4 ms·

A dying planet shotgunned trillions of life-bearing capsules far into the universe, consisting of basic organic molecules. One found its way to Earth, found pu

A dying planet shotgunned trillions of life-bearing capsules far into the universe, consisting of basic organic molecules. One found its way to Earth, found purchase, and evolved. Others found their way to other planets. One day, two separate life forms will meet, and marvel at how their DNA is structured all the same. (Not so much a comment as a possibility. Thanks for the space.)

buildbot 3y ago
To be honest, this seems likely to have happened _somewhere_ in the universe at least a few times. Maybe we are all secretly just an overgrown virus of self spreading amino acids that's been propagating through space and time slowly over billions of years.
anonporridge 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
nickserv 3y ago
Ah yes, the panspermia making tentacle sex possible hypothesis.
- 9dev 3y ago
  A fellow connaisseur, I see.
cgriswald 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next...
- mminer237 3y ago
  It's a trope in most sci-fi universes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Panspermia https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Panspermia Star Trek, Halo, Doctor Who, Stargate, Red Dwarf, Spore, Ben 10, etc.
bane 3y ago
As depicted in the long-dropped Star Trek plotline: https://youtu.be/FEoz5PS6ohg https://youtu.be/FEoz5PS6ohg
awb 3y ago
There’s so much empty space, a random shotgun blast would be unlikely to hit anything. Here’s a video about it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjdE-Q3yDYQ&pp=ygUvdHJhdmVsIGFjcm9zcyB0aGUgZ2FsYXh5IHdvdWxkIHlvdSBoaXQgYW55dGhpbmc%3D https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjdE-Q3yDYQ&pp=ygUvdHJhdmVsIGF... For example there is ~4 light years of empty space between us and our closest star. And if you come upon a solar system but don’t hit a planet you’d probably get ejected into empty space. And even if you did hit a planet, you could end up on water, land, lava, etc., so I guess you’d have to account for all possibilities, plus keeping your biological cargo alive during the extremely long journey. So it would have to be a heavily calculated trajectory and heavily planned cargo to find much success.
- upwardbound 3y ago
  Assuming the capsules followed planned trajectories, they could have used technology such as that which is being developed in the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, described here: https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3 https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3
  - awb 3y ago
    The trajectory is more of the issue rather than the speed. You’d probably need onboard AI navigation to course correct and make landing spot decisions.
    - spartanatreyu 3y ago
      Nah, just aim your capsules along the galaxy with a speed low enough to not leave the galaxy. The capsules will go around the galaxy, travelling through or oscillating above and below the galactic plane just like other stars. Bonus 1: Make your capsules charged so they're guided by galactic magnetic field lines into star-forming nebula where a high density of stars are created letting them mix into protoplanetary disks. Bonus 2: Just keep spewing out more capsules to increase mixing rates.
    - ojosilva 3y ago
      And don't forget that there's a "when". Planets ready to be seeded with life are rare at a given point in the universe's timeline. So the AI also needs to make course timing decisions in the magnitudes of 1B years... It's so much easier to build and train AI then migrate our "humanity" into machines and just go from there to the Tannhäuser Gate and beyond. When I was a kid, my dad, a very spiritual guy, after tucking me in, revealed to me: "Son, humans can already travel faster than light". My young and inquisitive scientific self said "What?? How?!?!" And he goes: "Just close your eyes and imagine yourself on Mars. It's instantaneous."

buildbot 3y ago

To be honest, this seems likely to have happened _somewhere_ in the universe at least a few times. Maybe we are all secretly just an overgrown virus of self spreading amino acids that's been propagating through space and time slowly over billions of years.

anonporridge 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

nickserv 3y ago

Ah yes, the panspermia making tentacle sex possible hypothesis.

9dev 3y ago
A fellow connaisseur, I see.

cgriswald 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_(Star_Trek:_The_Next...

mminer237 3y ago
It's a trope in most sci-fi universes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Panspermia https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Panspermia Star Trek, Halo, Doctor Who, Stargate, Red Dwarf, Spore, Ben 10, etc.

bane 3y ago

As depicted in the long-dropped Star Trek plotline: https://youtu.be/FEoz5PS6ohg https://youtu.be/FEoz5PS6ohg

awb 3y ago

There’s so much empty space, a random shotgun blast would be unlikely to hit anything. Here’s a video about it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjdE-Q3yDYQ&pp=ygUvdHJhdmVsIGFjcm9zcyB0aGUgZ2FsYXh5IHdvdWxkIHlvdSBoaXQgYW55dGhpbmc%3D https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjdE-Q3yDYQ&pp=ygUvdHJhdmVsIGF... For example there is ~4 light years of empty space between us and our closest star. And if you come upon a solar system but don’t hit a planet you’d probably get ejected into empty space. And even if you did hit a planet, you could end up on water, land, lava, etc., so I guess you’d have to account for all possibilities, plus keeping your biological cargo alive during the extremely long journey. So it would have to be a heavily calculated trajectory and heavily planned cargo to find much success.

upwardbound 3y ago
Assuming the capsules followed planned trajectories, they could have used technology such as that which is being developed in the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, described here: https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3 https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3
- awb 3y ago
  The trajectory is more of the issue rather than the speed. You’d probably need onboard AI navigation to course correct and make landing spot decisions.
  - spartanatreyu 3y ago
    Nah, just aim your capsules along the galaxy with a speed low enough to not leave the galaxy. The capsules will go around the galaxy, travelling through or oscillating above and below the galactic plane just like other stars. Bonus 1: Make your capsules charged so they're guided by galactic magnetic field lines into star-forming nebula where a high density of stars are created letting them mix into protoplanetary disks. Bonus 2: Just keep spewing out more capsules to increase mixing rates.
  - ojosilva 3y ago
    And don't forget that there's a "when". Planets ready to be seeded with life are rare at a given point in the universe's timeline. So the AI also needs to make course timing decisions in the magnitudes of 1B years... It's so much easier to build and train AI then migrate our "humanity" into machines and just go from there to the Tannhäuser Gate and beyond. When I was a kid, my dad, a very spiritual guy, after tucking me in, revealed to me: "Son, humans can already travel faster than light". My young and inquisitive scientific self said "What?? How?!?!" And he goes: "Just close your eyes and imagine yourself on Mars. It's instantaneous."