Cockroaches, Cher, and.... Cephs?

Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
1,073
Does anyone remember that old line about how after a nuclear war there would be nothing left but cockroaches and Cher? Well, we may have to amend that one -- sort of.

A few nights ago I was watching a show on the SCIENCE CHANNEL which dealt with the origins of the Moon, and how Earth would've been affected if the Moon had not existed. Apparently there is a theory that during the formation of the Solar System, the Earth was hit by a "rogue planet" called Orpheus, which drastically changed the face of our planet and caused a big chunk of the colliding planets to break off, the chunk being our one-and-only natural satellite.

According to this theory, before the collision with Orpheus, Earth's surface was almost entirely covered by water, with only the tops of the highest mountain ranges forming dry land. A scientist -- whose name I forget -- was interviewed and asked what direction evolution would have taken if Orpheus had never hit the Earth. She speculated that in such a case, the species which would have evolved into the dominant intelligent life form (like Homo sapiens), would've been the most intelligent aquatic invertebrates -- i.e., in her own words, cephalopods.

This gives rise to all sorts of fascinating "what ifs". For instance, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" would have been about some poor innocent Cephalo sapiens being hunted down by a mob of hideous mammals. And we'd all be sitting around in our comfy submarine lairs, typing on waterproof organic keyboards with all our tentacles about how clever our pet pygmy shrews have been acting in their little motorized air-domes.

And, of course, listening to laser-etched paua-shell CDs of "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves".... :band:
 
cephs and cockroaches i can handle....just pray cher doesnt make it :smile: there are plenty of theories on how the moon was formed, but they all seem to have one fault or another... i am curious as to how the lack of a satellite wouldve influenced things (no tides etc.) as for our musical tastes, if we were aquatic (or moreso for certain ones among us) wouldnt we be listening to "Gupies, Crabs and Teuthis" ?
 
WhiteKiboko said:
cephs and cockroaches i can handle....just pray cher doesnt make it :smile: there are plenty of theories on how the moon was formed, but they all seem to have one fault or another... i am curious as to how the lack of a satellite wouldve influenced things (no tides etc.) as for our musical tastes, if we were aquatic (or moreso for certain ones among us) wouldnt we be listening to "Gupies, Crabs and Teuthis" ?

Not to mention "I've Got Teuth, Babe".... 8)
 
Without the moon, eh?

I wonder if the land would have been colonised at all? Without a moon there would have been practically no gravitational pull on the oceans, the effect of other planets and the sun being very weak. Tides would have been almost non-existant which makes one wonder if the seas would be as oxygenated as they currently are (no great waves crashing down). Oxygen provides energy for creatures, in anaerobic environments creatures tend to small and sluggish.

Without coastal tidal regions there would be little variation in habitat as the zone between dry land and permanently underwater would be very small. I was also led to believe that environmental pressures provide a catalyst to adaption and diversity, so without that range there would be little evolutionary pressure to move 'that bit further up the beach'.

I would imagine that without the moon life would still be in its precambrian stages, floating cells and little else.

Perhaps I'm talking rubbish, I'm not too sure.

Apologies for the lack of squids mentioned! :grad:
 
Hi Tani,

Yeah I saw that prog a while back. Cool isn't it! Language would be a much more expressive thing I'm guessing, if cephs were the most intelligent lifeforms. Just imagine a cross between braille and art! Your computer could be some organic morphing thing which you could interact with by touch as well as colour maybe! (Until it crashed of course... some things are just part of the strange unalterable destiny of lifekind)

Love the band by the way! (What's their name - Reef?? Ocean Colour Scene? Fields of the Cephalim? I'm going now... :arrow: )

Geoff
 
Hi Phil

I would imagine that without the moon life would still be in its precambrian stages, floating cells and little else.

Yeah Phil right you are - Dollar would never have sung 'Who were you with in the moonlight' Is it a price too high??

Geoff
 
GeoffC said:
Hi Tani,

Yeah I saw that prog a while back. Cool isn't it! Language would be a much more expressive thing I'm guessing, if cephs were the most intelligent lifeforms. Just imagine a cross between braille and art! Your computer could be some organic morphing thing which you could interact with by touch as well as colour maybe! (Until it crashed of course... some things are just part of the strange unalterable destiny of lifekind)

Hiya Geoff --

Sounds good to me! And if the computers crashed, we'd still have an endless supply of "pens" and "ink" :squid:


GeoffC said:
Love the band by the way! (What's their name - Reef?? Ocean Colour Scene? Fields of the Cephalim? I'm going now... :arrow: )

Geoff

'N' Ink? Johnny Radula and the Ceph Pistols? New Squids on the Block [Kat's line]? Ric Octocasek? Squiddle Richard? Is this going too far back in history?

Tani of the Trilobites
 
LOL

Squiddle Richard? Is this going too far back in history?

Course not, not if the Beak Boys is allowable? Shake, radule and roll I say...

But I digress, in this world of water there would come a time when the creatures of the sea explored the land, maybe with pressurized vehicles like deep sea subs. They could drive around in them up mountains and such - like the fish in the Gary Larson cartoon that makes a car using a goldfish bowl on wheels and drives around the beach staring at the people... v funny...

Hmmm pen and ink you say, would they have a written language? And would it be deemed tasteless to write with a pen (presumably somesquid elses???) The ramifications are too hideous...

Geoff
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top