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Originally Posted by Ubique Daemon
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Originally Posted by Jpax2003
What is a "hang"? I am not aware of any definition that fits the context.
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Originally Posted by Ubique Daemon
We have a built in hang to go places...
It would of course have a built in hang to continuous exploration...
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Your run on sentences also leave me confused. |
Sorry. My post was originally written in my native language, norwegian, and then translated into english in a hurry. English is a secondary language to me, so sometimes I'm having trouble finding the correct words and building sentences properly. Especially so last night, since I didn't have a dictionary at my disposal when translating the text.
RGB put it right though, with 'predisposition'. |
I wasn't trying to be overly critical, I really did have a hard time understanding. Was "hang" a mistranslation or a transliteration from norwegian?
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Originally Posted by eburacum45
your 'Hang' is probably related to the word hanker in english;
as in 'to hanker after' something.
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I was thinking that too.
I know a lot of people like to talk about how a species' genes "wants" to evolve, but that is an especially slippery form of animism. I say it is "especially slippery" because we are talking about living things, which are therefore animated, but we attribute some extra personification to these things of which they are not capable. Unless we posit some sort of mental ability for even the simplest association of the molecules of life, DNA can't
want to do anything.
I think we should avoid turning this into a biological evolution debate, which the BA seems to find distasteful. Suffice it to say, that if you think biological evolution can happen here, then you should assume it can happen elsewhere pursuant to local conditions. And of course, if you think biological evolution did not happen on earth, then you will probably need some other instigating event in order to think it could happen elsewhere.
My earlier post was comparing local evolution to panspermia. No matter how life started in the universe, it may be able to spread without high intelligence. However, for that same rugged single-celled organism to evolve into a highly intelligent life-form may be limited by local factors. And even if that life-form is evolved, it may never be able to develop spacefaring capabilities for reasons of resource, ingenuity, or drive. In other words, if humanity evolved on earth, but earth had no surface radioactives for energy, could they leave the surface? If there was no moon to use as a first step, could they get off the surface an on their way to the stars without any intermediate goals? If there was no moon, would they even realize that space was a three dimensional construct and not just a dome of stars in some crystal sphere beyond their reach?