7/13/2004: Baited bull

[Trilby]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Ok, so it does happen, we find life some place else. What then? Kill it? Farm it? Eat it? What if it's badder than us? What if it's.....Muslim?

I vote eat it. Unless it's got monster parts, then kill it.
Watched NOVA last night. Apparently a true alien won't have a face like the faces we see here on earth (Two eyes, two nostrils and one mouth below) because if it does have a face like ours we must share a common ancestor--it's what the dude on the show said anyway. He seemed pretty sure of himself.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Brianna

I vote eat it. Unless it's got monster parts, then kill it.
Watched NOVA last night. Apparently a true alien won't have a face like the faces we see here on earth (Two eyes, two nostrils and one mouth below) because if it does have a face like ours we must share a common ancestor--it's what the dude on the show said anyway. He seemed pretty sure of himself.

Actually, I'd guess that it would be more likely to have a similar face than to be edible. External features are succeptible to convergent evolution (while bats and birds do share an ancestor, it wasn't one that flew) and the basic face is reasonably efficient. It would be unlikely, but not impossible for an alien to have the eyes/nostrils/mouth roughly in that orientation.