped could be an extremely common path. But it's entirely possible there are a wide variety of initial circumstances that can generate life, and there are tungsten-based hyper-intelligent shrimp people living in gas giants
But without hands, those shrimp people aren't going to be able to do much in the way of tool use, which limits their space-faring prospects. If you're not a warp-capable species, you're basically nobodyl. I feel like you at least need to kick off the tech-tree with fire and banging rocks together. Fire means air, which means terrestrial locomotion, and tetrapod seems like the most elegant form for that to take off (three legs on the ground while one moves). Banging rocks together means two hands, which assuming we're developing from a tetrapod, means bipedalism.
Sure there might be some tungsten-based shrimp people who achieve warp through telekinesis or something suitably Traveler-esque, but that kind of hyper intelligence doesn't exactly lead to involving oneself in the petty squabbles of lesser life forms. They might exist, but they wouldn't be characters Starfleet would interact with regularly.
Maybe they have specialized claws that they use to fashion tools out of giant coal trees that grow out the planet's core. Maybe they have a form so foriegn we couldn't possibly imagine it. My point is, convergent evolution makes a lot of sense based on our understanding of how life evolves, but in terms of systems that produce life, we have a sample size of one. If we're wrong about some of the fundamental requirements of life l(ike carbon, water, light), and there are a plethora of systems that produce life, all bets are off.
My point was less about producing life, I agree there are probably countless ways life could develop that would be strange or unimaginable. I'm talking more about convergent evolution for the sorts of species which would interact regularly with the Federation.
Not intelligence, but tool-wielding.
Pigs and whales are smart, but neither can swing a hammer.
Exactly this. Bipedal, fingers for tool making.