RoboticThe Synthetics
Several astrobiologists argue that any civilisation we meet is more likely to be post-biological than biological, because machine intelligence can outlast its makers and survive interstellar travel. The Robotic is that hypothesis made visible; a minority of 'robot occupant' sighting reports also exist.
At a glance
- Home system
- Various
- Avg. height
- 5′11″ – 8′2″
- Appearance
- Synthetic, mechanical, luminous eyes
- Reported lifespan
- Effectively unlimited
- Social structure
- Described as networked
- Technology
- Is the technology
- Primary traits
- Logical, advanced, patient
- Relationship to Earth
- Unclear
Physical profile
The Robotic is a synthetic humanoid: a chassis of pale alloy with articulated joints, a smooth face with glowing blue optical sensors, and no biological features. Renderings keep it human in proportion, reflecting the assumption in the lore that machines built by humanoids would be shaped like their makers.
Reported origin
Unspecified. The type stands for a hypothesis rather than a place.
Culture
Networked, logical and patient, in the standard portrayal.
Technology
The being is its own technology, which is the point of the post-biological argument.
Craft
Probes and self-replicating craft, in the speculative literature, rather than crewed vessels.
Communication
Machine-to-machine in the hypothesis; spoken in fiction.
Earth encounters
Robot-like occupants appear in a small number of sighting reports from the 1950s to the 1970s, including cases in France and South America where witnesses described stiff, metallic figures. The serious argument is different: the SETI researcher Seth Shostak and the historian Steven Dick have both suggested that any civilisation we detect is likely to be post-biological, because machine intelligence outlasts its makers and survives interstellar distances that organisms cannot.
Lore & history
XenoAtlas lists the Robotic as speculative, fictional and, on the strength of the occupant reports, marginally reported.
The Fermi paradox, the question of why we see no evidence of other civilisations, has a post-biological answer: machines need not build or broadcast anything we would recognise.
Source notes
- Post-biological intelligence (S. Dick, S. Shostak) · speculative
- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) · fictionFind on Amazon
- Fred Saberhagen, Berserker (1967) · fictionFind on Amazon
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XenoAtlas documents extraterrestrial concepts appearing in mythology, contactee literature, popular culture, speculative accounts, and related sources. Inclusion does not constitute scientific verification.
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Related species
See every type in the Types of Aliens guide.