On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 11:12:56AM +1200, LizR wrote: > On 25 May 2014 23:32, Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On Sun, May 25, 2014 at 1:15 PM, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >> I guess it would be pedantic to point out the silliness of aliens wanting > >> to have sex with humans. I mean, we're more closely related to grass, > >> jellyfish and slugs than we are to aliens... > >> > > > > Makes sense, of course, but I'm not so sure. I don't think we know enough > > at this point to estimate the diversity of the solution space for > > biologically evolved entities with human-level intelligence or above. It > > could be that something very similar to us is the only viable solution, or > > the most likely solution. > > > > Functionally similar (perhaps), but certainly not genetically similar. We > aren't even gentically similar enough to interbreed with any other species > that evolved on the same planet under very similar conditions to us - for > example, we are very closely related to chimps, but we still can't > interbreed with them. > > It is however fascinating that we're so fascinated by this idea. From "I > married a monster from outer space" via Mr Spock to "Mars needs women!". >
I agree with Liz. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no feeling for just how ginormous the number 4^1 billion is. That is the size of the solution space using Terrestrial DNA (4 base pairs, around a billion base pairs makes up human DNA). For comparison, the number of protons in the visible universe is a mere 4^132 or so. Cheers -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au Latest project: The Amoeba's Secret (http://www.hpcoders.com.au/AmoebasSecret.html) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
