Re: [GZG] Bovine Rebuttal

G'day,
 
>> One element that almost never seems to be represented in any sort of 
>> fiction is diversity in alien species. Just about everything you see,
>> seems to have all the aliens of a particular species speaking the
>> same language, having the same culture, the same philosophies, etc.
>> This happens I'm sure, but it's way to common in sci-fi to be
realistic.
>
> There is three possible reasons for this; 1) Laziness on the part of
the 
> writer or film/television maker; 2) The aliens encountered all come
from one 
> subsection of the alien race ... 3) Before a race can tap enough
resources
> to expand into space, some form of Globalisation of the home world
must happen...

There is another possibility (though personally I put it down to (1)
myself). If the stories are from a human point of view we really do
suffer from "they all look the same". It takes the human brain a while
to 'acclimate' to a new set of characteristics to use to 'sign-post'
faces etc. People who are from an all white town and then suddenly
transported to China will find it hard initially to recall differences
in people they have met (though after even only a few meetings they will
come to differentiate them). You can see this when dealing with other
species too, a cow herder can tell his cattle apart, but the city cousin
won't have a blind clue.

Cheers

Beth

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