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Future Predators of Humans
Topic Started: May 17 2009, 06:07 PM (9,986 Views)
rufus
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I rememebr that once in Peter Ward's book he mentions the differnt things that could possibly thin the human population. He mentioned, then dismissed at once the possibility of a new sort of predator. As he correctly observes, any such predator would be quickly elininated or contained if it started preying on our species. Humans would simply not allow ourselves or our children to become food.

But that got me to thinking. Suppose some future genetic scientist, engineered some sort of future predator to prey upon humans, perhaps as a way of cleansing the population of :defectives" or undesirables". The species could be genetically programed to hunt only humans as a food source. And it might be programed to eliminate only those humans who carried certain traits such as genetic maladies.

This would have to be done in such a way that the human population would not know what was happening, and could not take the action needed to eliminate the predators. This creature would be engineered from humans themselves.The creature could have engineered traits from other animal species, such as camaflauge abilites, and perhaps sonar from bats to stun their prey. BTW, I thought of this idea long before that "future predator" thing from Primeval, and I thought of posting this today, even before I read that other thread.

I also thought of making this idea into a story, in which the heor has to find who is releasing and controlling these predators and how to stop them. I usually try not to bash genetic science in my stories, like some authors do, but in this case the plot would demand that I do have a rogue geneticist.
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lamna
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They are extremely fast, have near human intelligence, and an opposable dew claw that can be used to open doors.

Oh great, more pack hunting super predators that can open doors. But we were really killed by our own hubris weren't we? Failing to develop technology to prevent doors being opened by anyone who wants to.

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Anti-Dog mobs would form and tare the wolfens and dogs to bits. Peoeple swich to pet cats until a caten evolves.

That's a fate worse than death by Woofys. More cats.

Sounds interesting, and I could work, but only if somebody engineered them to do that.
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sam999
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lamna
Dec 17 2009, 06:45 PM
Quote:
 
They are extremely fast, have near human intelligence, and an opposable dew claw that can be used to open doors.

Oh great, more pack hunting super predators that can open doors. But we were really killed by our own hubris weren't we? Failing to develop technology to prevent doors being opened by anyone who wants to.

Quote:
 
Anti-Dog mobs would form and tare the wolfens and dogs to bits. Peoeple swich to pet cats until a caten evolves.

That's a fate worse than death by Woofys. More cats.

Sounds interesting, and I could work, but only if somebody engineered them to do that.
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Kamidio
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Invisble ambush predators from the sky, who use sonar to see as being invisible would make any life-form that has eyes go blind.
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Fakepokemon64
Dec 17 2009, 10:16 PM
Invisble ambush predators from the sky, who use sonar to see as being invisible would make any life-form that has eyes go blind.
Invisble how?
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lamna
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Invisible is impossible for an animal. You would have an animal that looks like a walking water, see though but not invisible. And it would get cancer very quickly in sunlight.
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And invisible is unnecessary because camoflouge is so much easier, smell and sound are also the biggest giveaways for an animal that stalks its prey.
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sam999
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Cynovolans
Dec 20 2009, 08:49 PM
And invisible is unnecessary because camoflouge is so much easier, smell and sound are also the biggest giveaways for an animal that stalks its prey.
Human's don't have a very good sense of smell.
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Cynovolans
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Well yes, but our hearing is enough to identify if a large animal is stalking us as prey.

I wish I could give the public a true picture of the queen as she appeared at her best, but this would be impossible, even had she permitted a photograph to be taken, for her charming play of expression while in conversation, the character and intellect which were then revealed, were only half seen when the face was in repose. -Lilias Underwood when speaking of Empress Myeongseong

"I was born in the dark. I went out into the light, and your Majesty, it is my displeasure to inform you that I have returned to the dark. I envision a Seoul of towering buildings filled with Western establishments that will place herself back above the Japanese barbarians. Great things lie ahead for the Kingdom, great things. We must take action, your Majesty, without hesitation, to further modernize this still ancient kingdom."-Min Young-ik to Empress Myeongseong
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sam999
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Cynovolans
Dec 21 2009, 02:01 PM
Well yes, but our hearing is enough to identify if a large animal is stalking us as prey.

We can't hear cats very well.
Edited by sam999, Dec 23 2009, 06:24 AM.
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lamna
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That's why we have dogs, attack geese and sentry turrets.
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sam999
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lamna
Dec 23 2009, 06:45 AM
That's why we have dogs, attack geese and sentry turrets.
...and guns.
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Scrublord
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If we're counting parasitoids as predators (and I mean parasitOIDS, not parasites), I imagine a potential human predator would be some sort of wasp, such as ichneumon. Today, ichneumon wasps parasitize other insects, but suppose one took to parasitizing humans. Rather than just feeding on open wounds, like parasitic blowflies, these wasps' larvae would consume their entire victim, ultimately leaving only the bones and skin behind.
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sam999
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El Squibbonator
Dec 23 2009, 05:31 PM
If we're counting parasitoids as predators (and I mean parasitOIDS, not parasites), I imagine a potential human predator would be some sort of wasp, such as ichneumon. Today, ichneumon wasps parasitize other insects, but suppose one took to parasitizing humans. Rather than just feeding on open wounds, like parasitic blowflies, these wasps' larvae would consume their entire victim, ultimately leaving only the bones and skin behind.
That runs into the "big bugs can't breath" problem.
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Scrublord
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I'm not talking big ones. Im talking about regular-sized ones that just happen to parasitize humans and have parthenogenic larvae.
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sam999
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El Squibbonator
Dec 23 2009, 09:30 PM
I'm not talking big ones. Im talking about regular-sized ones that just happen to parasitize humans and have parthenogenic larvae.
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