Ground rules....no idea here is personal or sacred, if you post it here it's public...
The basic idea here is to keep asking questions. Why? What? How? Who would benefit from that? What could go wrong? (that's a big one) I've seen these start in 3 main ways: character, price of magic, or what makes an alien different? I suppose there are more ways to start than just those three, but why not? Last time we did one of these on this site we started with a character. (A fifty-year-old woman in a forest that I actually wrote a short story about and submitted.)
I think we should start with an alien today. (We do so much fantasy around here, time for a change.) So, when doing a science fiction concept involving aliens, the main thing you need to start with is....What makes this alien unique? Start answering that question and at first, we'll get cliches, but hopefully soon we'll come up with something good. (Don't be afraid to spout out cliches either....get them out and past them so we can move on, it's part of the process and is quite useful.) Keep in mind, when coming up with some alien characteristic, that our next questions will involve evolutionary plausibility.
So, without futher ado....What makes this alien unique?
Hmm...
They evolved in a highly predatory environment and have a tough, sharp, spiky appendage that they can use as a weapon.
Rux
:}
Or maybe it's chocolate - anyone who hates it is pretty alien to me!
It's an embarrassing affliction that he loathes, and is brought on by his addiction to earthworms.
)
So our alien, having been born without telepathic powers, must somehow design a makeshift warning system (radar, perhaps) and either carry it around always or have it surgically embedded.
Or aliens rooted to the spot (like trees)?
Or tiny aliens the size of microbes? Is there any possibility that they would be intelligent?
What about airborne aliens?
Or aliens that can't see?
Perhaps an alien that sings as its language?
Perhaps an alien that requires extremely hot or extremely cold temperatures? What would it look like?
What about an alien who has no mouth, it gains sustinence through some other means?
Or an alien that is actually a consciouss planet or moon?
Could a certain type of alien actually evolve/live in the vacuum of space?
What about a non carbon based life form? What else might it be made of? How would that work?
Are we still going with telepathic aliens or coming up with new ideas? I'll go with both:
Maybe the telepathic aliens are unable to read into the subtleties of other aliens' speech and facial expressions and the non-telepathic alien is the only one who knows their friends are about to attack them treacherously.
How about aliens that only exist as the thoughts of other aliens?
Or aliens who live their lives in reverse? They dig themselves up out of the ground 8ft tall, gradually shrink throughout their lives until they are half a foot tall and then build an egg type shell around them. A couple of weeks later they are cooked and eaten as a normal egg by the rest of their family.
Some humans are tone-deaf, though. What if a perfectly intelligent alien was tone-deaf? Would it be like deafness for humans? Would there be an alternate form of communication? What would this alien think of human speech? What would the other aliens think of it?
The aliens communicate by thumping parts of their own bodies rhythmically.
The aliens communicate by thumping parts of others' bodies rhythmically.
The aliens communicate by sneezing out chemicals that the receiver tastes to interpret meaning.
The aliens communicate by varying body temperature.
The aliens have contact telepathy with an unintelligent symbiotic life form, and they communicate with each other by imprinting messages on the minds of the symbiotes and exchanging them.
These aliens are blind (to a degree. They don't see like we do, but that's okay. They live in utter darkness every day of their lives), but their other senses are magnificent. They communicate by touch. They have a six-fingered hand (2 thumbs, on opposite sides of the palms...maybe. I haven't decided), and a long, dextrous tail, which keeps them balanced while they run. Running is a part of their culture. It is an ancient relic from a time when they were prey, but now, they're masters of their planets. Yet they have no technology. None. They don't write, so they can't plan. Or maybe they have genetic memories. Also, they live in the ground. They're nomadic, traveling wherever the large nests of locust-like insects travel, which they feed on, burrowing into the dirt to sleep for the...time they're sleeping. Because it's always night, remember?
Meh. I'm just rambling. Ignore me.
CVG
Or perhaps my new idea: The aliens are humans, and there is no difference at all. but that's boring so these other ones have acheived world peace, and try to take it to the others. but it goes the other way and the earthlings bring their waringness to the others.
So this alien race senses remote objects by the sound they reflect. They communicate with each other by moving broad, flat appendages that change the pattern of sound reflected by their bodies.
What could go wrong? Here's an example: One of the aliens has invented the hot air balloon. After several unmanned tests he takes it on its first manned flight. When he gets a few hundred feet above the ocean he can't hear its waves any more and becomes "blind." He can no longer read his instruments or find his controls! Now what will he do?
"How about a race of aliens that is (here's the original part) dumber than we are. "
I had an idea about that very same thing not too long ago!
[This message has been edited by Eric Sherman (edited May 11, 2004).]
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I'll never buy a story in which humans have achieved peace...it's frankly counter-evolutionary and is my big qualm with Star Trek, well, one of them.
Some ideas:
1. Someone releases a virus that alters the human genome to eliminate agressive behavior.
2. Relatively advanced aliens conquer Earth and sterilize any human who displays violent tendencies (as well as the parents, siblings, and offspring of such people) in order to produce a peaceful slave race.
3. Exposure to a certain nerve weapon causes unconsciousness at the thought of doing violence. Once soldiers are exposed, they are forever after incapable of fighting.
With regard to the more general question of whether a peaceful humanity is "counter-evolutionary," evolution is based on survival of genes. If circumstances arise such that genetic traits promoting peaceful coexistence are more likely to be passed on than genetic traits promoting warfare, then evolutionary pressures will move humanity toward peace.
Any trait can be accounted for by evolution, if the environment is set up to promote that trait.
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Now THAT'S a challenge.
Or humans find peace in something ala Matrix, where fighting leads to an automatic brain wipe.
Or fantasy, and there's a sword of Damocles waiting for anyone who draws a blade on the innocent, and our hero is having trouble because the person who through prophecy will feed evil and destroy the world is still innocent and protected by the Magic of the Land (tm)...
Or a sufficiently charismatic leader manages to unite humanity (or the ragged remainders thereof) against a common enemy.
"1. Someone releases a virus that alters the human genome to eliminate agressive behavior.
2. Relatively advanced aliens conquer Earth and sterilize any human who displays violent tendencies (as well as the parents, siblings, and offspring of such people) in order to produce a peaceful slave race."
This is going much better than any solo attempts at this that I have tried!
1+My thoughts- There could be conflict over the ethics involved in changing our genetics. Or, what if we do this, and an alien invader comes to Earth? Would we have relearn our aggresive tendancies?
I think if idea one was combines with idea two, we'd have a decent story idea in the works.
[This message has been edited by Eric Sherman (edited May 11, 2004).]
) But it could still make for a good story.
In the communication arena, I recently toyed with an idea involving a species possessing glands in its equivalence of a ‘mouth’ (though the concept is certainly not limited to such a region, specifically). This system would allow members of the species to manipulate the color and scent of saliva secretions, which would be spit onto the ground, a nearby surface, or, and this is where the concept took a patently 'gross' turn, on each other as a primary means of communication.
Basically, the aliens would ‘speak’ by spitting colors (some of which could be well beyond the human visual range) all over the place. Complexity could be added by including the aforementioned 'scent' factor. I've already written a few tentative (and amusing) scenes involving human vs. alien interaction, purely for the benefit of the concept. Fortunately, all has remained sufficiently generalized at this point to justify posting the idea here. Have at it!
If I can think of a few comments on the other issues (after I've digested them sufficiently, at least) I'll be sure to post again…though I’m not sure you’ll want me to after reading this one. Especially if you were eating….
Inkwell
------------------
"The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp."
-Anonymous
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what if we do this, and an alien invader comes to Earth?
"Your superior intellects are no match for _our_ puny weapons."
It's interesting that we are becoming the aliens. anyways,
I say they came from Pakistan, not the country but the planet, the country just seems to be named after it because that's where the ship landed. and the secret to the human race lies in Pakistan. (country not planet.)
Lol on the spitting, just think about the kind of recording devices they would have.
Yeah, a spaceboatload of humans leave from there looking for a nice planet. Not to hot (Mercury--they hit the sunside), and not too cold(Pluto) but juuust right--Earth.
And then a Giant monkey jumps out and makes them all into strudel?
Speaking of light....I learned why all trees are green (as opposed to some other color) last week. I had never really thought of it before, but it will be quite useful in creating more realistic alien worlds.
Human humor is generally based on incongruity of some sort. (That's probably a subject for a whole new thread.)
But what if alien humor is based on a completely different concept, such as symmetry? (Perhaps most lifeforms on their world are asymmetrical.)
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Speaking of light....I learned why all trees are green (as opposed to some other color) last week. I had never really thought of it before, but it will be quite useful in creating more realistic alien worlds
OK, this one's got me confused. I briefly guessed 'because green is the complement of the strongest component of sunlight', but green is the complement of magenta, and I don't think there's a whole load of magenta in sunlight. So... why green?
There isn't any really inherent reason for clorophyl to be green, that is just the color that clorophyl happens to be. Just as mammalian hemoglobin tends to be red...but not all hemoglobin is particularly red or even red at all.
Rux
:}
You could posit a chlorophyl analog that absorbs a different wavelength, and it would be a different color. (There are other, minor chemicals that absorb different wavelengths in leaves--why do you think they change color in the fall?) You could also posit some evolutionary reason for there to be a different chemical that imparts a stronger color, covering the color of the chlorophyl, if you want your trees to be some other color. (There are a few species of trees on Earth that are like that. And notice that not all trees are the same shade of green, even though chlorophyl is chlorophyl, more or less.)
Likewise, there's a function-related reason hemoglobin is red. Hemoglobin is a protein, which in and of itself isn't terribly colorful, but it has four heme groups (an organic chemical), each holding an iron ion. Hemoglobin's oxygen carrying capacity is based on those iron ions at the center of the heme groups, and so is its color. That's also why oxygenated blood is a different color from deoxygenated blood--the color of the iron changes when it's complexed with the oxygen. (That's also why carbon monoxide changes the color of blood; the complex is, again, a different color.)
If it isn't red, it probably isn't hemoglobin; it's some other compound that carries out the same function.
Sorry for the biochemistry lecture, but you pushed one of my buttons. As an undergrad, I spent an entire semester studying hemoglobin in one course! It is helpful to understand these things when doing worldbuilding, though. Granted, you can achieve a realistic world with just basic knowledge of most disciplines, but it helps to have one that you're really on top of, to get the details that really make it work.
Have you ever given blood? It goes more or less directly from a vein, through the needle and tubing, into a closed bag (which isn't full of air). And it's red. It's not being exposed to any significant amount of oxygen along the way.
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Actually, there is a good reason for chlorophyl to be green, one that's directly related to its function. Chlorophyl absorbs light during photosynthesis. It absorbs what we see as red, so the reflected light is perceived as green. The wavelengths are very specific.
OK, this is why I'm getting confused. The 'absorbing red' thing seemed fairly natural to me, until I thought about it, and worked out that something that absorbs red will appear cyan (i.e. it will reflect both green and blue light). Leaves must absorb magenta (i.e. a mixture a red of blue) in order to reflect only green. Unless I'm getting _very_ confused about colours.
So it seems likely, if your scifi planet had a cooler sun, that the leaves would want to stray to the blues and beyond along the wavelength line, to try to capture as much of the dim light as they could. On the other hand, if the sun is very hot, the plants might end up being more yellow because even the green absorption is too much.
But yes, what Eljay and Survivor said are absolutely true. The question was more along the lines of...why green, and why not some other color?
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The 'absorbing red' thing seemed fairly natural to me, until I thought about it, and worked out that something that absorbs red will appear cyan (i.e. it will reflect both green and blue light). Leaves must absorb magenta (i.e. a mixture a red of blue) in order to reflect only green
Actually you're correct. Something that appears green absorbs all light except green. So green chlorophyl is absorbing all of the red and blue light.
For those interested, the color wheel for paint has nothing to do with the color wheel for light. Here's a site that goes into the mechanics of how we perceive color.
http://acept.la.asu.edu/PiN/rdg/color/composition.shtml OR you can go here http://www.thestagecrew.com/Pages/Chapters/stagecraft_lights/color.html which deals with color in a little more understandable fashion.
If you want a look at the absorption spectra of chlorophyll and some other plant pigments, you can check out
http://www.cas.muohio.edu/~meicenrd/BMZ116/BioBPS.html#Chlorophyll
As far as the reason for trees being green--well, as I said above, there are other pigments that absorb in other parts of the visible range. Why is chlorophyll the dominant one in most plants? I suspect it's complex. I'm sure there are several good stories hiding among the thoughts that follow from this discussion.
Actually, my next major project, once the current novel is done, involves plants, so I need to be thinking along these lines soon anyway. Thanks, everyone, for getting me started!
After someone has cataract surgery they can see farther into the infrared spectrum that normal people. In the story I heard, (on Car-talk so there's no telling if it's based in fact.) there was an agent behind enemy lines who used an infrared lamp to signal a boat. The boat used an older soldier who'd had cataract surgery to get read the signals.
Even if it's not true, having aliens who see farther up and down the spectrum than we do could off some interesting possibilties.
[This message has been edited by MaryRobinette (edited May 27, 2004).]
Actually, in the novel I'm working on, I have aliens who see farther into the UV than humans. It's not a major aspect of the story, though it has offered a few interesting twists.
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Actually, the idea that mammalian blood is blue is a misconception.
Damn public school system. I stand corrected. See you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Rux
:}
Look, of course the actual molocular structures that we call hemoglobin and chlorophyl are red and green, respectively (actually, there are several different types of each...more different types of hemoglobin than chlorophyl, though, for the simple reason that all chlorophyl comes from a single common ancestor).
But chlorophyl doesn't only derive energy from light at a specific wavelength. That's a misconception. And the red color of mammalian hemoglobin is a biochemical accident of the gross shape of the molecule, it doesn't come about because the hemoglobin contains iron any more (or less) than because of all the other elements it contains--it is the molecule as a whole that determines the color.
If you add iron to glass, it turns it green, not red (if you want red glass, you need to use gold rather than iron).
The visible color of a substance is usually an accident of it's molecular composition. There are quite a few exceptions, but neither hemoglobin nor chlorophyl are among them.
Granted, in terms of the grand scheme of things, the color of hemoglobin is a biological accident. Unlike chlorophyll, its color doesn't play a role in its function. It is, however, a direct result of the same things that allow it to carry out its function.
[This message has been edited by Monolith (edited June 03, 2004).]
Monolith, I've seen many good stories about Dinosour aliens. Why don't we go for something else, like the Dodo bird? Intelligent Dodo birds coming to meet their cousins and finding that their cousins were destroyed but evil Rats. (and dogs but Rats are better enemies.
I have no idea what colour it turns when it oxidises. Although apparently when mixed with glass it produces a yellow-green tint.
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And Iron is a rare comodity to them so they are attacking us
Have you ever read Triplanetary, by EE "Doc" Smith? That plot is used there. They have a wonderful weapon that just extracts all the iron from an object they point it at...