Aliens and the Unknown
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In his post #180, @Hawk made some very good points regarding aliens and space travel. I totally agree with him. He ended the post with this:
"Bottom line, you have to be fairly narrow minded to believe that we are alone, or that we have not been visited at least once, by beings from another planet."
I would add that it's entirely possible that aliens or their descendants live amongst us today. Their DNA could be the same as those of the native earth people. But some of those genes could have something a little extra. It's possible many of us could have such genes. And it does give me pause when I see people do extraordinary things. Maybe the gymnasts wasn't the best example, but it was one I happened on. I wasn't trying to be funny. My intent was to add a possibility to a thread about Aliens and the Unknown.
"Bottom line, you have to be fairly narrow minded to believe that we are alone, or that we have not been visited at least once, by beings from another planet."
I would add that it's entirely possible that aliens or their descendants live amongst us today. Their DNA could be the same as those of the native earth people. But some of those genes could have something a little extra. It's possible many of us could have such genes. And it does give me pause when I see people do extraordinary things. Maybe the gymnasts wasn't the best example, but it was one I happened on. I wasn't trying to be funny. My intent was to add a possibility to a thread about Aliens and the Unknown.
Frankly, I think it's insulting calling someone narrow-minded for not believing something for which there is no evidence. Sure, they could definitely be elsewhere, but saying they've been on earth is an extraordinary claim due to the incredible distances of the universe and limitations imposed by the laws of physics as we understand them.
Hippo, I wasn't intending to be insulting. Plus, I don't recall exactly how long ago I wrote that post or my exact train of thought at the time, but let me say this: an open-minded individual would accept the possibility. That's more or less what I was getting at... I think.
I know that's not exactly making things better from my previous statement, but All I was saying is you are either open to the possibilities or you are not, and there are a lot more chances it's true than not.
I know that's not exactly making things better from my previous statement, but All I was saying is you are either open to the possibilities or you are not, and there are a lot more chances it's true than not.
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I'm not sure you realize how well geneticists can track history of genes nowadays. They've mapped the genome. They've tracked human migration all the way back to Africa through genes. They've discovered the interbreeding of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals through genes. If a gene popped in from outer space, I'm sure it would stick out like a sore thumb to them.
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Not necessarily. Our genes vary from one to another. A slight tweak of alien genes could have been with us for many years and seen by geneticists as normal for humans. The difference would be more in our DNA structure. But what if it's the same? This all falls in the "Unknown" area, and will probably remain there.
There is evidence against this. The entire origin or our genome has been traced to terrestrial sources.
If aliens seeded/reproduced with humans, it would result in vertical evolution. This type of reproduction leads to recombination of alleles. Nowhere in human evolution do we see alleles that are not accounted for by a natural mutation. The small changes that appear over time due to natural selection are traceable through all of primate evolution. If aliens reproduced with humans in this manner, we would see new alleles appear that didn't arise from a previous allele, but rather from a recombination event from an alien source.
If aliens created a hybrid species by inserting genetic code into our DNA, it would lead to horizontal evolution. There are several ways to identify it, one of which is codon bias. Codon bias is an organism's tendency to use specific codons for an amino acid more than it uses others. It can be used to tell if a segment of DNA originated from a different species. If alien DNA were injected into ours, it would have its own evolutionary history and codon bias. Geneticists would be able to tell that it didn't match an organism from Earth. They have already identified areas of non-human origin, and they are all from non-alien sources.
If aliens seeded/reproduced with humans, it would result in vertical evolution. This type of reproduction leads to recombination of alleles. Nowhere in human evolution do we see alleles that are not accounted for by a natural mutation. The small changes that appear over time due to natural selection are traceable through all of primate evolution. If aliens reproduced with humans in this manner, we would see new alleles appear that didn't arise from a previous allele, but rather from a recombination event from an alien source.
If aliens created a hybrid species by inserting genetic code into our DNA, it would lead to horizontal evolution. There are several ways to identify it, one of which is codon bias. Codon bias is an organism's tendency to use specific codons for an amino acid more than it uses others. It can be used to tell if a segment of DNA originated from a different species. If alien DNA were injected into ours, it would have its own evolutionary history and codon bias. Geneticists would be able to tell that it didn't match an organism from Earth. They have already identified areas of non-human origin, and they are all from non-alien sources.
