Subject:
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Re: An interesting Sci-fi idea
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Wed, 11 Jun 2003 20:55:22 GMT
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Viewed:
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585 times
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In lugnet.space, Leonard Hoffman wrote:
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-snip-
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Well, I just had to chime in on this..
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Well, that’s not necessarily so. Dinosaurs lacked the ability to adapt in
the same manner that mammals did. That is what makes humans so powerful,
adaptability. Of course, it also limits us. the age old pull between
adaptability and instinctual programming. We can learn alot, but it takes
time and effort to properly learn, and if that information isn’t learned
(like how to forage/cook), then we don’t survive.
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Adaptation is a certain aspect of what happened to the dinosaurs, but still,
such an event as a cataclysmic global event doesn’t leave much to adapt to. Even
humans would have a rough time if we weren’t forewarned.
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And about infinite combinations, I’m not so sure. Yeah, I’m not a biologist
or anything, but it seems to me that there can only be so many ways to match
up molecules. sure the amount is huge (several billion trillion even), but
it’s not infinite. (if there are any genetic biologists out there who’d like
to chime in?)
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And how many words can be made with the alphabet? 26 letters, infinite
variations. And yes many of the words will be nonsense, but many will not.
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So I would be inclined to change the track theory such that life will
advance toward the dominant life type of a planet. Earth could have just
as easily been populated by sentient reptiles, if it weren’t for a
cataclysmic event.Or Earth could have been populated bysentient whales;)
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I think the Track Theory (or maybe Tree Theory?) and infinite combinations
are mutually exclusive ideas. Because, given the chance in the equation, if
combinations are infinite, then traits and species characteristics are also
infinite. It would be like playing the lottery, except the number can be any
real number.
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I don’t know about that...traits can be infinite, but it doesn’t mean that all
of them are viable in a biological system, so there’s a finite property to it.
Joe Meno
Amateur Xenobiologist
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ps. i like theoretical scientific discussions!
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I like it too, but it’s wreaking havoc on my advertising work:)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: An interesting Sci-fi idea
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| -snip- (...) Well, that's not necessarily so. Dinosaurs lacked the ability to adapt in the same manner that mammals did. That is what makes humans so powerful, adaptability. Of course, it also limits us. the age old pull between adaptability and (...) (21 years ago, 11-Jun-03, to lugnet.space, FTX)
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