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Re: Really tough Marathon riddle
Posted By: Steve LevinsonDate: 3/28/04 6:07 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Really tough Marathon riddle (Wejam The Carter)

: That's actually a very good question. (WARNING, WEJAM WILL NOW BE GIVING
: ANOTHER LONG LECTURE ON THEORETICAL SCIENCE)

Well, there are many feasible ways of arranging parts to get a functional whole. Still, form begets function and vice versa, so there are certain things that are likely to be seen in most advanced species. For example, most satient species likely have eyes. Yes, they could be compound eyes, but this is much less likely than what we have as compound eyes don't really scale up that well. Look at the squid - the squid has a very similar eye to our own, even though they are invertibrates and have an entirely different structure to their nervous system. This is a case of convergent evolution - even though the evolutionary path was different, the end result was very similar. Most satient species in the universe very likely have two eyes, two (or an even number of) hands for grasping and two legs to walk on. But then this is very much a function of the environment, and intelligent life evolving in a low-gravity environment, such as the Pfhor, may well have a more insectoid structure, but they wouldn't be insects in the strict sense of our system of classification.

As far as DNA is concerned, there are other interesting possibilities, but on Earth DNA was clearly the catylist for the development of multicellular life. There are self-replicating membranes that are an interesting curiosity, there are protein particles called prions that can "replicate" when they come into contact with other proteins, causing things like mad cow disease, and many of these things existed in earth's early envorinment. It was the ability of DNA, however, to replicate itself and to build enzymes that could synthesize all of the organic molecules that are needed for life. Until someone can find another organic molecule that has these properties, I'll stick with DNA as a fundamental building block. Now if we talk about the possibility of inorganic life, on the other hand . . .

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Re: Really tough Marathon riddleDrew 3/26/04 5:57 p.m.
     Re: Really tough Marathon riddleYossarian 3/26/04 6:10 p.m.
           Re: Really tough Marathon riddleK-chi 3/26/04 8:12 p.m.
                 Re: Really tough Marathon riddleYossarian 3/26/04 9:10 p.m.
                       Re: Really tough Marathon riddleK-chi 3/26/04 9:18 p.m.
                             Re: Really tough Marathon riddleWejam The Carter 3/27/04 7:42 p.m.
                                   Re: Really tough Marathon riddleSteve Levinson 3/28/04 6:07 a.m.
                                         Re: Really tough Marathon riddleK-chi 3/28/04 1:41 p.m.
                                               Excellent Point! *NM*Steve Levinson 3/28/04 4:52 p.m.
           Re: Really tough Marathon riddleElliott 3/27/04 8:20 a.m.
                 Re: Really tough Marathon riddleSteve Levinson 3/28/04 5:51 a.m.
           Re: Really tough Marathon riddleWejam The Carter 3/27/04 7:00 p.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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