# Does every sufficently advanced civilization have a Pac-Man? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373 "2018-04-14T02:09:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/1 "2018-04-14T02:09:42Z")
A symmetric circle, with a wedge representing a mouth: the most symplistic representation of an “eater”. Dots, easy to represent on a screen as “food”. Power pelets, slightly bigger, to turn the tables on the “ghosts”, which look like animals covered with sheets, to approximate smoke or fog, mistaken for an autonomous entity, but mysterious. Fog being common on any planet with water, essential to lifeforms. A tunnel, to wrap around the 2D screen: the most obvious creative topological highlight. Fruit as bonus items, meant to be eaten, a bonus, to disperse the seeds of plants. But random movement of fruit, faster movement of the protagonist, and random movement of the adversarial ghosts on the initial game, or in a sequel like Ms. Pac-Man? Would the colors be the same? Would red consistently be the fastest ghost, and why, for other advanced alien civilizations? Why red? ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/2 "2018-04-14T03:59:59Z")
Dammit. Now I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight as I ponder this. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/3 "2018-04-14T04:11:35Z")
But if the aliens developed 16-bit microprocessors before the local 8-bit Z-80. how much better would the graphics be? FTR. I love the Z-80. It’s in my MP3 player. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/4 "2018-04-14T04:24:05Z")
At post 256, the thread will hit a kill screen. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/5 "2018-04-14T06:32:21Z")
No. Think of it like the fact that there has just as likely never been two perfectly randomly shuffled decks of 52 cards that have all of the cards in the same order. Once you get into the specifics, there’s simply so many permutations that reduplicating something like that is basically unthinkable. Even considering something like a simple machine - even just a wheel - you have to consider that the available materials would be different, so even just saying “a basic wooden wheel” is going to be pretty difficult since plantlife might not be a thing or might be substantially different. And once you start talking about highly evolved versions of the wheel, using refined metals, between differences in gravitation, be air density, weather, and history, is highly unlikely that they would land on using a rubber shell with tread packed with an inflated rubber tube, supported on an aluminum set of rims in “just that shape” as we have on modern cars and bikes. If we go further forward, where we have computers finding the genuine optimised versions of a wheel, using all available knowledge of physics, avoidable materials, etc. you still end up in a different place because of different body shapes of the riders, different costs of materials, different gravity, etc. I would be hesitant to say that “gaming and sports” are unavoidable for intelligent life. If you try to get even more specific than that, then it’s a simple and clear, “no”. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/6 "2018-04-14T11:01:25Z")
Thinking about this; in a strict game-mechanics sense, I think Centipede, Qix, and Dig Dug are probably independently invented more often than Pac-Man. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/7 "2018-04-14T11:51:17Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Thinking about this; in a strict game-mechanics sense, I think Centipede, Qix, and Dig Dug are probably independently invented more often than Pac-Man. Dig Dug has the very creative “inflate and pop the enemy”. Why would that inevitably arise? The rest of Dig Dug seems inspired by trench warfare. With the Fygars’ firebreathing reminicent of a flamethrower. Do you think warfare will uniformly evolve in alien civilizations and result in trench warfare and flamethrowers? I can kind of see that. But “inflate and pop” seems out of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/8 "2018-04-14T12:09:38Z")
Sometimes a video game is just a video game. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Peebles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Jim\_Peebles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Peebles)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/9 "2018-04-14T12:24:20Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Sometimes a video game is just a video game. Astrobiologists need something to talk about. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/10 "2018-04-14T12:35:20Z")
There’s a comic strip (B.C.) where two cavemen are standing by a cave drawing of the space shuttle. The one holding the brush says to the other, “One day, this will put some poor archaeologist in a mental hospital.” \ …Seems relevant. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/11 "2018-04-14T13:06:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Jim Peebles** : > > Do you think warfare will uniformly evolve in alien civilizations and result in trench warfare and flamethrowers? I can kind of see that. I highly doubt that fire would be universal at all. It’s ubiquitous here on Earth, because we have at atmosphere composed significantly of one of the most reactive and dangerous chemicals in the Universe, so reactive that it’ll react exothermically with almost everything. In a more sane world, the closest equivalent to a flamethrower wouldn’t be something that sprays fuel; it’d be something that sprays oxygen. But the inhabitants of said world would look on use of that weapon with at least as much horror as we look on the use of white phosphorous, and it still wouldn’t be remotely as destructive as a flamethrower is, because when you turn off the oxygen-sprayer, the reaction stops. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/12 "2018-04-14T13:37:31Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > There’s a comic strip (B.C.) … > …Seems relevant. That’s the first time in 40 years anyone has used the word “relevant” to refer to a Johnny Hart strip. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/13 "2018-04-14T14:05:39Z")
> [@andros](#): > > That’s the first time in 40 years anyone has used the word “relevant” to refer to a Johnny Hart strip. Pac-Man got legs! (twice in 40 years?) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/14 "2018-04-15T01:14:17Z")
Have you ever looked at your hands, dude? I mean, really looked at them? Whoa. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/15 "2018-04-15T02:56:50Z")
I think that MPSIMS has just been waiting for this thread with bated breath. Out of GD it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/16 "2018-04-15T03:29:21Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > A symmetric circle, with a wedge representing a mouth: the most symplistic representation of an “eater”. About 80% of civilizations. If you could imagine that as a pie graph. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/17 "2018-04-15T05:01:31Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I think Centipede, Qix, and Dig Dug are probably independently invented more often than Pac-Man. But what about [Frogger.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKAJSp9bZxE) ? The most basic evolutionary need of all intelligent life-forms is to survive crossing a busy street. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/18 "2018-04-15T12:04:47Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > A symmetric circle, with a wedge representing a mouth: the most symplistic representation of an “eater” That assumes they have a jaw. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/19 "2018-04-15T15:50:25Z")
> [@Jim\_Peebles](#): > > A symmetric circle, with a wedge representing a mouth: the most symplistic representation of an “eater”. Dots, easy to represent on a screen as “food”. Having studied many advanced civilizations, I can emphatically say, “No”. However, most of them do have Mario. Civilizations that are advanced enough to have developed ‘normal’ forms of government (as opposed to simple dictators or tribal leaders) tend to add in Luigi and share in the glory. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373/20 "2018-04-16T15:02:49Z")
I’m more of a Pinball guy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-sufficently-advanced-civilization-have-a-pac-man/812373.md?page=2)