by Kiyza » Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:39 pm
- Motto: "Who says there are no girls on the internet?"
- Weapon: Particle Beam Cannon
I've always been interested in the prospect of alien life. I'm absolutely convinced that's out there somewhere. I mean, space is just so absurdly big that saying that our planet is the only place with life seems almost like a naive standpoint.
But the question of what alien life forms could be like is a much touchier subject. I doubt there are many life forms similar to what we have here on Earth out there, but I do think there probably are some. There's a concept known as convergent evolution, where two more or less unrelated organisms develop similar characteristics to another because they live in the same environment. It might not be impossible for other planets with life that requires similar conditions to our own to have beings that resemble birds for instance, because there are only so many effective body plans out there. That's why we constantly see similar body plans repeated. For instance, being bipedal developed in both humans and dinosaurs, but we evolved that trait separately.
For those touching on the idea of mechanical life forms, considering this is a Transformers forum, I say, sure, why not? It probably wouldn't surprise me if we found some form of life based on, or at least heavily composed of, metal. There are some who speculate that a life form could be composed of silicon, which bonds with a lot of different metals, albeit the idea has been shot down by a number of scholars. I say we can't rule anything out, though. After all, we only know of one kind of life, and that's what's on Earth right now.
