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| Future Predators of Humans | |
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| Topic Started: May 17 2009, 06:07 PM (9,982 Views) | |
| rufus | May 17 2009, 06:07 PM Post #1 |
Newborn
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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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| Temporary | Jan 8 2010, 09:18 AM Post #271 |
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Transhuman
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Rate of mitosis is usually has a negative trend with with radiation resistance (compare the slow rate of mitosis in a cockroach to us, for example), though there are some examples iwth single cell creatures, I can't think of anything in complex life that defies that. At least not on our level. I'm not sure if it's possible at that kind of rate. Maybe instead a better and more efficent way of getting rid of the mutations then we have instead? |
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| Holben | Jan 8 2010, 12:08 PM Post #272 |
Rumbo a la Victoria
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Maybe. It was kind of a developed ant colony. The animals themselves don't have to be so large, and the eggs therefore could shrink. Perhaps if they laid whole clutches in people? I took the shielded DNA from cockroaches, and the strength from ants. But i don't think they would be anywhere near so resilient as Radiodurans or even tardigrades. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Jan 8 2010, 12:42 PM Post #273 |
Translunar injection: TLI
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People might notice the mass of eggs. The certainly WILL notice if the mass is large enough.
Seems fine, until you get to a certain point. At that point, they can't hunt humans effectively. Unless you put them in huge droves that converve en mass onto targets- which would make them tasty targets to flamethrowers/bugspray. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Holben | Jan 8 2010, 01:07 PM Post #274 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Then they use the let-them-waste-ammo-there-are-always-more-of-us approach. I was thinking, about 1m long or less. The eggs might only need to be 2 or 3 cm across, and squeezable. If laid in someone's back, they wouldn't realise as the skin would close up around the half-a-centimetre-or-so mark. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Jan 8 2010, 01:20 PM Post #275 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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Easy way of defeating them then. Sleep on your back. 
Then the "hordes" can be reduced to packs of maybe 4 or 5. And they can still be trained on individually by marksmen. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Temporary | Jan 8 2010, 01:36 PM Post #276 |
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Transhuman
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In that case you're looking at slow mitosis and very little soft tissue. That's how it and most insects/arthropods survive radiation exposure so well compared to us. |
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| Holben | Jan 8 2010, 04:33 PM Post #277 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Well, yeah, but the weakness is not due to the mitosis. Although, rapid mitosis uses up a lot of the shielding potential, i'm sure they won't have much against them. If they're 50cm long, and can climb up walls, and have a sped-up perception of time, bullets shouldn't be too much of a problem. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Jan 9 2010, 04:27 PM Post #278 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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They should still be aimable upon, somewhat. There might not be much military experience taking down creatures smaller then humans, but hunters have done it for some time.
Climbing up a wall only makes the wall a nice bullseye target with the creature in the middle.  Not sure what you mean by a "sped up perception of time". They could be pretty swift and agile, but they're still under the influence of the laws of physics. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Holben | Jan 10 2010, 12:54 PM Post #279 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Yes, but we perceive time differently with reagard to events. Eg, life threatening situations. If an animal had permanently sped-up perception, it would find it easier to react to such events as trained snipers. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Jan 10 2010, 01:51 PM Post #280 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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No. Trained snipers hide themselves via camoflage etc... and even when the shot makes a sound, it doesn't matter since the round is supersonic and would have killed the creature anyway. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Holben | Jan 10 2010, 03:09 PM Post #281 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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So, if the creature saw faster than the bullet, it would be easier to evade the bullet or let it hit a less critical area. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Jan 10 2010, 03:13 PM Post #282 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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Bullets travel exceedingly fast (although the velocity differs due to the type of projectile used). I doubt an organism's neural system would be able to register the threat, decide upon a course of action and enact it. It would also take time to accelerate out of the path of the bullet. Bullets are also quite small and thus difficult to see. I would imagine that the muzzle flash of the weapon firing it would be more easily seen though. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Holben | Jan 10 2010, 03:17 PM Post #283 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Yeah. one and a half times the speed of sound, say? But if they were trying to stay hidden, they could use subsonic ammunition. The neural system would have to conduct really really well- perhaps signals could go down minerals instead of through nerves. But maybe i'm missing the point. If it moves faster than we can see, we're already dead. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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| T.Neo | Jan 10 2010, 03:51 PM Post #284 |
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Translunar injection: TLI
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Room-temperature superconductors perhaps? It's bordering on implausible but if such a thing exists I don't see why an organism using it would be any less plausible then an organism using minerals. It would still have to interact with muscles and such, so there would be a biological limit to what it could do.
Subsonic ammo still goes pretty fast, btw. Subsonic ammo can be silenced totally, but this is only a real advantage if you're trying to remain undetected while sniping on VIPs. I doubt that the creatures would be THAT deadly that you'd have to be totally silent. Best secure the sniping area and have two to three guys guarding the entrances with flamethrowers anyway.
What one must remember is that everything has to abide by the laws of physics. Any creature of sufficient size will have inertia, regardless of what you make the muscles or nerves out of etc. They could be fast, but too fast to see would probably abrade their feet to a bloody mess and turn them into a splat upon stopping or starting. One thing I didn't think of before, is land mines and boobytraps. I'm sure you'd be able to have a landmine that could be set off by the light weight of the organisms. Perhaps however a tripwire mine would be better. Boobytraps could work well. You could have the usual "hidden" boobytraps or you could have boobytraps with bait (dead or alive... JP goats come to mind :P) within to attract them. Given enough time it might be possible to include their breeding pheremone as a lure. And even if they were quite intelligent, remember that boobytraps have worked on humans, and even if they figure out the more elaborate ones soon enough, humans are able to wage an arms race against them. |
| A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork. | |
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| Holben | Jan 10 2010, 03:55 PM Post #285 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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If it had springy legs or flew, abrasion wouldn't be a problem. Harder chitin might be helpful as well. Room-temperature superconductors would be amazing. Perhaps they could come down in an edible asteroid? Even better- drones and robot sentries doing the fighting. |
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Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea. "It is the old wound my king. It has never healed." | |
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