Humans on another planet?

[pmmg]

The examples you list may result in other species evolving into something similar to humans

May also evolve into humans, which is all that is needed to explain the OP's question. The probability is that they may be something similar to humans but not exactly the same, I simply point out the probability is slightly higher than anything else that they will. The evidence, so far, would support my claim

Since the OP is talking about a world with humans, I would assume carbon based life forms are the given, and a world similar to our own.

If the author wishes a world with creatures almost, but not quite, human, but in story respects are the same, may as well go with humans. The readers wont get turned away just because of that.

 

[Alex Reiden]

May also evolve into humans, which is all that is needed to explain the OP's question. The probability is that they may be something similar to humans but not exactly the same, I simply point out the probability is slightly higher than anything else that they will. The evidence, so far, would support my claim

The opposite really. The probability, the vast probability by far, and then some more, is that they would evolve into something which wouldn't match a character description that can used to describe any human character beyond vague, cursory detail. After a certain point, the closer you get to human, or any other existing species for that matter, the less likely.

 

[pmmg]

Well, I will admit the argument I have made would fly in the face of probability statistically, and I think you are assuming I am greatly disagreeing with you, when in fact I am only minutely disagreeing.

The fact that any species could evolve to become dominant in one place does, in fact, make it more likely they could evolve to do the same in another. The idea of humans being in another area of the universe, the setting of a fictional world for instance, while small, would still be possible, and also be more probable than any other species we can imagine doing the same.

For example, given the infinite possibilities, when we look at the evidence that the universe has provided, there is only one instance of a species doing this, and it was Humans. So the math is the humans, so far, have a 1 in infinity chance to pull this off, and every other species has shown nothing more than a 0 in infinity chance to do the same. The humans, therefore, have a slightly larger probability. Every other possibility, so far, has zero evidence. So given the evidence, the probability is slightly larger that Humans will emerge in other worlds as the dominant species.

This chance is further enhanced when one considers that humans are not the result of probability, they are the result of an evolutionary process (putting aside creation, which we've already stated would suffice as an explanation) that begins with smallest pieces, and evolved to become equipped with the tools they have. The same things that are useful to humans would be useful to any evolving species in any similar environment. So, evolution would also contain a high probability of creating similar creatures.

Some creatures would also seem to me to almost universal in such a process. Earthworms, for example, I would expect would exist in many other worlds, given their simplicity of design and function.

When talking about infinity, it is also true that the number is so large, that humans must exist elsewhere, because there are only so many ways to arrange atoms. When the number gets large enough, duplicates must exist.

Infinity also has the property that anything next to infinity is essentially zero, so the probability of humans vs any other creature is still next to zero. And yet...here we are. The probability worked out in our favor, and because it did, I can claim the probably is slightly higher it will work out somewhere else as well.

EDIT: To clarify further, lets suppose there were 1 million possible creatures that could exist and become the dominant species of a planet similar to our own. We populate a million worlds. the probability is each has a 1/1,000,000 chance to pull off the feat. But it is not likely all 1 million worlds will have 1 of the million unique species. Duplicates will likely exist, and some will not have evolved at all. If we say humans evolved on 2 of the worlds and every other species but one evolved on the others, the evidence becomes humans have a 2 in 1 million chance to evolve on a newly populated world, and every other creature still only has a 1 in 1 million chance.

A new world is starting to evolve. The probability 999,999 to 1 that it will be a species other than humans, but it is still true that the evidence suggests humans are more likely than all of the others to evolve on it again. They have a 2 in 1 million chance, and everyone else has a 1 in 1 million chance.

Anyway, hardly worth making arguments over. The OP seems to have a resounding, 'Yes, you can have humans elsewhere as an answer.' So...no need for more.

 

[The Dark One]

It's not exactly on topic but there are a few points I'd make...

Humans, or anything like humans, are extremely unlikely to evolve elsewhere. We, and many things kinda like us, all evolved from one or two Devonian fishes so our various characteristics all grew from there.

To get an idea of just how unbelievably unlikely we are, look up some stuff on the evolution of the eye. Don't even start talking about the brain.

That said, humans can exist on any fantasy planet, and don't need to be explained. In fact, if you try to explain you're likely to raise a few eyebrows that might otherwise have stayed unlifted.

 

[Prince of Spires]

I think our world actually shows the opposite. Humans evolved in only one spot on earth and they only managed to do so after cataclysmic events wiped out the other dominant species.

It's by pure chance that an asteroid took out the dinosaurs. If that hadn't happened then there's every chance no big mammals would have evolved or they would have evolved differently.

And humans only evolved in Africa, nowhere else on earth. Humans then invaded the America's and Australia, killing of all the other big and dominant species there. But that doesn't mean humans or even something human-like would have evolved there if we wouldn't have invaded. It would be equivalent to us getting invaded by technologically superior aliens, who wipe us out and then claim that this proves they are biologically superior.

 

[The Dark One]

You have to go way back further if you want to understand how humans evolved.

 

[Darkfantasy]

I did research into how humans evolved and it was like a crazy mass of coincidences - I mean it really was an amazing chance. The chain of events that happened through nature was really fascinating to watch. That was what made me think, what are chances of this happening on another planet? And people always say fiction needs to be realistic. But was Tolkien ever clear where Middle Earth was in his novels? Because I can'r remember him ever giving a clear answer in the books. I just assumed it was an early form of earth, considering all the beings and creatures in it were all from our world.

 

[Insolent Lad]

was Tolkien ever clear where Middle Earth was in his novels? .

Middle Earth is, as the name suggests, Earth, and there was never any suggestion otherwise. 'Middle' simply means the Earth of men, between Heaven above and Hell below (or analogous regions), and is a translation of the Germanic Midgard.

 

[The Dark One]

Yes, Tolkien's was an alternative / fantasy earth vaguely set in a quasi-medieval setting, but if you read the appendices at the end there are suggestions that that fantastical alternate earth morphed into this one with the waning of magic at the end of the third age.

Kinda...

 

[MauEvig]

Usually I'm more into Urban Fantasy or alternative History with my world set here on earth. So this may be the first book where I have a Fantasy world created. I realized I'm not sure how to explain the existence of humans on this planet and that I've never read anything dealing with it. I considered creating my own race but they would basically just be humans so there didn't seem much point.

Do I need to explain it? If I made it this planet the Science is too advanced for the setting, magic would have to exist in a time we know it didn't. And it does have a wilder feel. Not totally medieval but not quite the advanced society we have today. Technology isn't as advanced. I have very little ideas yet for my setting but just wanted to get this question answered before I start working on it.

Thanks (happy to give my info is needed)

There's several ways humans could have got there. Technically C.S. Lewis found a way to incorporate humans into the world of Narnia, so it's possible that some kind of passageway in the time/space continuum could have allowed travel to other worlds.
There's the possibility that space travel happened at some point, a crash landing, and the discovery of a new type of magic on that planet. Eventually as people realized they weren't going to get back home to Earth, they made a go of it, and give it about thousand years and several generations later that they completely forgot their planet of origin.
Then again I like to mix advanced technology and magic, but that could also be the Final Fantasy influence. In my world of Ark'eth, advanced technology is used to draw out magic power. Final Fantasy VII is a game that incorporates the use of Materia, and there's advanced technology in that setting, but the Materia is a form of magic in that game. I often blur the lines of Science fiction and Fantasy a good bit. Ark'eth also has a mixture of cultures, some that are medieval-esque, some that are futuristic. Yet magic exists, and strange phenomenon and creatures such as the dream walker spirit, and the Dreygan.
So I definitely think humans could exist on another planet. You could even say that planet is the real origin of humans, and humans came to Earth at some point or mixed with the natives. With fantasy anything's possible.

 

[Miles Lacey]

We're writing fantasy so does there need to be a scientific explanation as to how human and/or humanoid life forms appeared on a particular world? I deliberately keep the origins of humans and other humanoid life obscure or even contradictory in my work in progress. However I do hint that the world may have been terra-formed and the humans (and other humanoid species) were dumped on the planet to see what happened to them.