Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site caip.RUTGERS.EDU Path: utzoo!linus!gatech!seismo!caip!hoey From: hoey@nrl-aic Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: Space Is Clean Message-ID: <374@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Thu, 7-Nov-85 14:06:46 EST Article-I.D.: caip.374 Posted: Thu Nov 7 14:06:46 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Nov-85 06:01:03 EST Sender: daemon@caip.RUTGERS.EDU Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 31 From: Dan HoeyFrom: mtgzz!leeper@caip.rutgers.edu (m.r.leeper) Date: 31 Oct 85 21:25:28 GMT ...thinking about how likely it was that if we found life in the universe it would likely be something that would turn our collective stomachs. ...So most life-forms we find disgusting, but the converse is even more true. Only a small part of the matter on Earth is connected with life-forms, yet everything disgusting is. This is an awesome thesis. I like it, it's a pretty idea, but... I'm not convinced. True, giant insects, organic slimes, or humanoids with tentacles might incite disgust (remember the diplomat in Heinlein's *Star Beast*). But why do we expect aliens to look like something we avoid on Earth? Real aliens should be so different from anything we would recognize as organic that aversion wouldn't be aroused. Could a monolith, a hurkle, a berserker, or a beach ball make you queasy? And if aliens have anywhere near as stringent environmental requirements as humans do, our environments will probably be disjoint, so we won't see, smell, or touch anything but the inside of our life support system. Certainly, really alien aliens that we can't meet face to face are a minority in SF, but I attribute this to a lack of author imagination, effects budgets, and audience empathy. But it sure is a nice idea. ``There's only one thing wrong with the Great Red Spot... It's alive!'' Dan Hoey