Postulation

[sathor]

That all life comes from the same first genetic code.

It stems from it, just as the Tree of Life represents.

Because it all comes from the same genetic code, it is my belief that human-kind is the only conceivable intelligent form a race may take.

If this is true, all intelligent life capable of space travel will be human, no different than ourselves physically except minutely.

If they knew our language, we could never tell the difference.

And that it is quite possible we were not born as a race on this planet.

Just a theory.

Comments

[minxyminou.livejournal.com]

Interesting theory. I have a friend here in Sydney who I refer to as The Stalker on my LJ. He's talked about this same theory with me before. You would likely enjoy bouncing ideas together. Unfortunately he's not really an online person.

But why?

[sendao.livejournal.com]

Why wouldn't the One Genetic Code have recipes for sentient water-breathers, birds, moles? After all the idea of embedding gills in a human doesn't seem so far-fetched - some people already have *webbed feet*.

The very way DNA works - modular, extensible, pieces transferable even between same-generation siblings and other acquaintances(yea seariious, check out transpose dna) - seems to allow for many possibilities. I suppose there might be an intentional design of 'human', but that's a rather grim possibility. I rather like the restaurant at the end of the universe with a sentient pig offering me its side to slice into, just so (you see?) and then to cut a nice chunk of meat out and eat it... mmm excellent. But I will save some for later, thank you pig for being so kind as to want to be eaten, what a miracle - of the oblivious power of creation, not the rigorously buggy cycles of intentional creation.

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Wonderful, I'm synonymous with a stalker now.

This makes me feel much better =\

Re: But why?

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Because in my opinion you have to have the ability to tool use, record information physically and have the ability to manipulate your body so as to produce intelligent forms of communication to develop into intelligent life.

Re: But why?

[sendao.livejournal.com]

First of all, pet peeve. Don't call it an opinion just because we're having a discussion and it might get proven wrong. In my opinion, you should never have false opinions, so saying, "in my opinion" like it doesn't matter what I think doesn't make your statement right or defensible. You can have wrong opinions, that's your right, but the connection between intelligence and tool use/writing is pretty safely regarded as a fact. That's not an opinion, you clearly have to be able to use your body to manipulate the external world.

Second, my cats use tools. So it's not just tool use by itself. Ants record considerable amounts of information (heh, they record their own brains as they crawl along! amazing creatures) - but I'll admit they're a special case, as cats might be (but they're not). Writing does seem to be unique to humans, but what stops a cat from writing, aside from the level of social intelligence required to inspire writing in the first place and the obvious lack of opposable thumbs with which to operate a pen and/or spacebar?

I mean, it's kind of a neat idea, until you think about how boring it would be to have only humans. I'd really like my next girlfriend (which of course I will not get until I die and am reborn as the saint of antioch) to have furry pointy ears, REAL ONES, and I admit that's the main motivation behind my argument.

[minxyminou.livejournal.com]

He's actually a good friend of mine. It's just that before we actually became friends he kind of kept turning up in places that I was. He's a croat though, judging from my croat ex stalking is a sign of affection for them.

So no. You have no stalky associations apart from sharing some theories and thought processes.

Re: But why?

[minxyminou.livejournal.com]

(http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/minxyminou/?action=view&current=catinbox-1.jpg)

If you find their nest let me know. I'd like one too.

Re: But why?

[sendao.livejournal.com]

I know a girl from Toronto who regularly lives in Vancouver who had her ears surgically altered!

When you get nonreal it gets to be way more intresting. Lots of possibilities. Even if all sentients do start out looking like a rather boring long pig, they can undergo some remarkable transformations.

These robotic space cats from Secondlife sends they greetz, simple minded human information processors !



Secondlife comes with mind altering kiootness.



anyway I'll stop hijacking.

Re: But why?

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Well that threw me back. I haven't looked at anime girls like that for quite some time :P

Re: But why?

[sathor.livejournal.com]

Is that starfox?

Re: But why?

[sathor.livejournal.com]

First, even if it's regarded as fact, it's still theory. Maybe I'm a little platonic or socratic but I don't really believe I know much of anything. But I can theorize, and when I theorize, it is opinion based. I could care less if I'm going to be "proven wrong" considering that is an impossibility in this case, most certainly in my lifetime. Outside of genetic manipulation it is unlikely I will be proven wrong in my lifetime unless ETs show up and they aren't human.

Very few creatures can use tools like we do. This is the point where the whole evolution thing gets fuzzy. Those creatures closest to us (apes, monkey's, etc.) do use tools, do seem to have some basic tribal nature, social norms, etc. But they can't communicate complex ideas, they don't even have the necessary fixings to speak in intelligible ways to allow for that, and I don't suspect they will evolve into higher intelligent forms in the future.

The brain has to be a super processor. I just have an intuition that when a brain does become a super processor, it's because the body it is within has taken a human form, a likeness of us that will vary very little. We're losing things like our pinky toes for instance, but that's hardly a difference worthy of noting.

I'm not saying animals are not intelligent - don't get me wrong - they've developed numerous ways to express without language, and cats are -very special- in my eyes because they show a higher intelligence that I don't see in anything else (they also have a more complex genetic code than we do), or maybe that's just my projection -into- them. But I don't believe they have the capacity for higher reason materially (this is excepting spiritual, that's a whole different thing)

Then again, a cat's supreme reasoning for an animal may just be their inherent genetic code expressing itself which is incredibly complex and highly evolved for specific purposes, not at all a sign of any kind of actual obtained knowledge/wisdom etc.

I'm not a scientist, just a theoretician.