RE: What would alien life look like?
December 2, 2018 at 12:11 pm
(This post was last modified: December 2, 2018 at 12:18 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(December 2, 2018 at 9:30 am)Cherub786 Wrote: We will never ever know.
The nearest star system and unexplored planets to our own is over 4 light years away, i.e., over 40 trillion km away.
Star Trek isn't sci fi, it's fantasy
Are you this certain when pronouncing all your idiocies or just some?
(December 2, 2018 at 12:18 am)AFTT47 Wrote:(December 1, 2018 at 11:01 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote: I suspect majority of higher life that would reach the level of development suitable for creating and supporting civilization will be aquatic.
The reason is life and complex life are much more likely to evolve and be found in aquatic environments. And marine environment potentially offer vastly more developmental space than land environments.
If my guess is right, then I wonder if the difficulty with making fire and smelting metal in water means most civilization are barred from proceeding down the technical path not by cognitive deficiency, but by inability to leverage energy sources to save labor and provide spare capacity for technical development.
Well there is the thing of new niches to take advantage of. Biology isn't my thing but as I understand it, a niche not taken advantage of is a case of nature abhorring a vacuum. Some life WILL rise up to take advantage of the available niche (the land).
Yes, but I think the odds remains that majority of life, and intelligent life, based on biochemistry broadly similar to ours will be aquatic.
(December 1, 2018 at 10:56 pm)ignoramus Wrote: question to all.
We came out of the water, developed 4 legs for mobility, then only used 2 as we stood up.
Why couldn't we develop a bigger brain whilst running faster on 4 limbs? Too run away faster? (An evolutionary advantage.)
I would think if the creature’s survival strategy relies primarily on running faster, then the evolutionary impetus would not fall primarily on increasing intelligence.
It seems to me intelligence is at a highest survival value when the creature could neither outrun nor out-fang its environment.