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| Hothouse; Fall of animals, rise of plants | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 11 2010, 06:57 PM (2,029 Views) | |
| Scrublord | Jun 11 2010, 06:57 PM Post #1 |
Father Pellegrini
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This was an odd little novel written in 1962 that may actually have been one of the first real works of speculative biology out there. Basically, the premise is that millions of years in the future, plants have somehow evolved the ability to move around like animals, and are competing with them. There are only a few species of mammals left, including a very tiny posthuman. Here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hothouse_(novel) Edited by Pandorasaurus, Jun 11 2010, 09:25 PM.
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My Projects: The Neozoic Redux Valhalla--Take Three! The Big One Deviantart Account: http://elsqiubbonator.deviantart.com In the end, the best advice I could give you would be to do your project in a way that feels natural to you, rather than trying to imitate some geek with a laptop in Colorado. --Heteromorph | |
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| Holben | Jun 12 2010, 03:15 PM Post #16 |
Rumbo a la Victoria
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Well, the speed is aproblem there. |
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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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| Ook | Jun 12 2010, 03:53 PM Post #17 |
not a Transhuman
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plants cant replace animals,they cant evolve muscles,nerves etc. |
   
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| colddigger | Jun 12 2010, 04:25 PM Post #18 |
Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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They could evolve equivalents of those tissues though. But the thing is animals already have a hold on these niches and there would be no easy way for plants to steal them away. |
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Oh Fine. Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP?? v Don't click v Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| Ook | Jun 12 2010, 04:48 PM Post #19 |
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not a Transhuman
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..how about tiny,but intelligent humans and four surviving species of insect?..its just fantasy 
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| colddigger | Jun 12 2010, 04:54 PM Post #20 |
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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Haha, true, it is indeed fantasy... Vines that grab onto the moon and flypeople mutated by solar radiation.... |
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Oh Fine. Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP?? v Don't click v Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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| MitchBeard | Jun 12 2010, 11:14 PM Post #21 |
proud gondwanan
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I think the most reasonable explanation is the good old "genetic engineers did it" |
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| Holben | Jun 13 2010, 12:55 PM Post #22 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Well then. I present to you the Forest of Cheem. Link. |
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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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| Pando | Jun 13 2010, 04:16 PM Post #23 |
Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Honestly? THOSE WEREN'T GENETICALLY ENGINEERED! It was supposed to have a billion years of evolution accelerated into 3 years, IN A 500x300 SQUARE MILE AREA! And those look to human-like. |
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| Ook | Jun 13 2010, 04:23 PM Post #24 |
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not a Transhuman
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rule of cool in serial
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| Pando | Jun 13 2010, 04:35 PM Post #25 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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How is human-looking aliens the rule of cool? |
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| Ook | Jun 13 2010, 04:51 PM Post #26 |
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not a Transhuman
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because people dont want look at snaiad like creatures,or something more alien,kĺike snaiad...they can imagine ourselves as that humanoid,human like aliens...ant they are more popular |
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| Pando | Jun 13 2010, 05:06 PM Post #27 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Really? I hate that everyone makes aliens look exactly like humans, except for a few things. Star Trek is just torture. |
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| Holben | Jun 14 2010, 11:54 AM Post #28 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Well, the info says they were engineered to evolve really fast, and for some reason the epitomy of evolution is humanesque... Not all star trek aliens are 'they make me cry' bad, Species 8472 and the Xindi are exceptions. I loooooooooooove Species 8472. |
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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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| Ammonite | Jun 14 2010, 03:14 PM Post #29 |
Adolescent
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Wow... Thanks for that, Holbenilord  That was cool! I didn't even know about them. One thing I always liked about Dr. Who was that they did make a concious effort to break away from human-like aliens. Yes, those were humanoi, but there seems to be more to them than just prosthetics........... If I may add something to this thread on the concept of moving plants, I believe in this case we may have to broaden our ideas on exactly what a plant is. For instance, consider the first cyanobacteria on Earth. The real split between "animal" and "plant" (and correct me if I'm wrong on this) occured when some prokaryotes consumed these cyanobacteria and gained the ability to produce their own food. Others consumed other protists, which then became mitochondria, and the new organisms became heterotrophs. See: Endosymbiotic Theory. Anyway, what if in this case those firstprokaryotes never consumed each other and instead continued to consume cyanobacteria the way their cousins were? If this developed over millions of years, concievably the only multicellular organisms you would have would be plants. Not only that, but due to Dollo's Law never cominto effect, there would be a bunch of new things a plant might be able to do. No, they probably wouldn't be able to develop brains, bones or muscles in the same way we did, but they would be able to do a few other things. I am even wiling to bet that a few of them would be able to move. Even more so, conciously move from one place to another. They could also develop some sort of sophisticated sensory apparatus like touch and hearing. And if some of these plants are no longer permanently rooted to the ground, they would need to become carnivorous in order to get the Nitrogen and Phosphorus that they require, right? Just an idea. Personally, I see a lot of promise with this sort of idea. One of the members I know on another board also came up with a similar idea but he fused heterotroph with autotroph and came up with organisms that both actively hunted and photosynthesized for metabolic energy. I thought it was pretty cool myself and would be interested in getting a copy of this book. Just an idea. |
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| Pando | Jun 14 2010, 03:28 PM Post #30 |
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Obey or I'll send you to the moon
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Plants just refer to the kingdom or organisms, rather than photosynthesizers. And animals split from fungi, rather than plants. |
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