Ah, that’s a very intruiging question—to which we probably won’t get any
better answer that what we can come up with through speculation...
It’s really, really hard to extrapolate from n=1 intelligent species, but as
you suggest, there may be some universals; some things I would consider in
coming up with a credible alien intelligence:
map intelligence vs mind properties for various earth species, and consider
how the properties could change if you’d have a much more intelligent
species (i.e., a more intelligent species may have more introspective
control over things like boredom, akrasia and so on.)
consider how the natural enviroment may influence the group size, amount of
coordination needed and so on
Then there’s the fact that certain traits may make it much more likely to
encounter aliens that have them—if they don’t have the need or curiosity to
go beyond their home ground, it’s much less likely you would encounter them.
I feel however that it is really hard to think about so very different
minds. While I don’t subscribe to his non-reductionist views of the mind,
Thomas Nagel’s What is it like to be a bat? is a classic in this area, as
it’s reprinted in The Mind’s I.
Ah, that’s a very intruiging question—to which we probably won’t get any better answer that what we can come up with through speculation...
It’s really, really hard to extrapolate from n=1 intelligent species, but as you suggest, there may be some universals; some things I would consider in coming up with a credible alien intelligence:
map intelligence vs mind properties for various earth species, and consider how the properties could change if you’d have a much more intelligent species (i.e., a more intelligent species may have more introspective control over things like boredom, akrasia and so on.)
consider how the natural enviroment may influence the group size, amount of coordination needed and so on
Then there’s the fact that certain traits may make it much more likely to encounter aliens that have them—if they don’t have the need or curiosity to go beyond their home ground, it’s much less likely you would encounter them.
I feel however that it is really hard to think about so very different minds. While I don’t subscribe to his non-reductionist views of the mind, Thomas Nagel’s What is it like to be a bat? is a classic in this area, as it’s reprinted in The Mind’s I.
Anyway, good luck writing your fiction!