by: Rick Johnson 
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com
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We see all the time on TV Earth Humans meeting alien races and somehow they not only look human, they can breed with humans. Why?
The reason is simple. Star Trek isn’t about space and aliens, it’s about people. James T. Kirk is ‘Everyman’, the basic person who is tossed into conflict. He can’t stop the action and do a Shakespearian soliloquy for self-examination so in the interest of plot, Dr. McCoy (who represents his emotional desires) argues with Mr. Spock (who represents his duty) and then Kirk (Everyman) deals with this inner conflict and acts as he should.
The Alien races he encounters represent human personality flaws. The Klingnons represent our unrestrained anger and aggression that must be controlled. The Vulcans our logic and duty, the Borg our fear of technology, Farengi our greed and so on. Each separate race is an aspect of ourselves and that is what made Star Trek such a wonderful show. It was about us.
So why do all the people in the Burroughs universe look human? Well, partially for the reason above for if they didn’t, then his works would simply not have survived as they did. Tarzan the Terrible was about religion and love. About the conflict between a faith that requires one duty and the heart that demands another. Gods of Mars was the same. And in both works, we see that Love is the greatest force of all. Hat and the idea that any nation ruled by any church will become corrupt. This is a lesson for no matter what religion rules, people suffer. This is true in Iran, in Medieval Spain and in Pal-ul-Don and Barsoom and is just as true in America. We Witches have a saying, The last time they mixed religion and politics, people got burned at the stake.
The other reason is that the hero needs something to fight for. He needs a goal and the most easily understood goal of all is not patriotism but family. I wore the uniform for 28 years not to defend my country but to protect my family. Honestly, look at the history of your own nation and tell me that everything it has done is good? The United States is the ONLY nation that has used all three forms of Weapons of Mass Destruction on a civilian population. Not even Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia can make that claim. So why defend a country that has performed illegal medical experiments upon it’s own people, has invaded nations for wealth or because the president was caught with his dick in some girls mouth? Because we don’t. We can’t. If we do, then we must admit that we are no better than the Nazi’s whom we insult. Those who did the syphilis experiments on blacks or radiation experiments on US Soldiers are no better than Joseph Mengela. BUT we do defend our mother and father, our wives and husbands, our children and brothers and sisters. THESE are the people for whom we are willing to fight and die.
Tarzan didn’t care about the people of pal-ul-Don, he cared about Jane and it is she for whom he overthrew a nation and religion. John Carter fought wars and destroyed a world-wide religion for Dejah Thoris. And the same is true throughout all great literature. Even Hamlet did his thing for love of his dead father. Romeo & Juliet, Othello, they are all the same.
So, How could John Carter be willing to risk all for an alien being with whom he shares 0% DNA? This is unbelievable. So in the interests of the story, Burroughs must make the heroine human enough to make love believable. This is why we see so many humanoids in space.
But we in today’s world know that this is impossible. Gone are the days when a V-2 rocket willed with handsome men, an absent-minded professor, a good-natured idiot and a beautiful female stow-a-way can fly to Venus and discover a civilization of Amazon beauties wearing 4” heels and micro-mini skirts and no men (bummer). Today we expect reality or something that can give us a reason to believe that humanoids exist.
In Barsoom, we have a problem. Creating an alien race to create this inner conflict and produce a believable love interest. Unfortunately, Human and Chimpanzee on Earth share between 94-98% DNA and we are related to each other some 4,000,000 years ago. A human has more DNA and evolutionary history wit ha squid than with a Barsoomian. So how do we explain this?
One way is simple convergent evolution. Human and Barsoomian look similar because we adapted to similar environments. It’s a stretch but one we are willing to make.
The other way is alien abduction followed by divergent evolution. Consider that the Alphas or Grays (those little bald runts you see in Close Encounters or X-Files or the alien abduction stories are always trying to interbreed with humans. Why?
If it looks human, it probably is human. If it can breed with a human than it IS a human.
So to explain this need for the Alphas to seek to breed with human when they look so much like us, I propose that between 150,000 to 250,000 years ago some unknown alien abducted a group of humans from Earth and either dumped them onto another world, or the humans took over and exterminated the aliens. Unfortunately, a decent breeding population requires at least 500 unrelated members or inbreeding takes over and you have problems. Modern zoos are discovering this today.
Therefore, the Alphas look similar to humans because they are human. They look different because they adapted to an alien environment and had too little original DNA. They all look alike because their DNA is so similar through a too limited gene pool and too much inbreeding that they are dying as a race. Their only hope for racial survival is to introduce more DNA into their race and this means that they must travel the galaxy seeking Earth (or worlds colonized by Earth) and breed with the locals.
But they have been away too long and the genes no longer match well. When they do breed, they produce mules so they must adapt both DNA to create a jenny. Their race will no longer be Alpha but it will survive.
Same with other humanoid aliens. We need something that we can pretend is believable.
Bozarth explained in one of his Barsoom Fan-Fic stories how an American Apache woman visited Barsoom as did John Carter. She met, fell in love with Dejah Thoris’ grandfather but was infertile. So to solve this problem, Ras Thavas, the Mastermind of Mars, was brought in to ‘adjust’ the woman’s’ DNA so she could breed with her Barsoomian husband. Now as Dejah Thoris is a close descendent of this human-Barsoomian hybrid, she was able to breed with John Carter and produce viable and fertile young.
Thus the problem if the Barsoomian was solved both by convergent evolution and DNA modification. It remains to be seen if another writer will add more explanations such as human visitation to Barsoom over the millennia or some such matter.
This also explains why David Innes and Dian the Beautiful and Carson Napier and Duare were unable to have children. In the latter case, convergent evolution produced a woman who appeared human but with whom Carson Napier had no DNA in common. In the former, Both David and Dian came from the same ancestor but Dian's people branched off far enough in the past and the different conditions of Pellucidar changed her just enough that if she could become pregnant, the result would be a miscarriage or a mule.
The theories of the evolution of the human race have changed so often over the last centuries that what I am about to present is only the most current and so open to change as more information is discovered.
First of all I dislike the word ‘evolution’. To evolve implies that the organism is striving to better itself. As when the reptiles evolved into mammals and dinosaurs. Evolution also implies that the original species (reptiles) are somehow inferior to the next step (mammals) and therefore are obsolete. Yet, there are many reptiles that6 not only have survived the evolution of the mammal, but thrive in the mammalian world. Many ever are apex predators. So how can one insist that the Nile Monitor, Komodo Dragon and crocodile are ‘inferior’ to mammals when each of these considers man to be lower than they on the food chain? Does not the fact that these reptiles have been around far longer than man and still survive and even eat us prove that they are ‘higher’ beings than we?
Therefore I prefer the word ‘adaptation.’ Species adapt to new conditions. If the adaptation is successful, the species lives. If not, the species dies. But the very fact that reptiles co-exist with mammals proves that they are as equally evolved as are we, they simply adapted differently.
When discussing the various humanoids within the Burroughs universe and similar alien adaptations, we must keep this in mind. Humans are no more evolved than the Gorilla or Mangani or Don, we simply adapted to a different environment than did they. Different than they, superior is some areas and inferior in other areas but no better nor worse.
Hominid and Primate branched off between 5,000,000 and 4,500,000 years ago.
The Primate branch eventually diverged into the Gorilla, the Chimpanzee, the Orangutan and the Mangani.
About 3,000,000 to 2,500,000 years ago A. Robustus branched off the Hominid tree and became extinct about 1,000,000 years ago. However, new discoveries indicate that Bigfoot and the Bolgani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds near Opar may be survivors of this race.
About 100,000,000 years ago, Neanderthal branched off and became extinct a few dozen thousand years ago. However, recent discoveries by Crypto-zoologists suggest that some may still be alive in the Urals of Russia and in Western China and possibly in the mountains of Africa.
It is also possible that surviving Neanderthals traveled to Pellucidar to become the Sagoth.
At an undetermined time, but possibly earlier than 100,000 years ago, humans made their way into Pellucidar to become the Giliks. These appear to have diverged just enough to prevent interbreeding with modern man.
At an undetermined time but possibly around 100,000 years ago, a group of North Africans became isolated in the Congo region of Africa and became the Don race.
One form quickly branched off to become the Tor-o-Don.
At an undetermined time but possibly around 25,000-50,000 years ago the Don split into two races, the Waz-Don and the Ho-Don.
At an undetermined time but no earlier than 50,000 years ago a group of humans became so isolated in the thorn forest and became reduced in size to become the Minuni race.
Although humans had been visiting Barsoom for a very long time, it was sometime after the European conquest of Mexico that a possibly Apache woman (which implies no earlier than 1000 years ago) transited to Barsoom, was adapted by Ras Thavas and produced a line of Barsoomians that was inter-fertile with both human and Barsoomian.
I have no idea of where to put the Caspakan on this chart as the information is limited. We do know that the Weiroo did branch off the Caspak-human line in recent times.
When dealing with alien races you must consider three areas.
ANATONY:
Consider that different species mate in different ways.
GENETICS:
Humans share between 94-98% of our DNA with Chimpanzees. And there have been many attempts to mate and breed between the two species (see the websites above), yet, never has there ever been a pregnancy. We see no Scot-Sheep half-breeds, no woman-dog people, nothing to imply that humans can produce young with any species regardless of how close they are to us in evolutionary and DNA terms.
Yet we are to believe that a human and a Vulcan, with whom we share 0% DNA and evolved on different world not only have genetalia that fits together comfortably but the sperm and egg can mix and produce a viable and fertile young.
When you breed a horse and a donkey, you usually get a mule. A sterile hybrid. And horses and donkeys are very closely related. Lions and tigers have, until recently, been unable to cross-breed. The zoos that tried that failed for decades or centuries to produce a liger or tiglion. Goats and sheep rarely breed in captivity. The genes simply do not match. And we are not talking about a St Bernard trying to do a Chihuahua but rather a human and a squid.
If both problems could be overcome, which isn’t impossible as most people seek to mate with people, not sheep we have the problems of how to?
MODIFICATION:
Ultimately, why would a man seek to impregnate a sheep? So his some would be allergic to himself? Although there are people like that, the reality is that we usually date and marry those who are close to ourselves in race and culture. It is simply easier to live with someone who likes the same food and speaks the same language and dresses in a way that you find attractive.
With familiarity, comes friendship and in a melting pot such as most modern nations, there is so much cross-cultural trade that it is difficult to find an American who is not accustomed to burritos, humus or gyro along with hot dogs. Most of us are used to seeing people who dress somewhat differently and those who have different customs can be worked around. The Bridget loves Bernie TV show that demonstrated the vast and almost irreconcilable differences between an American Jew and an American Catholic are a thing of the past.
If we are to associate with alien races, then the cultural problems will fade and as we will, normally, seek to marry those with whom we have at least a physical compatibility, the chances of a human male marrying an alien that breeds by ripping your throat out so you can spray sperm onto her belly where she has placed her eggs until they can be implanted onto the back of the family dog is .. unlikely.
The reality is that people like that are few and restricted to a few internet sites that are illegal in most nations. Have you ever met a man who has regular sex with a sheep? Are you friends with a woman who has regular sex with an Irish Setter? I’ve never met any and I know a lot of strange people. So those who seek to marry aliens who are so different from us are so rare as to be almost non-existent, at least in the adventure literature.
So, you want to marry an alien because it looks human (mostly) and because you have a lot in common (hopefully) and even your naughty bits seem to fit (usually) so where do the kids come in?
Assuming that you want kids (remember the mule?), you need a technology that allows for genetic manipulation to allow something equal to a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle of a house to combine with a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle of a fractal and hope that what you end up with looks human (mostly). It’s your choice but think of the kids and what they will have to endure. In Farscape, Scorpius was a cross between a Sebacian and a Scarran and he was the only one who survived and look at him! Do you want your kids to live like that?
So assuming that you have the technology to modify the DNA to produce a viable young who can pass for either race, and assuming that the half-breed will be accepted by either (remember the social stigma once attached to the child of a black and white parents), then there is no reason why this could not happen. Though to be honest, the expense would be so great that only the rich could afford the necessary genetic manipulations. And this is why Carson Napier and David Innes never had children. The technology to mix the DNA didn’t exist or was prohibit fully expensive. It is also why the only Human-Barsoomian hybrids come from Tardos Mors and his Apache bride AFTER Ras Thavas adjusted her. John Carter simply benefited from that prior work.
It is also worth note that Ulyssus Paxton never had children which implies that the work Ras Thavas originally did was of limited success and failed with Paxton.
The reality is that in almost every case, if two races seek to breed, they are probably already related close enough to both be human. The only real solution is that humanoids across space who can breed are probably already related via colonization or abduction so most of the anatomy and genetic problems are irrelevant.
A few comments that are noteworthy”
To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
85717
Return to the Home Page.
Return to the Amtor Page.
Return to the Barsoom Page.
Return to the Caspak Page.
Return to the Pal-ul-Don Page.
Return to the Pellucidar Page.
Return to the Va-Nah Page.
Return to the Lost Cities Page.
Return to the To Be Announced Page.
