The Nightstar Zoo

I have a question. How did amorphs evolve from memory storage devices?

Evolution by natural selection requires that there be a replicator, which has a less than perfect copying fidelity. Errors in the copying process are mutations, these are random but the mutations are selected (naturally) depending on their utility for the survival and continued propagation of that particular replicator in that particular environment.

In all life on earth these replicators are the DNA (or RNA in viruses) that make up our genetic code. For about 3.5 billion years all life on earth consisted of single celled organisms, until the Cambrian explosion 500m years ago in which multicellular organisms appeared. Each cell in those organisms are all clones to serve the interests of the same replicator, though there would be symbiotes and parasites in there too, over time becoming seamlessly melded with the replicators of the original host. So a multicellular organism would be a kind of colony for replicators of many different origins, over time.

When it's time to reproduce a multicellular organism the germ cell is created with a random mixture of half of the genetic information from the previous cell through the process of meiosis, from which a new organism is constructed after fertilizing another such germ cell.

So what would serve the role of the replicator in a long term carbo-silicate storage device? And how would there be enough selection pressure to drive the process of blind selection to take it from a jar of goo to a sentient being like schlock which. Also once reaching that state apparantly stops evolving in a physical way altogether, according to schlock's talk about the birds and the bees, his species doesn't exchange codes for gross physical structure, only personality information.

Also I'm wondering, if life forms in the galaxy use the same kinds of replicators as us and the same amino acids as we do, how do different species stop their immune systems from being completely overwhelmed by trillions of previously unencountered species of bacteria upon setting foot on another world, ala War of the Worlds?

Actually, nanotech might be the easy answer to that last one...

wtf?

A google search shows the identical query in MANY different blogs around the internet. The fact that it showed up in this thread points to automated blogging based off keywords, at least partially. Even if a human had to press a few buttons, they clearly didn't spend any time reading the thread.

The sad thing is advertisers pay people to do this crap.

They could at least proofread it

The self-repair mechanism.

Also, you probably don't absolutely need mutations, at least for sexually reproducing species. I've seen some tentative suggestions that in such species mutations are net harmfully, actually--the minimal amount of "boost" they provide to the evolutionary process is swamped by the harm they do.

Far more important is the exchange of genetic material between the parents. The "one strand from parent A, one strand from parent B" produces far more diversity than mutation and does it with far fewer critical problems.

Sure, but mutation is the only way that new features can occur. You don't go from protozoa to humans without mutations.

That said,yes, the vast majority of mutations are harmful, and the offspring dies. It's the rare occurrence of the beneficial mutation that advances the species.

Last but not least, mutation is not an intended process. It occurs by the natural effects of probabilistic laws.

You missed my point. According to what I understand, swapover DOES create new traits, DOES introduce more diversity than mutation, and IS sufficient for evolution without mutation. I admit I'm not an expert, so I can't explain the mechanisms except by analogy, but if you really want the answers I'll talk with my lab tech friend and get the full way-the-hell-more-detail-than-you-want version.

Yes, swapover can create new traits by exploring combinations of existing genes. However, only mutation can actually create new genes, and thereby expand the combinatorial space.

Vog's brain sounds like it was extremely similiar to schlock's Distributed brain, and it "can survive outside his head". Also, a lot of Vog's people were uploaded into 'machines' Schlock's ancestors were memory storage devices.....

I'm guessing that people's uploaded minds were stored in amorph network storage drives, and at some point, either Vog-type brains were accidently mixed with a batch of network storage drives, or a manufacturing defect or industrial accident caused the network storage drives to make the few minor changes needed to effectively BECOME vog-type brains.

and that's all it takes. a mobile amorph storage blob, with one or more human-type minds stored inside, that eats to live and lives to eat....

based on how amorphs repoduce, all evolution since then probably consisted of deciding what skills and knowledge of shapeshifting your generation gained that you want to pass on to the next generation.

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20070902.html

Are we sure that Vog's brain isn't an amorph? Maybe that's all that amorphs are is disembodied Vogons. (*)


(*) i.e., people of Vog's species, not horrific poets and builders of hyperspatial bypasses. Thanks for all the fish, and the memories, Douglas!

You mean, the Bradicor?

I suspect that the FIRST amorph was, basically, a disembodied bradicor brain. or else an amorph storage device that was EFFECTIVELY a disembodied bradicor brain.

and either way, that 'brain' decided that life as an independent mobile object was cooler, and probably decided to corrupt some additional long term storage devices, and the rest was shapeshifting practice and history.

No. The amorphs were organic memory storage units that the Bradicor uploaded their consciousnesses into. Their civilization crapped out, but after a million years or so, due to evolutionary processes, those organic memory storage units evolved a consciousness of their own

yeah, but the EMBODIED bradicors were still around with the amorph-like superbrains. and one of the memory storage units might have still contained the shrapnel of one or more 'stored' conciousnesses that was left after the identity wars. it's not that hard to think that a CERTAIN level of bradicor-type intelligence was assimilated during the more-or-less-accidental creation of the very first amorph brain. It would explain why they apparently went straight from "chemical cocktail" to "Mobile, self-aware, intelligent being." ordinarily, we would have expected a NON-intelligent version to occur first, and for there to be non-intelligent amorph genetic cousins still wandering around on the planet. Since non-intelligent amorphs don't exist, i proposes that SOME type of bradicor thoughts were included in the first step of amorph evolution.

Perhaps there were non-intelligent amorphs, but given that they can swap memories and personality elements, perhaps the non-intelligent amorphs were converted into intelligent amorphs by meme-swapping. They are, after all, probably effectively immortal, and their reproduction is mostly about the swapping of memes, not genes.

Not sure if this really fits into the Schlock Science Canonical thread since it's not a fundamental, but I thought that this little gadget needed a mention: the bone phone (third panel). The implication is that it is a communication device that is built into the head (ear bone? jaw bone?) to allow the user to talk whilst not having any apparent way to do so.

Without further specification, it might not be detectable either (unless one is specifically looking for it)?

Considering that Massey has an (off-the-shelf?) communicator tie, there must be limited use/need for a bone-phone. Which makes one wonder how Kathyrn got it...

...she's a spy.