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This is fun to read but any such galactic intelligence would probably recognize that its predecessor were meat, probably kept the original meat safe in a corner
by Aperocky 7mo ago
This is fun to read but any such galactic intelligence would probably recognize that its predecessor were meat, probably kept the original meat safe in a corner of the galaxy too..
The universe were quite uniform in character. Galaxies, stars, they are very predictable and essentially the same everywhere, across billions of years (both time and distance), can't see why that doesn't apply to life too in a general sense. Maybe different RNA building blocks and genetic chemistry, but probably work out similar to meat and organic stuff.
- justonceokay 7mo agoIt’s called fiction for a reason. Glad you’ve risen above that nonsense! I personally hate that it implies there are faster ways to travel than light speed. We know this to be a hard limit in the physics of our universe and it rubs me the wrong way when SF writers just glaze over reality. Not to mention hydrogen life forms, what’s that about!?
- jounker 7mo agoYou seem to be lacking in imagination.
- zamadatix 7mo agoI think they are abound in sarcasm :).
- psd1 6mo agoI can relate. However. The unspoken rider is "...according to our current understanding". I don't think you have the footing to constrain the future to only what we understand today, especially since we can't reconcile our two most fundamental theories. I don't think you can do that even if you could explain quantum entanglement in terms of relativity. On a separate note, science fiction isn't generally about science, imo, it's about human politics (Greg Egan being an outlier). The cod-science gives colour and setting. If you read it as stories about humanity, maybe the charlatanry won't irk you so much. I find this mindset helps me deal with my own irascibility.
- Espressosaurus 7mo agoThanks for doing a "well AKTually" on a piece of amusing fiction.
- Aperocky 7mo agoThere's no refutation of anything here, I seriously thought about the possibility of evolution without meat, but you should be convince me otherwise if you can show me how it can arise naturally after big bang. It's a discussion of reality stemming from an inspirational fiction. The whoosh apply to you.
- kjs3 7mo agoSeriously...don't read any other science fiction stories. The things they write about that we can't indulge you by proving how they could possibly happen will make your head explode. Edit: spelling
- lproven 6mo agoIndeed. As an example, it's important they don't read David Brin's Uplift series, or Terry Pratchett's excellent The Dark Side of the Sun.
- kjs3 6mo agoIf you really need to enumerate examples you can just say "does it have FTL travel? Don't look Aperocky! Your head will explode!". Plenty more examples...
- n4r9 7mo ago> any such galactic intelligence would probably recognize that its predecessor were meat Perhaps it's predecessor was just advanced enough to build self-modifying replicators and fire them out into space. Eventually it hits a planet or asteroid and gradually becomes sentient and intelligent. No trace of how it originated.
- FarmerPotato 7mo agoOh! good one. Here's a new twist: 1st generation stars seed the galaxies with carbon. 2nd generation stars are a sea of amino-acid comet soup. One bag-of-mostly-water lifeform evolves sentience. Its legacy is silicon intelligence, broadcast through the galaxy. It disappears. 3rd generation stars illuminate meat-based life, but it holds no novelty for the silicon travelers between the stars.
- IncreasePosts 7mo agoWhy would it's predecessors need to be meat, besides for you own absence of imagination
- jounker 7mo agoI think the point is that the story’s universe is populated by intelligent life forms that did not evolve from any lineage of meat. Hence the reference at the end to the hydrogen cluster.
- kelnos 7mo agoThe race of meat people are humans, though. So it's our universe.
- squigz 7mo agoThings like star and galaxy formation/interactions are (relatively) straightforward, with fairly simple processes/mechanics at the heart of it. It's easier to predict on such a large-scale what's going to happen. Things are far more complex on a biological level, which makes it harder to make generalized predictions. I see no reason to infer that life would only consistently evolve into organic life as we know it.
- outworlder 7mo ago> This is fun to read but any such galactic intelligence would probably recognize that its predecessor were meat That does not follow at all. It's _likely_ that life elsewhere would be carbon-based since carbon is so useful and common. It is not a requirement. Silicon has been proposed as a replacement. While not as flexible as carbon, it's pretty close. Silicon-based lifeforms wouldn't be "organic" at all. Even if we just stick to carbon, there are many organic compounds (and lifeforms) that aren't anything close to what we would consider 'meat'. We are working with N=1. Until we find more lifeforms elsewhere, we can't assume anything beyond basic physics and chemistry. RNA isn't a given. A lifeforms probably needs something that will pass along instructions to their offspring (in whatever form they take). It doesn't have to be RNA. For a fictional description of a lifeforms that doesn't have RNA, DNA or anything remotely similar, I like to point out Blindsight, by Peter Watts. https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm