Universal Classification Of The Races
Okay, guys. I was watching some B5 reruns on my 'puter a while ago, and I saw a Shadow in the intro sequence to one of the episodes (well, I saw its eyes). I then did a little more digging and found that Shadows, though they can make themselves invisible to our eyes, appear roughly insectoid in appearance.
Now, it got me thinking... they reminded me a lot of Shivans. Multiple, glowing eyes; several limbs, representing a very dark force; they just bore many resemblences. And Shivans, in turn, reminded me of the Zerg; insectoid still, very dark and evil - and also flooding the enemy with numbers (Zergling rush... and Scorpion fighters pouring from the belly of the Lucifer. Very similar imagery, in a way), as well as quite possibly being hive-driven.
These three races are very, very similar. They are quite stereotypical of a very alien force - completely different in form, function and society (are they really social? ummm, I'll just use that word as a placeholder for now). Then there are races like the Protoss and Minbari which are another stereotype - high-cultured, wise, old, timeless.
This got me into thinking: we always use these stereotypes of alien races. What would be able to come up with if we went to the roots of life and see what wildly different variations we could come up with? Considering only a corporeal (ie. physical) existence, and factoring in only the life-forms that could exist in this universe (ie. under the physics laws of our universe), how many different life-forms could there possibly be?
I sat down and thought about what the major differences, the most basic changes that exist in physical life in this universe. I came up with this list of polar opposites – open to further thought and change, since I thought them up in only a few minutes. In no particular order…
A.
Multi-cellular, or single-cellularB.
Plant, or animalC.
Sentient, or non-sentientD.
Sapient, or non-sapientA couple of quick notes on these distinctions: to be sentient is to possess sensation and awareness of your surroundings. Sapience is the ability to judge and reason.
Now, on random topics, I thought up these questions…
1. Can life exist in a non-cellular form?
2. Can life exist outside of a medium (eg. atmosphere, water)?
3. Is it a valid distinction to separate plant and animal?
4. Is sentience always accompanied by sapience?
5. Can life exist as energy (as opposed to matter)?
6. What is the definition of a life-form? (I kind of know the answer to this question; it goes along the lines of “responds to stimuli”, “reproduces”, and some other things that I forget.)
7. Is DNA a necessary component for life?
8. Evolution is typically viewed as an increase in the complexity of an organism. Is the opposite possible?
9. Do all life-forms experience time in the same fashion, assuming they live under the same physical system? Can it be experienced faster, slow, backwards?
10. Is sapience always facilitated in a manner similar to the human brain’s neurons?
11. Is a nervous system necessary for animal life?
12. In life-forms with a nervous system, is there a reason that electric pulses are used as the means of transmission, rather than some other way?
13. What factors affect the development of senses in life-forms? What factors affect the focal length for vision (ie. The section of the electromagnetic spectrum that they can see)?
A lot of questions, I know. It all just hit me today.
