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Post by ironhold on Sept 30, 2018 22:51:55 GMT
I've been thinking.
Here on Earth, one can readily look at situations in which two or more cultures took the same thing and developed it out differently, if they developed it out at all.
For example, Roman influence meant that England was regarding oats as animal feed at a time when the Scottish were discovering the joys of oatmeal.
Similarly, one can look at any two cultures and find things that one developed but the other didn't, or only developed significantly later.
I mean, it took how long for written systems of language to eventually spread?
This has me wondering. Suppose, for a moment, we do make contact with intelligent alien life. What are some things you'd expect to find in common? What are some things you think we might have that they don't?
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 1, 2018 0:42:11 GMT
I'm sure we would all have a desire to live long and prosper.
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Post by the light works on Oct 1, 2018 5:27:48 GMT
well, considering that in the andes, they never bothered inventing the wheel, because the terrain wasn't conducive to wheeled travel, we can't really take ANYTHING as given - but I would expect them to have had some form of chemical slug thrower in their history. probably territorial wars and wars over slavery. some form of infernal combustion powered conveyance.
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Post by mrfatso on Oct 1, 2018 12:59:22 GMT
I've been thinking. Here on Earth, one can readily look at situations in which two or more cultures took the same thing and developed it out differently, if they developed it out at all. For example, Roman influence meant that England was regarding oats as animal feed at a time when the Scottish were discovering the joys of oatmeal. Similarly, one can look at any two cultures and find things that one developed but the other didn't, or only developed significantly later. I mean, it took how long for written systems of language to eventually spread? This has me wondering. Suppose, for a moment, we do make contact with intelligent alien life. What are some things you'd expect to find in common? What are some things you think we might have that they don't? This is off the topic but if you think the English did not eat oats you would be wrong. www.foodsofengland.co.uk/thorcakeorthorortharfcake.htm |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 1, 2018 13:35:51 GMT
I am sure a civilization 100 light years away would eat oats.
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Post by rmc on Oct 1, 2018 13:51:42 GMT
I'm sure we would all have a desire to live long and prosper. Would that entail eating other lifeforms, or at least having the history of eating other lifeforms as we have, I wonder? In other words, in order to "live long" we need to eat, and, at least for us, that has involved eating other living things (or recently living things). That seems to go back to single cell life forms here on Earth (such life eats life). But, there are things that "eat" non-living things, I guess, like plants "eating" the nutrients out of dead dirt. Would that sort of diet support something considered intelligent, though I wonder? Anyway, there seems to be a lot to assume with regard to meeting "intelligent life". Did we transport ourselves over to their home? If so, they could be intelligent, but no more intelligent than dolphins, unused to interstellar flight. But, if they transported themselves over to meet us, they may be more like us in that we both are more-or-less space-faring creatures. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 1, 2018 14:28:34 GMT
I'm sure we would all have a desire to live long and prosper. Would that entail eating other lifeforms, or at least having the history of eating other lifeforms as we have, I wonder? In other words, in order to "live long" we need to eat, and, at least for us, that has involved eating other living things (or recently living things). That seems to go back to single cell life forms here on Earth (such life eats life). But, there are things that "eat" non-living things, I guess, like plants "eating" the nutrients out of dead dirt. Would that sort of diet support something considered intelligent, though I wonder? Anyway, there seems to be a lot to assume with regard to meeting "intelligent life". Did we transport ourselves over to their home? If so, they could be intelligent, but no more intelligent than dolphins, unused to interstellar flight. But, if they transported themselves over to meet us, they may be more like us in that we both are more-or-less space-faring creatures. It's interesting how little we really understand the other diverse lifeforms living on our own planet, yet we think we can understand life living on worlds totally alien to us. The point I was trying to make with "live long and prosper" is that one thing that all live seems to have in common is the desire to survive. Even the simplest single cell lifeforms will do what ever it takes to survive. I suspect life on other worlds would do the same. |
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Post by the light works on Oct 1, 2018 14:36:42 GMT
I am sure a civilization 100 light years away would eat oats. or at least a cereal grain. |
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Post by the light works on Oct 1, 2018 14:37:06 GMT
I'm sure we would all have a desire to live long and prosper. Would that entail eating other lifeforms, or at least having the history of eating other lifeforms as we have, I wonder? In other words, in order to "live long" we need to eat, and, at least for us, that has involved eating other living things (or recently living things). That seems to go back to single cell life forms here on Earth (such life eats life). But, there are things that "eat" non-living things, I guess, like plants "eating" the nutrients out of dead dirt. Would that sort of diet support something considered intelligent, though I wonder? Anyway, there seems to be a lot to assume with regard to meeting "intelligent life". Did we transport ourselves over to their home? If so, they could be intelligent, but no more intelligent than dolphins, unused to interstellar flight. But, if they transported themselves over to meet us, they may be more like us in that we both are more-or-less space-faring creatures. the grand speculation is always, are the others even carbon based? |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 1, 2018 14:40:53 GMT
I am sure a civilization 100 light years away would eat oats. or at least a cereal grain. As long as it's "frosted" (aka, sugar coated) |
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Post by the light works on Oct 1, 2018 14:51:31 GMT
or at least a cereal grain. As long as it's "frosted" (aka, sugar coated)  |
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Post by wvengineer on Oct 2, 2018 2:52:26 GMT
THere are a couple different takes on stuff like this in SciFi.
In Babylon 5, there is a dish in nearly every sentient race in the galaxy that is almost identical to Swedish Meatballs, but every race has a different name for it. Narn call it Breen, Centari call it Roopo Balls. Even the Drasi, Gaim, and Abbai have the same dish. There is no known reason for it. Each race developed the dish before they made intersteallar contact, so that is not the source. It is considered one of the many mysteries of the universe.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy takes the opposite apprach: Nearly every world in the GAlaxy has a drink calling something like a "gin and tonic"
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Post by OziRiS on Oct 4, 2018 18:56:20 GMT
It's interesting how little we really understand the other diverse lifeforms living on our own planet, yet we think we can understand life living on worlds totally alien to us./quote] And that point is exactly why those folks who call themselves astrobiologists study lifeforms all over Earth, especially extremophiles. They're hoping to get a picture of how diversified life in the Universe could be and it's turned out that life could more or less exist anywhere. Intelligent life might be a different story, but life in general is tenacious. Their biggest problem is that everything here on Earth is carbon based. Life elsewhere might not be, although many think that's unlikely, simply because carbon can bond with more things in more ways than any other element on the periodic table. |
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Post by kharnynb on Oct 24, 2018 16:50:38 GMT
well...there must be some society somewhere in the galaxy that shares the nordic obsession with salmiak and black liquorice.
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Post by the light works on Oct 24, 2018 17:25:06 GMT
well...there must be some society somewhere in the galaxy that shares the nordic obsession with salmiak and black liquorice. had to look that up. I'm amused that some places have a regulation that salmiak liquorice above a certain strength must have a warning label. interesting tidbit. both salmiak and coca cola started out as cough medicine. (allegedly Jaegermeister also started as cough medicine) |
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