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New netflix series "Alien Worlds" episode 3 describes a hypothetical alien ecosystem where...
1) Fungi feed grazers.
2) Grazers feed predators.
3) Predators feed fungi.
1) Fungi feed grazers.
2) Grazers feed predators.
3) Predators feed fungi.
Notice the problem here? There's no energy input into this system. If such an ecosystem ever existed, it would rapidly fail.
At every stage there is less energy to pass along to the next. Every cycle there would be less fungi, less grazers, and less predators.t
At every stage there is less energy to pass along to the next. Every cycle there would be less fungi, less grazers, and less predators.t
They clearly put a lot of work into this series, but they also just as clearly didn't consult with (or heed the advice of) biologists who have spent years/decades thinking about theoretical ecosystems.
I also had some issues with the depiction of life on a tidally locked world in episode two.
Environments on such a world would be spectacularly stable. No seasons. No day/night cycle.
Environments on such a world would be spectacularly stable. No seasons. No day/night cycle.
It would be the world of extreme specialists. Generalists would be rare, only prospering in the face of environmental disruption. They wouldn't be the dominant life forms.
How "extreme specialists"?
A large rock would induce speciation around it.
Ecosystems would spread linearly around the planet perpendicularly to the stellar/planet axis. Ten feet towards or away from the star could be enough to have different species dominate.
A large rock would induce speciation around it.
Ecosystems would spread linearly around the planet perpendicularly to the stellar/planet axis. Ten feet towards or away from the star could be enough to have different species dominate.
The atmosphere would provide some ongoing disturbance, as well as diffusing light and materials. This would limit how specialized things could get.
Exactly how much would be hard to calculate.
Exactly how much would be hard to calculate.
The fourth episode talks about super-intelligent brain-box beings. "They're individuals, but think together as a hive mind."
Members of a hive mind aren't individuals.
Members of a hive mind aren't individuals.
This is one of those things where I almost find myself thinking, "I wish they had consulted me before they did this."
I've been thinking about evolution and ecosystem development on a tidally locked world off and on for a few decades. It's not like I have any credential or work history indicating this. My bio credentials don't by themselves suggest this might be a topic of long-term interest.
Episode 4: "Once you've got self-reproducing robots, everywhere is a place you can go."
And no mention of the absolute horror of self-reproducing robots. They'll mutate just like biological machines do. They'll evolve too.
You do not want to be on a world with mechanical life.
And no mention of the absolute horror of self-reproducing robots. They'll mutate just like biological machines do. They'll evolve too.
You do not want to be on a world with mechanical life.
Now, how the machines are designed can greatly impact how much evolvability they exhibit. But it would be relatively simple for mechanisms to keep them in check to fail, leading to replication only limited by resources.
I imagine a world filled with copies of largely the same machine grinding each other up for raw materials to make more of themselves.
Any organic biology would be obliterated if it couldn't retreat to where the machines couldn't function.
Any organic biology would be obliterated if it couldn't retreat to where the machines couldn't function.
The sort of analysis of networks in biology which made the fungus/grazer/predator cycle stand out as very wrong can help understand some very complex phenomena. https://the-biologist-is-in.blogspot.com/2016/08/interaction-networks.html
The more complex the system, the harder it is to see all the relevant connections in advance.
The more complex the system, the harder it is to see all the relevant connections in advance.
