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Post by arkady on May 10, 2009 18:52:55 GMT -5
There's a speculative podcast based here.I made it for a third year astrobiology project. Any and all feedback welcome. Ta thanks muchly. Love you all. Arkady. |
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Post by Dragon Zachski on May 10, 2009 19:47:41 GMT -5
Look in a mirror.
Imagine a few differences due to evolution in a somewhat different environment.
There you go.
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Post by Vene on May 10, 2009 21:14:03 GMT -5
Look in a mirror. Imagine a few differences due to evolution in a somewhat different environment. There you go. Way, way oversimplified. First off, we evolution can only work with what already exists. So, a change early on can make massive differences in what occurs. Second, there is actually a lot of randomness with it. Genetic drift is a biggie. Genetic drift is where one trait is (for lack of better word) chosen over the other at random. Not because of any selective pressure, but because neither trait gives an advantage or disadvantage. It's just the nature of genes for one to eventually be picked. This can have a massive effect later on in evolution. Here's one, the use of oxygen (I think I'll also talk about phosphorus). Just by using chemical logic, O 2 should be a poison. It degrades biomolecules. The oxygen content in the atmosphere is the reason what we wrinkle, for example. It disrupts the three dimensional structure of collagen. But, it's also used for the synthesis of ATP, the ubiquitous energy molecule. There is no reason, chemically speaking, that sulfur couldn't have been used instead. In fact, sulfur already is a fairly abundant element. Very important in amino acids and it's responsible for a lot of protein level biology. Like, antibodies only function the way they do because of sulfur. Individual polypeptides are held together by disulfide bridges. Sulfur gas could have also been used as an oxidizing molecule just as easily as oxygen, but it's not. That would be an example of how a fundamental aspect of our biochemistry would be different. That is a lot more complex than just humans in a different environment. I said I was going to talk about phosphorous too, and I will. It's similar to oxygen talk, but instead of sulfur being chemically similar, it's arsenic. The only reason arsenic is a poison is because our enzymes try to use it instead of phosphorous during respiration. Life could have easily evolved the other way where phosphorous would be the poison. Besides, your suggestion to look in a mirror is extremely myopic. Humans are not special! There are so many other forms of life out there. To think that aliens would look anything like a human is just ridiculous. I doubt we'd even recognize aliens as alive. I honestly don't understand why we always look to Earth-like planets when life not only survives, but thrives in conditions here that would kill us. Sure, it tends to be single celled, life, but so what? Most of the life on this planet is unicellular. If you really want an idea of what life on another planet would look like, start with extremophiles. |
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Post by Jedi Knight on May 10, 2009 21:54:21 GMT -5
Besides, your suggestion to look in a mirror is extremely myopic. Humans are not special! There are so many other forms of life out there. To think that aliens would look anything like a human is just ridiculous. I doubt we'd even recognize aliens as alive. I honestly don't understand why we always look to Earth-like planets when life not only survives, but thrives in conditions here that would kill us. Sure, it tends to be single celled, life, but so what? Most of the life on this planet is unicellular. If you really want an idea of what life on another planet would look like, start with extremophiles. You're the biologist, and what you say makes sense to me, even if my knowledge is limited. We must look for...what would it be? Any self-replicating structure with a metabolism? I still understand the desire to find intelligent life out there, to find someone and not only something. I know it is unlikely, but the very idea of meeting another sentient species, someone we could communicate with, that's an exciting thought. Star Trek has taught us that intelligent aliens look like humans with strange skulls. |
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Post by Thejebusfire on May 10, 2009 22:03:55 GMT -5
Like this:
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Post by Sandafluffoid on May 11, 2009 1:20:55 GMT -5
So long as they have a language then I don't care. I literally dream about learning alien languages....
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Post by incognito on May 11, 2009 3:40:32 GMT -5
Hopefully, they will be smarter and give us new technologies and answers to diffucult questions. Or they will be hostile and either wipe us out or enslave us. (manpower is a powerful tool. just look at the pyramids!)
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Post by ausador on May 11, 2009 4:39:44 GMT -5
Bah, when the machine intelligences arrive they will sterilize the earth useing their nano-disassemblers and then harvest all the metals to build more machines, don't you guys watch the Sci-fi channel?
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Post by DarkfireTaimatsu on May 11, 2009 6:45:30 GMT -5
Look in a mirror. Imagine a few differences due to evolution in a somewhat different environment. There you go. Way, way oversimplified. First off, we evolution can only work with what already exists. So, a change early on can make massive differences in what occurs. Second, there is actually a lot of randomness with it. Genetic drift is a biggie. Genetic drift is where one trait is (for lack of better word) chosen over the other at random. Not because of any selective pressure, but because neither trait gives an advantage or disadvantage. It's just the nature of genes for one to eventually be picked. This can have a massive effect later on in evolution. Here's one, the use of oxygen (I think I'll also talk about phosphorus). Just by using chemical logic, O 2 should be a poison. It degrades biomolecules. The oxygen content in the atmosphere is the reason what we wrinkle, for example. It disrupts the three dimensional structure of collagen. But, it's also used for the synthesis of ATP, the ubiquitous energy molecule. There is no reason, chemically speaking, that sulfur couldn't have been used instead. In fact, sulfur already is a fairly abundant element. Very important in amino acids and it's responsible for a lot of protein level biology. Like, antibodies only function the way they do because of sulfur. Individual polypeptides are held together by disulfide bridges. Sulfur gas could have also been used as an oxidizing molecule just as easily as oxygen, but it's not. That would be an example of how a fundamental aspect of our biochemistry would be different. That is a lot more complex than just humans in a different environment. I said I was going to talk about phosphorous too, and I will. It's similar to oxygen talk, but instead of sulfur being chemically similar, it's arsenic. The only reason arsenic is a poison is because our enzymes try to use it instead of phosphorous during respiration. Life could have easily evolved the other way where phosphorous would be the poison. Besides, your suggestion to look in a mirror is extremely myopic. Humans are not special! There are so many other forms of life out there. To think that aliens would look anything like a human is just ridiculous. I doubt we'd even recognize aliens as alive. I honestly don't understand why we always look to Earth-like planets when life not only survives, but thrives in conditions here that would kill us. Sure, it tends to be single celled, life, but so what? Most of the life on this planet is unicellular. If you really want an idea of what life on another planet would look like, start with extremophiles. In other words, we're more likely to meet Horta than Vulcans? |
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Post by Deimos on May 11, 2009 7:00:53 GMT -5
My mom wants to put sunflowers on the gutters of the roof to see if they call down aliens.
Shes a little weird
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Post by SaveTheBales on May 11, 2009 7:03:59 GMT -5
I'll bet Japanese folks would say they're white males with shaved heads and swastikas on their chlothes. Heh. Aryans.
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Post by Aqualung on May 11, 2009 7:44:24 GMT -5
Hopefully, they will be smarter and give us new technologies and answers to diffucult questions. Or they will be hostile and either wipe us out or enslave us. (manpower is a powerful tool. just look at the pyramids!)  |
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Post by Dragon Zachski on May 11, 2009 10:00:02 GMT -5
I guess it was oversimplified. I just don't believe they're these fantastic slimey creatures.
Nor do I believe they're technologically advanced. Depending on innovation, their technology could be entirely different to ours, but I think they're only wondering about life on other worlds, too.
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Post by Sigmaleph on May 11, 2009 10:05:57 GMT -5
Hopefully, they will be smarter and give us new technologies and answers to diffucult questions. Or they will be hostile and either wipe us out or enslave us. (manpower is a powerful tool. just look at the pyramids!) Hopefully, it will be like in The Road not Taken (The Harry Turtledove short story, not the Robert Frost poem). Most aliens discover faster-than-light travel early and go about exploring the universe instead of developing other technologies. When they try to invade Earth, it turns out they only have very rudimentary weapons, no electric light, etc., and humans easily defeat them, steal their ships and it's implied they become the most powerful civilization in the universe. |
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Post by peanutfan on May 11, 2009 13:14:12 GMT -5
A great bit of speculative fiction about what alien life would be like both physically and mentally can be found in Robert J. Sawyer's novel "Calculating God." Granted, the book presents arguments for intelligent design that turn out to be accurate, but they're ONLY made believable in the context of the book and the strange parallels between alien and human evolution, both biologically and in the evolution of their respective planets.
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