|
|
|
|
|
| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > Brainstorm with me: Homo sapiens evolved as space-dwellers | Forum Quick Jump
|
  |  Hermit Diavhrati Luminary

       Date Joined May 2007 Total Posts : 1785 | Posted 3/5/2008 3:16 PM (GMT -5) |   | Isn't gravity defined lately as the curvature of space? There's no such thing as zero gravity in the manifest universe. Relative zero, perhaps, but not Absolute Zero. So the way to fake higher gravity is to keep a constant of acceleration. Relative to stationary objects, a spaceship might move the speed of light, but the lack of resistance of "blank" space would permit it to continue acceleration until it was overly influenced by the gravitational pull (friction) of a large celestial body. Within such a ship, the constant acceleration would be more meaningful than the speed of the vehicle. Reverse acceleration would have similar effect within the ship.
Frankly, I think the only way foreseeable now is nanotechnology and DNA encoding - like longrange cloning. Our nanobots swarm a planet with the right primordial soup and shoot our DNA into it. We either grow from the muck or evolve. Either way won't matter much, as the Earth will likely not be in touch with propelled space voyagers. I think the only longterm answer lies in technologies that facilitate space folding or dimensional teleportation. Which means we'll have to have a far greater understanding of subatomic particles, antimatter, dark energy, and such.
Maybe . . . Read me soon in The Return of the Sword! Blog: http://bitterhermit.wordpress.com Buy wine: http://fringemonkey.org Poetry Blog: http://fringemonkey.wordpress.com | | Back to Top | | |
       |  M. A. Shah Stablehand

       Date Joined Dec 2007 Total Posts : 49 | Posted 1/13/2008 6:26 AM (GMT -5) |   | Quite interesting replies. I guess if we ever go into space for extended periods of time, the basic change will of course be a gravity less environment. And all the changes that occur in the human body will eschew from this fundamental change. We'll lose bone density, and muscle mass rapidly. Remember the muscles too, because almost all the exercise that we get on earth is against gravity. It will most probably result in uselessness of our bodies and inevitable death. Remember that evolution takes place only when the environment is changing slightly with time, over the longer period. The shift from gravity to no gravity would be instantaneous. Of course it is quite improbable that humans will not apply preventive measures. If its a space station, then the basic space station design will be used that i guess everyone here has studied in high school. Centrifugal force acting as fake gravity and that stuff. If its a space ship then it gets more complicated. If we are heading for the stars, most probably it would be in a hibernation like state. A centrifuge will provide the fake gravity. Imagine a round table, on which many people are lying in a supine position. Like they placed the swords on the round table. The table is spinning thus providing the necessary gravity. Another way is a manual centrifuge in which the people lying on the table use a bicycle like peddles to rotate the centrifuge, thus stimulating their muscles in addition to providing gravity. Space travel without such measures is an impossibility, because after even a few weeks in space, men will be unable to exist in a gravity environment. An example is of some astronaut who came back to earth after a few weeks and was not even able to stand in the gravity environment. He had lost considerable Ranks broken, hearts perplexed, no feeling deeper than skin. | | Back to Top | | |
 |  jackypaper Stablehand
        Date Joined Jan 2008 Total Posts : 5 | Posted 1/11/2008 1:51 PM (GMT -5) |   | | Hermit, thanks for the wonderful speculation! A lot of this is pretty radical stuff. But it all seems to make sense. Though some authors really strive for realism, this is one area where they seem to take the easy way out. You've given me a lot of things to think about in my kill-time-at-work-thought-project. | | Back to Top | | |
  |  Hermit Diavhrati Luminary

       Date Joined May 2007 Total Posts : 1785 | Posted 1/11/2008 12:21 PM (GMT -5) |   | Wow! This gets really complicated very quickly.
Assuming no artificial gravity, as commonly stated, bone mass and muscle mass lessen. So the bones and muscles atrophy. What about organs? Metabolic changes would have to re-regulate or become aggressively adaptive. This would create changes in the pituitary down to the thyroid, adrenal system, hormonal systems, etc. Diet would come into play, and would have to evolve. If we're not using hydroponics or such to grow organic plants for food, we would likely need to adapt to a diet based on micro-organisms. Which would change our dental makeup as well as our entire digestive track. Eyes would definitely evolve to something else - I like to imagine that we'd develop a nictitated membrane to deal with changes in light, and that it would work not only to deal with light but to filter out other harmful radiations. Skin pigment would likely become unnecessary. Circulation would change because of the gravitational changes as well as the near-static environment as maintained by the computers onboard. Hair would either thicken or develop into colorless villi capable of organic processes to digest available radiation (radio-synthesis).
Would we retain our hands as they are? I think they would be very similar. We really depend a lot on that opposable thumb adaptation, so I doubt we're going to hold onto it for as long as we have carbon-based bodies.
Look into the deep ocean trenches and evolution around the vents. This might give you a lot of ideas on life in an environment cloaked from natural lighting. There are a lot of really creepy things down there! Also deep cave critters.
BUT, I really think that we'll have to have vessels with windows that let in certain spectra of light. Radiation and light will become necessary to feed Homo odyseus.
There's lots more . . . is this helpful?
Read me soon in The Return of the Sword!
| | Back to Top | | |
      |  Anaconda Neophyte

       Date Joined Dec 2007 Total Posts : 71 | Posted 1/10/2008 4:52 PM (GMT -5) |   | |
I suggest that balance from the inner ear will be even more helpful in zero gravity; it will still register directional accelerations. As anybody has ever suffered from (real) vertigo will know, it is probably the worst minor illness.
There is already plenty of available work on bone density loss and its control.
A good place to start could be on the genetic adoptions that have already taken place, such as: People who live so high that I would need oxygen. Isolated island tribes who have lost stature.
It could also be worth looking at other mammals, such as the sheep on a remote Scottish island, which have adapted in a few hundred years to survive on seaweed. They now cannot do without their seaweed, and die if allowed only grass.
Why no natural light in your interplanetary craft?
Hope this helps.
Alec Anaconda, author of “Slaves of Janice” and “After Janice”. | | Back to Top | | |
    |  jackypaper Stablehand
        Date Joined Jan 2008 Total Posts : 5 | Posted 1/10/2008 2:34 PM (GMT -5) |   |
Hello!
I’ve read a lot of sci-fi in which the characters travel for extended periods of time through deep space, spending the majority of their time in a weightless environment. Some authors deal with the effects this might realistically have on the body, while others ignore it in favor of the greater story. I’m fine with either method, so long as the story is strong. But the situation has always made me wonder about the next phase of evolution.
Assuming that the human body is currently optimized for our earth of 2008, what type of evolutionary changes might take place in the physical form if we all lived in space for the next X number of years (long enough to see changes in our descendents)? What is the best configuration of the human body to deal with constant weightlessness, lack of natural light, and the hundreds of other little ways that space differs from our present surroundings? In the absence of ways to try and compensate for the environmental differences (such as some form of artificial gravity), what would space travelers actually look like, from a logical, scientific, Darwinian point of view? | | Back to Top | | |
| Forum Information | Currently it is Thursday, January 08, 2009 7:54 PM (GMT -5) There are a total of 85,854 posts in 7,125 threads. In the last 3 days there were 17 new threads and 74 reply posts. View Active Threads
| | Who's Online | This forum has 1335 registered members. Please welcome our newest member, rowdyphantom. 6 Guest(s), 0 Registered Member(s) are currently online. Details
|
Forum powered by dotNetBB v2.42EC SP2 dotNetBB © 2000-2009 (c) SFReader |
|
|
|