To assuage some of the concerns I’ve been seeing, this may be the last episode of this series, but it won’t be the last time we see this planet - not by a long shot. The whole purpose of this series was to serve as an introduction to the basic principles of evolution and to establish the natural history of this planet in broad strokes. But now that we’re finally at the present-day time period and have established all the necessary groundwork, we can start fleshing out the biosphere in much greater detail. Really, the only thing that’s going to be changing is the format; instead of obscenely long videos that take the better part of a year to make, we can switch to having shorter, more focused videos on a much more reasonable schedule. EDIT: I also want to say, because I don’t think I made this clear enough in the video: cultural developments can play just as big a role as instincts in shaping a sophont’s behavior. There is a danger of being too deterministic when it comes to finding evolutionary explanations for a sophont's behavior. The point of the latter third of this video was just to focus on the biological basis of the neotects’ behaviors (after all, this series is about biology, not anthropology) and to establish their cultural “starting point”, but their behaviors will doubtlessly change a lot from their ancestral state as their cultures and technology progress, which we’ll cover in future videos. For example, the division between breeders and non-breeders is likely to become less important to maintain and more blurred as populations increase and resources become more abundant. It’s not like the neotects are going to be stuck with exactly the same behaviors and social structure as the paleotects forever (just look at how much humans have changed since the paleolithic). Also, while I think it’s pretty much undeniable that a species’ evolutionary history will influence its psychology and culture to some degree, the field of evolutionary psychology is a bit of minefield and can sometimes get mixed up with various outdated and pseudoscientific ideas. Like I said in the beginning of the video, this whole topic is very speculative and is susceptible to personal biases, so be sure to think critically when reading up on the subject.

We did it boys we've invented spider racism

the end of 'alien biospheres', the beginning of 'alien civilisations'

Fact: Neotectons possess an instinctual affection towards creatures with soft, slender bodies and small (or even nonexistent) eyes, in the same way that humans possess such an affection towards creatures with large eyes and heads. Resultant fact: Neotectons would love you if you were a worm.

"Many aspects of human architecture will seem bleak and utilitarian to them" I mean... It does to us too...

Tectid male: _lays two sticks at 90° angles from each other._ Tectid female: "TF does this mean? Literally what?" Tectid male: _moves one of the sticks to be at a 91° angle._ Tectid female: "Take me right now you stud."

Give us the spider-people plushie you cowards.

Considering how their breeding systems work, i imagine these guys are gonna be making absolutely wild romance stories, like a combo of courtly intrigue and soap opera

The fact that their architecture was not born out of necessity for survival but out of artistic expression is amazing.

So basically, 'emo' neotechs wear teal patterns, eat 'deserts' made from various meats, and watch 'anime' drawn in a style that makes characters long and skinny with short limbs about badass warrior trans-women with harems of nerdy beta males.

The way you divided sapience into "can be used to make life easier" and "is needed for survival" makes a lot of sense and I'm surprised I haven't seen it used by biologists before

"Yes Chief matriarch of the Neotectons, I understand that us humans seem like eldritch horrors beyond your comprehension but have you considered the fact that the human male's reproductive organ resembles a very cute widdle baby grub? Perhaps we are not so different and even worthy of your empathy and compassion."

I would totally read a story about a male Neotecton that dreams of one day traveling the world, only for those dreams to be shattered when they turn to female. Will they resign to the life of a trapped female, or damn the consequences and shame and set off to explore? What will others say? What will they find? Will they still even want to know?

"Many primates have a specialized grooming digit called a toilet claw" is a wonderful sentence.

Shoutout to orcas for having fashion trends. Salmon hats are so in.

(time stamp: 55:25) The theory that the human brain became smaller a few thousand years ago (by DeSilva in 2021) was refuted only a year or so after it came out (in a 2022 study by Brian Villmoare and Mark Grabowski). Turned out DeSilva used a rather small and skewed sample size in his analysis. Using a wider sample size - especially around the target period of the supposed reduction - shows no sudden reduced volume. Human brain volume has remained (on average) about the same for the last 30k years.

I can just imagine alien internet and someone going: "HE'S A NON-BREEDER!"

This series started when I was a freshman in Highschool. I'm now finally finishing it finishing my year as a freshman in College. I'm so excited

Spiderwolves with pet snakemoles sounds exactly like the kind of thing that will ensure Australians are the first hominids to make contact, as I doubt anyone other than us is going to volunteer for the task.

As of right now, 5/3/2024 the wiki page for Neotecton ecumenes states: "The most successful species of sapience because they were the most racist."

I suspect the stock villain character for the neotectons would be one that murders their superior and frames another superior for it. Oh look at that, I just advanced two ranks.

Don't be sad that it's over.... Be happy that it happened

Episode 16 - Neotectons invent the internet, with the conclusion being a neotecton youtuber creating a fictitious world in which tetrapodal little guys evolve to sapience, followed by assured mutual destruction via nuclear war

I'm just imagining like a cute little slice of life were humans and neotects have made contact, and they are doing a little exchange program to get both sides used to each other (thought up by the neotects). Now a human college student and a young adult neotect are romates, and are trying to get used to their VERY different cultures, and other things. Like, imagine I'd the human gets disgusted by the neotect's pet, but the neotect gets absolutely horrified by the humans pet dog. Or they help each other over come their fear of dark (the human) and light (the neotect. And so many more possibilities. :>

I just gotta say, my jaw literally DROPPED when I saw that THE C.M. Kösemen submitted art. You know you’re building something special when one of the founders of the subject you’re working on contributes to it.

I’m now imagining one day a crow or something showing up to a blacksmith with a crudely drawn photo of a tool/weapon

Man, imagine how raw and exiting the “forbidden love” trope would be for the young adults of these species. Two low status individuals falling in love, even tho it seems they will never be able to breed. Of course there might be a plot of a high status individual offering boosting status of one of them. But of course they refuse and go into exile with their chosen partner

Another dietary factor for humans getting a bigger brain is that once we invented cooking, a lot of nutrient dense foods that were difficult to digest raw (starchy foods basically) became a bigger staple of out diets. Starchy foods contains a lot more carbs than meat, and brains' only source of fuel is carbs

Honestly, I'm kinda struggling to put all of my feelings about this series into words at the moment, but I'll be damned if I don't at least try; I started this series when episode 3 was the most recent one, and have been eagerly awaiting and enjoying every episode since. It's honestly kinda surreal thinking about how much Tira's biosphere itself has changed in those past 4-5 years or so as well, and now that sapience has been achieved, it truly feels like the end of an era, for both the series and the biosphere. This series and the funky little Polypods,Anthostomes, Chemophytes, along with the sulfur rich world they live on, will forever hold a cherished place in my heart. Thank you, Biblaridion.

I think it's good to pause for a second and really look back on how far this planet has come. And, this all started with two body plans. I want everyone to think about that. Two body plans, with a pinch of hydrogen sulfide, created a world so rich and diverse that you can honestly make multiple documentaries off just these episodes alone. But, I think it's time will you put a bow on this little story. Where ever the story goes from here, is anyone's guess....After all, life always finds a way...

7:45 okay, I was familiar with a lot of these, but pigeons outperforming humans on the Monty Hall problem is the funniest piece of animal intelligence research I've ever seen. Also entirely plausible given how terrible humans are at it.

I can imagine the Neotectons domesticating Brachyscelida and Apodomorpha as pets. Tribes will create religious iconography related to Brachy or Apod Gods, like Egyptians with cats or Scandanavians with wolves, and advanced Neotectons argue on the internest about the cutest Apod pics, resulting in meme culture like "Slim Chongus"

My favourite part is when Biblaridion says "It's sporing time" and spored all over the place

Alien Biospheres might just be my favorite series of all time. There've been lots of other great ones, but there's not a single time this one has let me down, and I'd argue it did alot of heavy lifting in the speculative biology renaissance we've seen happen on youtube over the past few years. I learned more from it than from many documentaries, and each episode not only inspires a drive to create, but also an unquenchable wonder for Earth's own natural world, and for the sheer tenacity of life itself. I am over the moon to know we'll get to know this world alot more through more focused videos, but I'll always be glad to have been part of this journey from the very first episode to the very last.

Biblaridion talks about humans as if he himself isn't human.

I love the idea of them having a intuitive understanding of architecture. If they develop more complex settlements i wonder what their building would look like

1:39:05 There’s my art!!! It’s such an incredible honor to have my drawings not only be included in a series I’m a huge fan of, but to also be featured alongside so many other amazing and fantastic artists! It really inspires and motivates me to continue improving my own drawing and worldbuilding skills so that I may reach the same level one day :D Aside from that, this whole series truly has been a wild ride from start to finish. When the time comes for the shorter episodes to be made fleshing out more specific areas of the biosphere, I’d personally advocate for the deep sea and tide pools. I absolutely love abyssal habitats and how life adapts to such harsh barren conditions, but my recent experiences with tide pools have given me a new appreciation for these severely underrated ecosystems so I would love to see what their counterparts on Tira are like (I remember in an early episode it was briefly mentioned how the intertidal zones on this planet are around twice the size of Earth’s)

The reference to the tanybrachid reminded me that I joined the Discord server when that exact debate was happening, and it was the dumbest thing. I even drew a cursed evolution of tanybrachid as a predator running with their arms to show they wouldn't become sapient.

Have to admit, wasn’t exactly expecting transfemme spider dogs. Not complaining about it either. All seriousness though, I loved this series and I can’t wait to see what else is in store for the channel.

It's amazing to see this massive project culminate in this, and especially fascinating to me how much of human teleological 'progression' was really a series of accidents. I feel we sort of have this view of history similar to many a civilization-building video game, where you start off in the stone age and steadily progress through different ages and develop new technologies, and yet everything from agriculture to industrialization were so far from inevitable it's crazy.

My boys the Desmostracans are somehow still kicking. One more video and they will have made it to the modern age. Been watching since like part 3, one of the coolest series on youtube by a country mile.

34:40 bro called out the entirety of the Tira subreddit with that one

With the level of intelligence Portia spiders show it comes as no surprise that Adrian Tchaikovsky used them as a model for the intelligent species in Children of Time.

The mention of the neotect finding grub-like animals cute gives me the mental image of a helper having one of those animals as a pet and treating it like a baby grub

Guys, the wait finally ended!

It’s been roughly four years since the series began. And it’s been an honor seeing this world be developed.

At the start: Oh boy ancient sapients! By the end: RACISM

You know I never been so proud when these spider-like sapient aliens, while being almost completely different from us in biology, culture, and societal structure, developed so many traits common to us, not just in sapience and intelligence, but also in societal aspects. They so naturally developed beliefs, morality, biases, discrimination, and the potential to overcome these societal issues by following their altruism and reasoning. They're so different from us, and yet, they're just like us. This video kind of puts into perspective on why we do the things we do as people, I think it's interesting.

I don't want to come off as overtly dramatic or emotional here,(in all honesty that's exactly how I feel right now)but this series has had a great impact on my life and further fueled my almost lifelong passion for science and biology. Discovered the series during the pandemic at around the time episode 4 came out. Back then I was younger and still struggled with English,but it helped me understand evolutionary phenomena and the factors that influence life in a way I haven't seen before besides maybe The Future is Wild. Seeing clades come and go as well as the sheer amount of passion and love by the community made and still makes it something special. It's honestly surreal to think I-and us in general have come this far,but like all good things-Alien Biospheres must come to an end. Thank you -Eybaza

An important note, the "25 years of brain development" idea is from a study that stopped measuring at 25. Many studies suggest that development never really stops. EDIT: the reason it's important is that that figure is specifically being used to try to deny even trans adults from transitioning.

Ladies and gentlemen. We have just taken the last steps of a long, long journey. We observe the origin of life in another world. We observe the evolution of multiple organisms. We witness multiple climates and ecosystems form and change or disappear. We have seen how animals and plants adapted to changes in their world. We had to stand firm as we witnessed, without being able to do anything, a cataclysm that decimated many familiar faces. And now we saw not only the survivors that emerged and diversified from the ashes of said catastrophe, but also the first steps of a civilization. Although I wasn't fortunate enough to be here from day one, I do not regret at any time having come across this series or having followed it to the end. Not only I was able to see countless wonders, but I also learned many things that I thought I would never have any answers to. I'm truly grateful that the Alien Biospheres series exists; and I hope everyone feels the same as I do. Thank you for reading this comment, and goodbye.

crazy to think I was 13 when this started. this series has kind of become a part of me because it ignited my love for zoology, both speculative and real. Every time I worldbuild I always come back to think about this series, and all the lessons it has taught me. I'm currently doing my biggest project for worldbuilding right now for a game I plan to make, and you bet you're going in the special thanks. without this series I don't really know who I'd be

I'm turning 18 tomorrow and this is the best birthday present I could've asked for. I hope to see how the Ecumenes progress technologically, particularly in regards to writing and communication. Thank you Biblaridion!

1:23:20 imagine them keeping the wormy bois as pets! That'd be so cute!

1:00:26 This animation left my jaw on the floor dude OMG This is genuinely the most creative and inspirational series that I have ever seen… emphasis on EVER

Thank you very much for aknowleging that the "trekkian" model where every species in the galaxy, with some unnotworthy exceptions, is humanoid is a rediculously unrealistic trope that only persists because it's what we've come to expect to see.

I would want to add that fire was a very important development for humans as with it they could cook food wich allowed them to decrease their stomach sizes so they spend less energy processing food and more on their brains. A miniscule detail that you passed over in the video, but I think it was amazing, also I don´t think these guys could develop states as their caste system may interfere with it. Thanks for your amazing work, I have loved every video you have published about the topic, and I will like to see more in the future :D

Maybe the lack of thrown projectile technology would encourage them to more quickly invent ranged weapons like bows or slingshots-which would only require the ability to pull back the elastic 'string', which I think they should be able to do fine. Maybe their bows would be held horizontally by their arms and the bowstring pulled back by one of the feeding arms around their head. They might evolve then features to better use those arms for that purpose over time.

I don’t know if you’ll ever read this, but this series saved me! I’ve been going through a lot as my mothers heart began to fail her making me her caregiver, having to balance school and the stress that my mom could die led me to burnout, anxiety attacks, and declining grades which fueled my anxiety.. Your video series which I following sence day one helped me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Thank you so much for this amazing series and this awesome community, I’m truly blessed.

This is peak worldbuilding. Easily one of my favorite channels of all time.

That tanybrachid shade was perfect.

Why is it that every time I rewatch most of your videos that all of a sudden you make a new post. This has been consistent over like the last two-three-four uploads. I keep accidentally summoning you 🔥

FULL LIST OF ARTISTS, ANIMATORS & THEIR ARTWORKS TIMESTAMPS Abraham Bhatara: 59:15 Arch/Noodle: 1:22:45 Arlo: 1:17:07 Aspen Aspires: 40:53 Astrovex: 28:19 47:10 1:27:58 Badger3000: 33:41 Baisbo: 48:11 1:00:03 1:01:02 Biegeltoren: 43:48 BitterestBuggy: 48:18 Billiman mcjonnson: 41:31 Bloody Pigeon: 30:48 36:52 Brainz PVZ: 45:10 59:52 1:26:22 BrunoBogdanov: 1:01:29 1:24:26 Burpopo: 29:09 1:00:25 1:37:08 C.M Kösemen: 5:18 58:53 1:00:47 clairevoyant: 1:06:47 1:19:15 ConnectionError: 1:22:22 Cycodude: 41:24 42:55 46:46 Dagoth: 1:13:33 1:14:31 DarkSonne: 41:16 43:10 Defaul7: 33:21 1:06:04 1:06:13 Dilophoraptor: 1:14 Dieguito_f.b: 33:11 DieSnail.F_B: 1:17:07 dinosaur dude: 1:18:21 Divun spy: 1:01:23 dlastriv: 1:11:48 Dragan: 30:16 44:28 1:18:54 Drogon: 1:25:54 DrSabman: 41:02 1:09:25 En: 41:54 Emerald Dragonflame: 29:33 Fact Jecker: 37:37 51:36 1:09:50 1:24:08 1:26:07 1:26:58 1:27:06 Fain: 33:16 Fionna: 1:36:17 Gaps: 31:18 50:29 1:19:31 Go0ober: 41:43 43:34 1:14:45 1:36:28 greeniverse: 1:01:08 1:27:40 Heath: 29:20 Idle Speculation: 1:04:27 1:09:38 1:12:04 1:27:25 1:29:36 1:29:49 1:35:38 jax_draw: 45:00 Junobeillie: 1:37:02 Kajak: 30:06 Kin: 25:13 28:03 30:58 41:48 1:22:09 Kiryu: 40:40 Kiwi the Cartographer: 28:24 36:09 45:05 leifbuildspecies: 29:38 1:36:22 1:36:50 Lilly: 25:03 31:01 42:33 1:35:20 LiketheWind: 29:26 losergod2677: 1:07:33 Luxudus: 37:43 1:35:13 1:35:46 1:37:05 Maarl3D: 43:26 50:16 1:06:40 Margyyn 34: 1:26:15 Max the ape og Ekansa: 31:12 1:07:53 MoonGator (CraftyCroc): 43:15 nature•gnat•iggy: 24:53 42:28 44:02 51:14 1:07:37 1:10:27 1:10:48 1:11:59 1:20:30 1:21:39 1:22:39 1:25:59 1:35:53 NazRigar: 1:18:31 1:24:17 NightSkyNyx: 28:10 48:32 OBUNGA: 1:10:38 1:26:46 OmarSzkarr: 1:14:39 Ordinary Tree Frog: 50:10 Oskatistum: 1:07:42 1:36:45 Otoman scandopod: 1:27:52 Outokana2: 1:26:28 paticipate: 24:59 pipimillion: 1:32 24:22 30:40 36:22 36:42 1:00:18 1:04:40 1:06:56 1:08:53 1:12:10 1:20:16 1:20:24 1:24:36 prehistorickid: 30:31 Project Solarae: 50:39 pumpkin: 1:27:48 Ray: 30:27 Rich Garratt: 1:00:56 1:04:34 1:21:50 1:22:26 1:27:37 1:34:42 RobbedUrchin: 1:34:29 Rohaerys: 1:14:51 Sashed Potato: 24:28 24:38 1:06:25 1:22:00 satan art pfp: 59:40 serjijion: 36:09 43:41 shortmoronicbrontothere: 1:24:29 Shynshylium: 24:18 36:13 40:08 51:47 1:05:58 1:11:37 1:27:32 Starlotte: 1:22 35:37 stretch_da_link: 1:09:53 syfw: 59:05 1:27:56 T.K. Sivgin: 1:00:09 Temeero: 44:39 47:19 51:01 1:22:36 TheOmegaSeal: 59:34 trex zueiro(capibara): 48:26 49:23 51:07 1:07:53 1:18:26 vacoda: 1:36:55 VincesUsername: 24:45 41:35 1:18:16 Wind Elemental: 43:56 1:22:13

Idk why but that message at the end is really beautiful. Kudos for being so able to reflect humanity’s societal development and need to overcome our worst impulses for a better future by using spider people lol

This video has broadened my horizon. I knew humans weren't the be-all and the end-all of civilization or intelligence ever since I knew about evolution, but this series of speculative biology have really made it apparent to me that many concepts we take for granted in this life such as morality, which fundamentally affects all our lives, is heavily hit in the metaphorical gut by this so called instinct lag. Learning more about this kind of stuff helps me contextualize parts of humanity that have crossed me as confusing or wrong. It even helps me realize that understanding humanity, and by extension myself, better isn't necessarily that big of a deal, either. I don't need stuff like that to justify the immense worth that I am attributing to these videos. But I got to understand why I am attaching such worth to these videos a tad better. This train of thought also got very existential, which this series has invoked in me a lot. All in all, this series I loved a great deal. It meant a lot to me. Thanks.

This is a monumental moment in youtube history, and a proud one for the worldbuilding space. Years before, when I first started learning about this as a niche hobby, it was almost non-existent, with biblaridion being one of the few names whom you could count on your fingers. Now seeing this project's first series ending, I feel like I've become witness to something great.

@Biblaridion... As a professional biologist this has been the coolest and most imaginative discussion on biology/ecology/and natural history on KZfaq! Your work deserves an award of some sort... thank you so much for putting these videos together

One very unique thing about humans that (to my knowledge) doesn't exist at all in other "facultatively sapient" animals is the fundamental disconnection between sapient characteristics and survival/wellbeing. And to be careful not to make an oversimplification, to be clear, most/all of these characteristics do emerge from broader characteristics that are the direct result of survivalist pressure, however they themselves have evolved beyond the point of basic utility, yet still are retained and have even been greatly expanded upon. One quintessential example is music, and art in general. Art gives us seemingly absolutely no direct survival benefit; in fact, if anything, it hurts our ability to survive because it uses up energy on things that could be used for other, more utilitarian tasks. Yet, rather than disappearing, the tendency for artistic expression, and the enjoyment of experiencing other humans' artistic expressions has flourished and expanded, becoming one of the most unmistakable aspects of human culture and society. Another example of sapience disconnected from survivalism would be religion, or just metaphysical worldviews in general. To be clear, part of the idea of religion comes directly or indirectly from very much innate and instinctive characteristics, such as the fear of dying or the desire for community, however humans have extended these things FAR beyond their original "purpose". To be fair, it's hard to tell exactly what other animals think since they don't have abstract language (another highly unique feature of humans), but as far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that any animals other than humans make any attempt to rationalize the world, or speculate at anything beyond what's immediately relevant to their own survival. Other animals don't care if there's a god(s), they don't care if the world was created or not, they don't care if there's any kind of objective morality or ethics, and they don't care if the world has any inherent purpose or meaning, or even the capacity to understand what purpose and meaning are. These are all uniquely human traits. My point in all this is not to elevate humans as special, but rather to give another point of comparison between humans and other highly intelligent animals, and help create a more clear and objective definition of "sapience." I would define it not as something that's obligatory, but rather "sapience" concerning humans instead should refer to our collective ability and desire to reason and understand beyond what's immediately relevant for our survival, to the extent that it fundamentally undergirds our entire society and culture.

I was in 6th grade when I first stumbled across this series, and now I'm a junior in high school. Thank you so much for bringing me joy and knowledge through this series. Without this, I wouldn't be the person I am today.

This video changed how i viewed sentience and culture. I hope fantasy writers will use this as inspiration to write fantasy races.

Welcome to Tira 292b, where class warfare is also gender warfare!

I feel like one aspect that hasn't been explored enough in this episode is domestication and selective breeding. I would love to what plants and animals Neotectons would domesticate and how would they be changed to better suit their needs. I would imagine animal husbandry plays a much more important role to Neotectons as they mostly feed on meat but they would still grow plants for cattle feed as well as spices and seasoning for their food. Also as home decoration is so important to their society they would surely grow and lot of various ornamental plants

Well Goodbye Alien Biosphere, it was an amazing ride with you.

This series carried me through my years as a sophomore in middle school, all the way to my graduation as a high school senior. Sincerely, thank you Biblaridion, for all the memories

I started making illustrations for this series as a freshman in Highschool. The beginning of my art for this series may not have been the best, but it has given me a great opportunity to learn and improve! I'm a senior now, graduating very soon. This series renewed my interests in space as well as gave me new interests in Astrobiology and Evolution. The educational aspect of these videos has also helped me a lot in developing my own alien world building projects! I’m so glad I was able to participate as an artist in this series, and I’m eager to see what the future brings!!

Shows about “you are not the mother” must get really intense for the neotechs

This show has made me who I am as a person today. Without such an amazing and understandable introduction to so many parts of biology that I would not have learned otherwise, I would not be able to understand the world in nearly as wide of a perspective as I can now. Thanks to this series for introducing me to speculative biology, I now know what subjects I'm gonna get degrees in when I get into college. My biggest passions greatest source: my incredible love and gratitude to you and this series of yours. Thank you.

I started watching this series when i was a middle schooler and now I'm in high school full of dreams and aspirations in linguistics, worldbuilding and etc. Thanks Biblardion for being an inspiration to us all. o7

I think seeing this and then looking back at part one has helped me conceptualize and actually understand the last four years of my life. I started watching this as a kid in highschool not knowing what to do and now I'm an adult. In a way that might not make sense on a surface level, I think alien biospheres has helped with the evolution of my mind. I can't wait to see what's next in store.

I never knew I needed movie length videos about the evolution of megafaunal spiders and the development of arachnid racism, but watching these videos over the last few years has unexpectedly become a highlight of my internet perusal. Now that the 30 hour introduction to this setting is done, I cant wait to see where the videos go from here.

Premiering at 4am my time lmao. I’ll rewatch the whole series today to get it fresh in my mind

dont be sad that its ending be happy that bib is free to do so much more

the idea that humans live with their parents for 18+ years is an interesting one because in large part it is culturally based, with many countries having families that live together far past adolescence, and historical families having entire generations living within the same house from birth to death, and examples like those of the Mongolian steppe in the days of Genghis khan where people move out as early as 16, if not younger

I love how a basis of the point of the video is avoiding teleological thinking but its so ingrained in the human psyche that its not absent from the video itself either

I've been watching since part one. I coaxed several friends into watching this series with me - only one is still here. This series got me formally beginning my own little speculative planet, really digging into my special interest of spec evo, and urging me to continue my adoration of actual evolutionary studies. I'm so excited.

Hi Bib, I just hope you realize that you probably created the most well-known complete speculative biology phylum in recorded history. If it sounds like I'm being dramatic, please reconsider. Many thanks for the years that have just passed. You're outstanding, and I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Can I haz pattern recognition? To avoid predators? Yees.

8:10 this chart alone is going to be SO helpful for worldbuilders

This series has made me love how evolution works

Thank you to Biblaridion for making this series. A lot of these episodes have sparked my imagination in ways that I don't often experience. Thank you to all the artists, yes every single one you, for bringing this series to life. It's heartwarming to see how this series has had such an effect on so many people, pushing them to create homages to it. Thank you to everyone who watched along with all these episodes. I don't recall how I found the first episodes of Alien Biospheres, but I likely would not have found it if the view counts were low. This whole series was something special and I'm proud of you that you made it. I will be fondly rewatching this entire series at some point I'm sure.

Honestly i am quite interested to see how the neotectons would industrialize and how their versions of modern structures such as skyscrapers would differ from ours. one aspect i would be particularly interested in seeing would be what a car/train/plane would look like in their culture.

I've been here since the beginning of time. Since sulfur eating anemones. And I'm here at the end of everything. I have observed the birth of this world, its many cataclysms and changes, the rise of the neotectons and their many falls. Always observing. Never intervening. For I am "the Watcher".

Sue Burke's _Semiosis_ provides a decent hypothesis for how obligate sapience could evolve in plant-like organisms; they can manipulate their environment through directed growth, but more importantly they can employ learned behaviors in terms of using chemical signals to exploit the animal life around them.

Started this series in high school and now I’m studying physics at university. What a wild ride, thank you for continuing to make this awesome series

34:40 what a way to throw shade ^^ excellent entry into your series, the level of care and nouanced discussion of scientific findings is always a pleasure

Okay, there's so much new information and philosophies that I've just consumed in this 1 hour and 40 minute video that I need to digest and organize my thoughts. But first of all, I just want to say that this series is sincerely gold. The amount of love, dedication and talent put into this is mind-boggling and I wish to say, amazing. Simply amazing. This is gonna be a long comment, so apologies, but I just wanted to share my thoughts. There's a lot to unpack here, how sapience comes about, what is considered sapient, and humanity's place in it. After watching the whole video, it just goes to show how we as a species, as a civilization and I guess extending to sophons across the universe, are such an incredible rarity. The exact constraints needed for Obligate Sapience, creative thinking, the concept of morality, communication, and community that we recognize is so thin it just affirms my belief that humans are a cosmic miracle that has no right to exist. There is nothing inherently superior about us, as you said, there are many aspects that other animals are far superior in. And the one thing that stood out to me was the part where energy management drifts to hyperfocus on the brain which sacrifices other organs, making said species WEAKER! Like. . . How insane is that, why? Why go through such a risky path with such a narrow chance, if not near impossible, chance of success. And yet, here we are, the universe looking back at itself, a fluke, born through chance and chaos in a crucible of environmental change that favors learning ability over instintual ability. We are so dependent on technology that we can't live without it, and we are held back by the instinctual lag that you've said which leads to irrational thoughts, to competition, to us versus them, to atrocity. The tragedy of sophonts, teetering on the brink of extinction the more we grow. I'm sure eventually the time would come for us. As much as I would love for our species to spread across the stars, such a thing would require even more miracles. But. . . we're here. . . we can make it a reality through more learning, to understand and parse through irrationality. I think we can do it. Individuals thought to be impossible became a reality, heroes of science, of morality, of peace had come about, are fighting against those that seek to destroy us. My personal philosophy is that of human inferiority. We are so weak, so beset by things that can destroy us, things from the self, from within our civilization, from the environment, that we have no choice but to push on, lest our fire goes out. And I think that's badass, to have gone so far. We are the underdog, not sovereigns. We are constantly struggling against adversity. I think we can take pride in accepting our inherent weaknesses, our irrationalities, our faults, and through it, through mutual growth as a people, we can eventually overcome adversity, conquer it, to take control of our lives and say we won't die out so easily. It's beautiful, the fight, the challenge. To foster the welfare of ourselves and future generations. To be stewards and custodians of life Then who knows, maybe one day, after pushing, we can look back and say "Would you look at that. We're awesome." Even now, despite the evils still present, I think humans are cool. But we still have a lot of work to do. Thank you Biblaridion. Thank you for this wonderful series, this freaking work of art.

I discovered this series in my freshman year of high school during the pandemic. Although I got recommended before it, I never clicked because I though it wouldn't like it. But, oh man, how wrong I was. It introduced me to a whole new genre, speculative evolution, that turned into one of my favorite subjects in science-fiction overnight and opened a new window to express my love for biology. I started to await for months for new episode and after the wait turned too great, I joined the discord server. It's a good time to reflect on how much this has evolved from a planet of alien worms and anemones with hydrogen sulfide. Into a complex biosphere with enough material to fill many documentaries. As you can see I loved the series and can't wait for its next installment fleshing more of present day Tira.

IT IS FINALLY HERE! The new alien history civilization series is gonna be goated. God bless your work, Brother!

When "How to make a language" first came out, and I found it as a young teen, it marked the beginning of my more serious conlanging pursuits. Now I'm in university studying Linguistics, and I had to hold back tears at the end of the video. To think that this community has banded together to help create this series... I extend my gratitude to every one of you

So, where do I sign the petition for the continued technological development of the neotecs?