The question for alien life is the holy grail of science, and even though we have not come close to anything approaching proof that aliens exist, one futurist is certain that they do. And he also believes that if we were to see an alien, we would be surprised at just how similar they look to humans.

Michio Kaku is famous for his focus on futurology, and he has just released a new book titled, “The Future of Humanity” that delves into the fascinating question about what our own future holds, and of the possibility of aliens. In just decades, mankind has exploded in advancement when it comes to technology and our ability to travel deep into space.

And because we have discovered that there are billions of Earth-like planets just in the Milky Way, let along in the billions of other galaxies out there, Kaku thinks it is obvious that there are aliens somewhere. And he thinks these aliens would have three main characteristics: opposable thumbs, stereo vision, and language, which are all qualities that humans have.

That’s not to say they will not look different to some degree. In fact, Kaku believes that if things had been slightly different in the evolutionary time frame, it might have been an entirely different creature that became the advanced species.

“On a distant planet under different conditions, one can imagine that an octopus-like creature could develop a language of chirps and whistles so it could hunt in packs,” Kaku writes. “One could even imagine that at some point in the distant future, evolutionary pressures on Earth could force the octopus to develop intelligence. So an intelligent race of octopods is certainly a possibility.”