Monday, November 18, 2013

Alien Life: Do we need to adjust our paradigm?


Our search for extra-terrestrial life has always been based upon our understanding of life. We have been looking for planets in the “habitable zone” (also known as the “Goldilocks Zone.”) This zone is “the region around a star within which planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water at their surfaces.”  We assume that all life needs the same conditions we have in order to exist. We assume that life will be carbon-based, and that it will require water. In Solar Echoes, we challenge these presuppositions by giving the very same bias to the 7 playable character races—they at first assume that all life, like themselves, is based upon these same factors. The character races in Solar Echoes are in for a rude awakening, however, when they begin to encounter lifeforms that do not fit under these assumptions.

Even though the article below is a joke (it's from The Onion, after all) it brings up this very same concept. Are we assuming too much?

Scientists theorize the sun could support fire-based lifeforms...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/scientists-theorize-sun-could-support-firebased-li,34559/

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