An... interesting hypothetical

[darthotaku]

wait till one of the natives dies then fry 'em up.

same with every canibalism question, I won't murder somebody for food but if they're already dead, well, I wouldn't care if somebody made my body into say, a meat pie, if I were already dead.

 

[Lilani]

I'd tell them what's going on, and tell them I'll only eat the corpses and get out of there ASAP.

 

[Communist partisan]

Can't I yust eat a bloody bird or something?

 

[Zacharine]

So what are the natives eating?

Alien planet. Alien biology is, by definition, alien. They can eat the native plant and animal life just fine, since it's their home planet. It's only incompatible with you because you aint from around there.

Besides, that's not the point. The point is what you would do.

Most of the indigenous life is arsenic in origin, the natives, who are the only "normal" carbon based life, have developed an organ that streams the arsenic from their system. Everyone should know arsenic is highly toxic to us.

I'm sorry, but I just have to point out how stupid this is, biologically speaking.

If their very body chemistry is based on carbon, they never would have survived long enough to actually evolve into anything with a specialised organ to deal with arsenic. The very first proto-lifeform would have starved to death.

-.- we are carbon based life forms. Every major element we use, inc oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, 3 of our main building blocks, are bonded to carbon to allow us to use them....

Yes, but note how arsenic-free our environment is. By setting every single most other life-forms as arsenic based, you essentially state "there is a significant percentage of arsenic in the environment".

And as a specialized organ cannot evolve before the organism it is part of actually lives and survives, but at the same time the organism cannot survive without the organ. This means either there are other sources of nutrient that are arsenic-free (violating the OP condition), or divine intervention of some kind must have happened to allow for that specific organism to live long enough to evolve an arsenic-dealing mechanism while retain inherent non-compatibility with the arsenic-based life.

Ie. There is no logical way for this to have happened - invoking magic is the only solution.

 

[Talshere]

So what are the natives eating?

Alien planet. Alien biology is, by definition, alien. They can eat the native plant and animal life just fine, since it's their home planet. It's only incompatible with you because you aint from around there.

Besides, that's not the point. The point is what you would do.

Most of the indigenous life is arsenic in origin, the natives, who are the only "normal" carbon based life, have developed an organ that streams the arsenic from their system. Everyone should know arsenic is highly toxic to us.

I'm sorry, but I just have to point out how stupid this is, biologically speaking.

If their very body chemistry is based on carbon, they never would have survived long enough to actually evolve into anything with a specialised organ to deal with arsenic. The very first proto-lifeform would have starved to death.

-.- we are carbon based life forms. Every major element we use, inc oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, 3 of our main building blocks, are bonded to carbon to allow us to use them....

Yes, but note how arsenic-free our environment is. By setting every single most other life-forms as arsenic based, you essentially state "there is a significant percentage of arsenic in the environment".

And as a specialized organ cannot evolve before the organism it is part of actually lives and survives, but at the same time the organism cannot survive without the organ. This means either there are other sources of nutrient that are arsenic-free (violating the OP condition), or divine intervention of some kind must have happened to allow for that specific organism to live long enough to evolve an arsenic-dealing mechanism while retain inherent non-compatibility with the arsenic-based life.

Ie. There is no logical way for this to have happened - invoking magic is the only solution.

No, an isolated environment that for the most part remained so for a sufficient length of time could breed an organism capable of developing such an organ. You dont need a large area. Just an area that has remained unaffected, or with limited contamination for sufficient time. Just because the dodo evolved to have no fear response doesn't mean it couldn't have learned one given time.

If both sets of life evolved simultaneously, then by the time life had become able to encroach on the environment, the other life would be evolved enough to adapt.

EDIT: By the time the environment became contaminated beyond repair, it is plausible that life could have evolved to cope. Which would also support the reasoning behind there only being one form of carbon life.

 

[Liberaliter]

Of course I would eat them, without remorse.

 

[GeorgW]

I'd eat them for a while in order to give them time to find a substitute. Or if that doesn't work, for as long as they can benefit from my knowledge and strange culture. There have to be criminals and such in their community as well that they wouldn't mind me eating. That is of course if corpses are out of the question?

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I'd eat the natives and become some form of legendary creature that steals people in the night.

 

[archvile93]

So what are the natives eating?

Alien planet. Alien biology is, by definition, alien. They can eat the native plant and animal life just fine, since it's their home planet. It's only incompatible with you because you aint from around there.

Besides, that's not the point. The point is what you would do.

They can eat the food I can't but I can eat them. If they eat things poisonous or inedible to me, I think most likely they would also poisonous or inedible. There would also likely be similar animals I could eat. But to answer your question, I would ask for a weapon to kill myself.

 

[Zacharine]

EDIT: By the time the environment became contaminated beyond repair, it is plausible that life could have evolved to cope. Which would also support the reasoning behind there only being one form of carbon life.

Non-sufficient amounts to kill would not likely have established a driving evolutionary pressure and lethal amounts would have made the organism extinct. You'll notice that despite Arsenic being something like in the top 15 elements composing our bodies, we still don't have an organ specializing for dealing with it - and inorganic forms of it are particularly difficult for our metabolism to deal with.

What I'm questioning is the existance of a specialized organ. That requires significant and constant evolutionary pressure, organisms with it must have survived particularly well in comparison to carbon-based ones without it. But at the same time, I believe such concentrations would have been inherently lethal to the point of inducing extinction. Not to mention arsenic-based life-forms competing for space and resources being far, far more suited to the environment.

And yet supposedly, the carbon based life was the one to reach sapience - meaning it had sufficient energy available for the development of a brain.

I'm not buying that. Everything I know of biology and species development(which admittedly is restricted to basic university courses) just screams at me "this is not right."

 

[Faladorian]

I thought this up a while ago, and I've been trying to decide how it would turn out ever since. For the life of me, I can't decide.

Imagine, if you will, that you're stranded on an alien planet. By some miracle, the atmosphere is breathable and the wildlife isn't trying too hard to kill you. Unfortunately, you're running low on supplies and there is only one single edible thing on the planet: the natives. They're intelligent, friendly, and peaceful. They have done you no wrong. So the question comes down to this: murder an innocent or slowly starve to death.

I want to think that I'd do the noble thing and die, but I simply can't know for sure.

actually, if the natives have tissue that you can eat that lets you absorb the nutrients that you need to survive as a human, then they had to get those nutrients through some means, which you could repeat and spare the locals.

I win.

 

[andreas3K]

If I'm hungry, I will eat. And if that means killing most of them and then farming the rest, then so be it. But hopefully I don't have to go that far.

 

[hittite]

EDIT: By the time the environment became contaminated beyond repair, it is plausible that life could have evolved to cope. Which would also support the reasoning behind there only being one form of carbon life.

Non-sufficient amounts to kill would not likely have established a driving evolutionary pressure and lethal amounts would have made the organism extinct. You'll notice that despite Arsenic being something like in the top 15 elements composing our bodies, we still don't have an organ specializing for dealing with it - and inorganic forms of it are particularly difficult for our metabolism to deal with.

What I'm questioning is the existance of a specialized organ. That requires significant and constant evolutionary pressure, organisms with it must have survived particularly well in comparison to carbon-based ones without it. But at the same time, I believe such concentrations would have been inherently lethal to the point of inducing extinction. Not to mention arsenic-based life-forms competing for space and resources being far, far more suited to the environment.

And yet supposedly, the carbon based life was the one to reach sapience - meaning it had sufficient energy available for the development of a brain.

I'm not buying that. Everything I know of biology and species development(which admittedly is restricted to basic university courses) just screams at me "this is not right."

As impressed as I am by the discussion you two are having, I have to point out that you're completely missing the point. I came up with this as a thought experiment, not to be plausible or even possible. I knew there were massive holes in the logic when I came up with it, but that's not the point. The point was to set up a situation in which a person has to choose between two abhorrent outcomes. Admittedly, I sort of failed at that, as a large portion of the above posts will attest.

 

[rubinigosa]

If they are as intelligent and friendly as you say I would have ask them if they would have any idea on what to do and maybe they would make it so that I can eat the fruits and live in harmony whit them.

 

[Talshere]

EDIT: By the time the environment became contaminated beyond repair, it is plausible that life could have evolved to cope. Which would also support the reasoning behind there only being one form of carbon life.

Non-sufficient amounts to kill would not likely have established a driving evolutionary pressure and lethal amounts would have made the organism extinct. You'll notice that despite Arsenic being something like in the top 15 elements composing our bodies, we still don't have an organ specializing for dealing with it - and inorganic forms of it are particularly difficult for our metabolism to deal with.

What I'm questioning is the existance of a specialized organ. That requires significant and constant evolutionary pressure, organisms with it must have survived particularly well in comparison to carbon-based ones without it. But at the same time, I believe such concentrations would have been inherently lethal to the point of inducing extinction. Not to mention arsenic-based life-forms competing for space and resources being far, far more suited to the environment.

And yet supposedly, the carbon based life was the one to reach sapience - meaning it had sufficient energy available for the development of a brain.

I'm not buying that. Everything I know of biology and species development(which admittedly is restricted to basic university courses) just screams at me "this is not right."

And yet, they just found the first arsenic based life form on earth. If you'd ask almost anyone if life could exist from arsenic 2 years ago. The answer would have been a unanimous no.

If organisms began to slowly encroach on the carbon environment, then animals who ate only small amounts could slowly build up a resistance, gradually eating more and more, which may later form into an organ.

I'm not saying that this scenario is probable. People were complaining that "why cant we just eat what they do?". In a hypothetical question the reason for is irrelevant. So I just proposed an not impossible scenario for the situation to occur.

 

[Coldie]

Non-sufficient amounts to kill would not likely have established a driving evolutionary pressure and lethal amounts would have made the organism extinct. You'll notice that despite Arsenic being something like in the top 15 elements composing our bodies, we still don't have an organ specializing for dealing with it - and inorganic forms of it are particularly difficult for our metabolism to deal with.

What I'm questioning is the existence of a specialized organ. That requires significant and constant evolutionary pressure, organisms with it must have survived particularly well in comparison to carbon-based ones without it. But at the same time, I believe such concentrations would have been inherently lethal to the point of inducing extinction. Not to mention arsenic-based life-forms competing for space and resources being far, far more suited to the environment.

And yet supposedly, the carbon based life was the one to reach sapience - meaning it had sufficient energy available for the development of a brain.

I'm not buying that. Everything I know of biology and species development(which admittedly is restricted to basic university courses) just screams at me "this is not right."

Both "flavors" of life-forms are Carbon-based. Arsenic is a substitute for Phosphorous, part of the power source ATP, not the Carbon super-structure. There are mechanisms the organism will use against As poisoning - and long-term low dosage As exposure may lead to resistance - but there is no way to control your dosage when every potential food source contains lethal amounts of toxin.

Either way, a group of Phosphorous-powered lifeforms thriving in a highly toxic environment and not dying out in a single generation? Either they are aliens themselves and are secretly replicating their own food and they have ways of dealing with As poisoning - or a Wizard did it. In which case you're better off eating him asking him to conjure you food. Eating the "natives" is out of the question. They will have increased toxicity no matter what organ or technology they use to filter As out of their bodies.

Unless it's magic, in which case, go see the Wizzard. He's likely to be completely insane (and will kill you), sadistically evil (and will torture and poison you), or a neutral scientist, researching the clash between two hostile biologies (will either kill or evacuate you to prevent contamination of the experiment).

And yet, they just found the first arsenic based life form on earth. If you'd ask almost anyone if life could exist from arsenic 2 years ago. The answer would have been a unanimous no.

Carbon-based. There is currently no known life based on anything other than Carbon. The bacteria they found substitute As for P in Adenosine TriPhosphate, the unit of cellular power. So they are Carbon-based, but "Arsenic-powered", if you will, as opposed to the "classic" ATP-powered.

 

[Mikester1290]

You don't have to eat a whole inhabitant, just slice an arm off. Or something.

Probably could make an arm last a week if you wanted. Also, hunt the fastest ones down first, leaving only the slow chubby ones behind to fend for themselves, you guys gotta think ahead on these things.

Another thing:- Wear a Predator suit, how cool would that be?

 

[EllEzDee]

So what are the natives eating?

Ok, i see where you're coming from, like "how are they surviving". Ok.

My thoughts are "what are they eating", as in, if i eat them, what are they going to taste of? You know, like corn fed chicken.

 

[Zacharine]

EDIT: By the time the environment became contaminated beyond repair, it is plausible that life could have evolved to cope. Which would also support the reasoning behind there only being one form of carbon life.

Non-sufficient amounts to kill would not likely have established a driving evolutionary pressure and lethal amounts would have made the organism extinct. You'll notice that despite Arsenic being something like in the top 15 elements composing our bodies, we still don't have an organ specializing for dealing with it - and inorganic forms of it are particularly difficult for our metabolism to deal with.

What I'm questioning is the existance of a specialized organ. That requires significant and constant evolutionary pressure, organisms with it must have survived particularly well in comparison to carbon-based ones without it. But at the same time, I believe such concentrations would have been inherently lethal to the point of inducing extinction. Not to mention arsenic-based life-forms competing for space and resources being far, far more suited to the environment.

And yet supposedly, the carbon based life was the one to reach sapience - meaning it had sufficient energy available for the development of a brain.

I'm not buying that. Everything I know of biology and species development(which admittedly is restricted to basic university courses) just screams at me "this is not right."

And yet, they just found the first arsenic based life form on earth.

Living in an arsenic lake. It wasn't living in an environment we would consider safe or healthy to carbon-based life.

What you are suggersting is the complete opposite of that and I would be more willing to accept it if we did find a non-carbon based life sharing an environment with carbon-based life. Or complex carbon-based life living as a significant population in extremely hostile and toxic-on-metabolism-level entivornment.

If organisms began to slowly encroach on the carbon environment, then animals who ate only small amounts could slowly build up a resistance, gradually eating more and more, which may later form into an organ.

And there would have to be a sustainable population in there, not only with resistance and later immunity to arsenic providing a significant advantage but they would also need the chance to actually survive. While being at a sufficient complexity that the resistance/imunity manifests as an organ instead of a metabolismic mutation.

So I just proposed an not impossible scenario for the situation to occur.

I get that. But I do not get how the scenario you propose is any _less_ impossible than 'magic of the OP commands it'. it is exactly the same problem, but only thinly veiled with scientific parlay.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

Nature has put me as the predator... I'll eat them

*supicious look* you are not alien, are you?