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zerg, tyrranids, xenomorphs and flood oh my; plus the hive minds
Topic Started: Nov 1 2008, 04:22 PM (1,154 Views)
ATEK Azul
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Transhuman
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this is a topic about the probability and discusion of the popular and almost unbeatable hive mind lead alien plagues of the sci-fi genra. and if they are possible and wether or not they can be tweaked into the realm of beleavable.

this includes.

flood from the halo series.
the tyrranids from the warhammer 40k miniuture games.
xenomorphs from the alien/aliens and alien vs predator movies.
zerg from the starcraft games.
brood from the marvel comic multiverses.
the super fast evolving alien creatures from the movie evolution and the cartoon series.
slivers from the world of magic the gathering trading card game.

and any others not listed here that have these characteristics.

the ability too evolve incredibly fast.
the ability to have a queen/king or hive mind leadership.
the ability to evolve organic weapons that have the potental too be far superior to technology.
the ability too reproduce in great numbers very fast.
the ability too use the genes of other creatures too evolve them selves.
the ability too learn from there mistakes.
the ability to take over another creatures body.
a complex life cycle.
insectoid, reptilian or dinosaurian body style.
the ability too be smart enough to both breed and geneticaly modify the members of the hive and the weapons of the hive with organic technology.
a cast system.
the ability too traverse the universe at very high speed.
and almost always never uses earth technology or simular alien technology.

now if you want too talk about a different group i did not post then they do not have to follow all the rules just most.

this topic is not for things like the borg and strog.

please any comments are great.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Sliver Slave
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I'm going back to basics.

Of all of them, I say slivers are most unlikely, since they rely on magic to communicate their powers (but the would still beat all of the other combined),and any "race" that can survive in a variety of conditions of various atmospheric compositions and pressures will be unlikely. I think the tyranids would be the most "likely" since they could simply engineer them for specific planetary conditions on the fly.

The evolution of creatures like these probably wouldn't happen.
Something is upsetting the ostriches.

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Flisch
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First of all: Yay for slivers!

For discussion:

First off, the probability of slivers really can't be discussed, since they are magically creatures. Of course they can evolve rapidly fast and of course they can evolve "biological" weapons, as some slivers are made of crystals, magma or even just... light. So, they really don't fit at all in this group of "hivemind aliens". :P

Second, the Xenomorphs are not really discussible, since as far as I know there aren't really enough nformations, though I must admit that they are probably not possible given that their biology is entirely different from earth's one (their body is made of silicone and their blood is acid), which would prevent them from growing inside human hosts. However, they are concepted from a surreal artist and serve mainly as "horror" beings, so I guess their biology wasn't well thought out anyway.

Third: The Evolution aliens.
Actually, they do not form a hivemind...at all. Either you have misunderstood their biology or simply have made a slight mistake in putting them here. However, I must admit that they are pretty impossible either. The way they showed them suggests that they evolve within weeks into sapient creatures from single celled beings, which is, to my mind, just not reasonable. let me remind you that they were made for a comedy movie and not for some science project.

Fourth: The Zerg.
At the risk of being a fanboy, I state, that the Zerg are the most believable ones of the four aliens I listed so far. They are basically a mixture between ants and humans. They have the hivemind and division of work from ants. However, like humans they can genetically modify living things by breeding, namely themselves. Of course some things were just made up because of the gameplay, like they can travel both in atmosphere and space and telepathy, though I think that space faring would be possible to a certain extent.

I can't say anything about the other aliens, as I don't know them.


"ATEK Azul"
 
and almost always never uses earth technology [...]

Well, I would be surprised if aliens used earth technology...

And by the way: You should probably start paying attention to your punctuation, as well as your spelling. ("the ability to evolve incredibly fast." and so on) ;)
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ATEK Azul
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1st what i meant by earth technology was captured earth tech from battle with humans.

and as i said in my first post the aliens in the topic do not have too follow all of the cryteria i posted thats why the aliens from evolution are there.
Edited by ATEK Azul, Nov 1 2008, 05:11 PM.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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ATEK Azul
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Flisch
Nov 1 2008, 04:49 PM
And by the way: You should probably start paying attention to your punctuation, as well as your spelling. ("the ability to evolve incredibly fast." and so on) ;)
I am dyslexic.

I try as best I can.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Sliver Slave
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I'm going back to basics.

Ah, okay.
Something is upsetting the ostriches.

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Flisch
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ATEK Azul
Nov 1 2008, 05:05 PM
Flisch
Nov 1 2008, 04:49 PM
And by the way: You should probably start paying attention to your punctuation, as well as your spelling. ("the ability to evolve incredibly fast." and so on) ;)
I am dyslexic.

I try as best I can.
Oh, I didn't see the signature. I apologize.
We have a discord. If you want to join, simply message me, Icthyander or Sphenodon.
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ATEK Azul
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it was not there at the time thats why i added it after you all posted so that people would stop telling me no offense. thanks for the appologies.

and please keep posting
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Vultur-10


Well, as for the Xenomorphs: I've only seen Alien, Aliens, and AVP, and read the first movie's novelization, so I don't have any information in Alien3 or Resurrection.

The silicon can be gotten around: I don't think they're meant to be really "silicon-based" the way we're "carbon-based", they seem way too organic for that. Plenty of Earthly organisms use silicon compounds: grasses have silica grains to make them harder to eat, some sponges have silicaceous skeletons, diatoms have silicaceous shells. (IIRC, in the novelization of "Alien", it's more like a hardened skin - I don't remember any hint that it's actually a silicon-based critter.)

The acid is more powerful than anything I can think of an earthly organism making, but acids are very common in biology - disregarding the weaker acids found in every creature (nucleic acids, the citric acid cycle in eukaryotes...), stomach acid is powerful HCl, and ants use formic acid as a weapon. In the novelization, the acid is explained as not their actual blood, but a special defensive fluid between inner and outer skins.

The hardest thing for me to accept about the xenomorph is that it can use species from many planets as hosts. (I suppose it could have very non-specific nutritional requirements, though, basically just needing a source of calorie-rich organic matter: maybe it makes the more specific proteins and nutrients itself?)

it has an awful lot of powerful adaptations bundled together, but that could be believable if its homeworld was an evolutionary arms race gone mad. (I wouldn't want to spend time on that planet, though: the Xenomorph's parasitism implies it probably didn't evolve as a top predator!)
Edited by Vultur-10, Nov 1 2008, 11:34 PM.
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CarrionTrooper
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I require more vespene gas?!?
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I am wretched
but I am STRONG!
I am the future...
I AM ZERG!

Hehehe, enough with the hiveminding.
I personally think that the ability to travel in space using organic technology is plausible. Only if they get a good, explainable flight technology that enables them to achieve terminal velocity (for planet-bound organisms) and/or propel themselves through space (for space-borne organisms). For protection they may develop tough or rubbery skin that is resilient to radiation and high temperatures (for planetary landings andsoforth). For the propellant, it is possible they use a strong kind of telekinesis, but we're not so sure about the mechanisms on that.
On rapid-evolution-like behavior... the xenomorphs and the zergs are quite similar. I guess Vultur-10 is kinda spot-on for xenomorphs... while the zergs also came from parasitic beginnings. I think their DNA are somewhat like ants, with all the variations and stuff... and modifying their DNA to adapt to new surroundings is a sound theory.
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