User blog comment:Mr.Robbo/Human Chauvinism 5/@comment-4364108-20140106235932/@comment-5135903-20140107183237

Wow! I'm glad that Human Chauvinism has sparked up so much discussion! I guess I'll throw a few things into the mix...

When it comes to artificial intelligence, at least, a slower speed does not necessarily mean a less intelligent AI; a faster computer is not the same as a more powerful computer.

Now, I see an opportunity to do some maths here; at rest the human brain consumes 12.6 watts of energy, so I'll use that as the energy required for a sapient brain (of course, this could vary greatly depending on the nature of the extraterrestrial). The solar energy that reaches the Earth's surface is about 1400 watts per square metre (of course, this could vary greatly depending on the extraterrestrial environment). Also, the photosynthesis efficiency of a general plant is about 5.4% (of course, this could vary greatly depending on the nature of the extraterrestrial; they might not even use photosynthesis). This works out as a minimum leaf area of 0.1667m2, or 1667cm2 just to support the brain of the plant; of course, this didn't take into account any seasons, weather, or day-night cycle that there may be, as well as further inefficiencies such as in how the brain utilises its energy, but even if this leaf area were increased tenfold it would still be pretty small for a reasonably large Earth tree.

I should mention that all of the above assumptions are for an Earth environment with Earth life, and things could be completely different in an alien environment.

I've also taken time to trawl the web for discussions about sapient plantsand aquatic civilizations.

In my opinion, there are three different ways of imagining what extraterrestrial life might be like (after all, the only example of life in the universe we have so far is on Earth; we have no extraterrestrial life to compare with to see how different we should expect them to be)...


 * Convergent evolution - extraterrestrial life will be like Earth life, on Earth-like planets, because that is the optimal form and environment for life in the universe. Most sapient life will probably look and think like humans.


 * 'Anything goes' - Any system which can process information, manipulate its environment, reproduce, etcetera, can be thought of as life, whether that be gases in nebulae, life in stars, life in gas giants, even more exotic forms such as dark matter life.


 * Somewhere in-between.

Personally, I'm closest to the 'anything goes' option, and find it more exciting. I don't really write stories; I usually just make articles to explore exotic forms that alien civilizations could take; that's why I made Human Chauvinism - it helps me think; I understand how a path based more on convergent evolution helps readers to empathise with characters more (though, personally, I would just use humans or engineered/enhanced humans or a race of human origin).

Of course, Human Chauvinism is not a criticism of anybody's work.