Evolution-what If we evolved to the point where we no longer need air
- Thread starter Hamish Durie
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Everyone is saying this isn't possible. But what about when we've used all our resources, populated the planet and removed all the trees? Without trees and photosynthesis, oxygen won't be produced. Humans will NEED to change to adapt, either so they can live in an CO2 rich atmosphere, or at least survive on much less oxygen. It is possible that this could happen... it's just not likely we'd live long enough as a species for the process to occur.
In reality we'd probably stunt our evolution through the use of techonology, relying on gas tanks and things for oxygen and never letting our bodies go through the adapation process. Then we'd bugger off into space and leave Earth to rot, living on our oxygen rich spaceships while looking for another oxygen rich planet.
Alternatively we'd simply die out like any other unprepared species. That's possible to. But SOMETHING would evolve to live on an oxygen free, CO2 rich planet, even if we don't.
In reality we'd probably stunt our evolution through the use of techonology, relying on gas tanks and things for oxygen and never letting our bodies go through the adapation process. Then we'd bugger off into space and leave Earth to rot, living on our oxygen rich spaceships while looking for another oxygen rich planet.
Alternatively we'd simply die out like any other unprepared species. That's possible to. But SOMETHING would evolve to live on an oxygen free, CO2 rich planet, even if we don't.
We could theoretically evolve to such a state, but it would require millions of years, plus we would look completely different. No air intake means completely different blood, veins, lungs, brain cells, muscles, energy storage, what not. Even our skin would have to change, so we become airtight. (Skin breathes through tiny holes, which must be closed, if we were to live in space or some other vacuum environment). Pretty much everything in us runs on air in 1 way or another. Even our technology (cars, planes) need air to work.
Also, the other problem with your no air theory would be energy generation. No air theory pretty much forbids us to eat anything, so the only upgrade (rather then taking a step back) from our current state would be storing solar energy. Lets say we gather lithium in our bones and then charge them with electrons gathered from the sun. The lithium is somewhat rare, so there wouldn't' be 6 billion of us, but millions.
No air means we can't eat oil or coal (diesel engine cyborgs), since they need air to burn.
The only other idea i can think of is gathering energy from the wind or ions in the air. Only that doesn't work with no air either.
Really, the only possible evolution to a no air needed state is becoming a human li-ion battery with solar collectors. That would add considerable weight to us, increasing our energy consumption from ~200Watts per hour to a few thousand to move around. However, we wouldn't generate enough energy, since even the best solar collectors need about 1 meter squared to generate 200Watts of energy per hour. That would force us to live in desert like area of Sahara, where we would maybe survive. Or we could hook ourselves to a power plug every now and then XD
It is more likely that in the next 2k years, science figures out how to genetically / mechanically modify a fetus at birth, transforming it into a different being. Like giving it unlimited length of life, flawless regeneration, and higher efficiency muscles and bones. If you didn't know, unlike a car engine, that uses the maximal possible efficiency, human body barely works, with almost minimal possible efficiency. Meaning there's room for improvement with genetic engineering.
Also, the other problem with your no air theory would be energy generation. No air theory pretty much forbids us to eat anything, so the only upgrade (rather then taking a step back) from our current state would be storing solar energy. Lets say we gather lithium in our bones and then charge them with electrons gathered from the sun. The lithium is somewhat rare, so there wouldn't' be 6 billion of us, but millions.
No air means we can't eat oil or coal (diesel engine cyborgs), since they need air to burn.
The only other idea i can think of is gathering energy from the wind or ions in the air. Only that doesn't work with no air either.
Really, the only possible evolution to a no air needed state is becoming a human li-ion battery with solar collectors. That would add considerable weight to us, increasing our energy consumption from ~200Watts per hour to a few thousand to move around. However, we wouldn't generate enough energy, since even the best solar collectors need about 1 meter squared to generate 200Watts of energy per hour. That would force us to live in desert like area of Sahara, where we would maybe survive. Or we could hook ourselves to a power plug every now and then XD
It is more likely that in the next 2k years, science figures out how to genetically / mechanically modify a fetus at birth, transforming it into a different being. Like giving it unlimited length of life, flawless regeneration, and higher efficiency muscles and bones. If you didn't know, unlike a car engine, that uses the maximal possible efficiency, human body barely works, with almost minimal possible efficiency. Meaning there's room for improvement with genetic engineering.
Ya, basic plant life, nothing from the animal kingdom yet, which is what we're talking about.thaluikhain said:
Only way I CAN see humanity changing like that is like how Tibetans have higher blood cell count then the rest of us to make full use of lower oxygen environment... If we were to run a few miles where they live (albeit higher up) You'd be saying I'm dead to a particular James T Kirk.J.J said:
Sentient is commonly used, but is still the wrong term. All sentient means is that the oranism in question has senses, which covers everything in the animal kingdom.
Sapient is the correct term, it means capable of judgement.
Sapient is the correct term, it means capable of judgement.
Firstly, we wouldn't evolve to that point, humanity is perfectly suited to it's enviroment already, though if the atmosphere relatively slowly went toxic, humanity might (stress the might) evolve a different respiratory system.
Secondly, air's pretty important, I'm no biology teacher, but I suspect that a non-air evolution would be impossible.
Thirdly, would it redefine things? I don't see that much actually changing
Secondly, air's pretty important, I'm no biology teacher, but I suspect that a non-air evolution would be impossible.
Thirdly, would it redefine things? I don't see that much actually changing
There isn't any evolutionary pressure to do so...aerobic respiration is much more efficient than anaerobic respiration (living without oxygen). Basically you get 10X the energy with the same amount of food.
Sort of off-topic but it'd be really cool if we could alter human biochemistry so that we had chloroplasts in our body...it'd make eating a lot less of an issue. Of course there are a lot of obstacles to overcome for something like this to become feasible. But it would still be cool.
Sort of off-topic but it'd be really cool if we could alter human biochemistry so that we had chloroplasts in our body...it'd make eating a lot less of an issue. Of course there are a lot of obstacles to overcome for something like this to become feasible. But it would still be cool.
I don't think you understand how carbon life forms work.
We can't evolve that sort of thing, we'd have to completely rewrite ourselves. Which is impossible while there's no need. Oxygen makes your EVERYTHING work, it's the reason you have blood, for heaven's sake. If we didn't have air, we'd have to get it some other way... like hydrolyzing water. We'd have to drink so damn much water that we bled hydrogen.
So yeah... no.
We can't evolve that sort of thing, we'd have to completely rewrite ourselves. Which is impossible while there's no need. Oxygen makes your EVERYTHING work, it's the reason you have blood, for heaven's sake. If we didn't have air, we'd have to get it some other way... like hydrolyzing water. We'd have to drink so damn much water that we bled hydrogen.
So yeah... no.
I think it's been established that this scenario is pretty much impossable without human intervention, changing the genetic code to produce "mutations" or "evolutions" or "modifications" to our bodies.
Now, just because thought experiments are fun (You joykills
) we'd probably not live much differently than we are now. Space stations and shuttles would be easier because we don't need to ship up oxygen canisters. So maybe a bit of cost reduction there. That extends to colonies on other planets too.
Can't live underwater due to the pressure. Well at least not too deeply down.
Other than that, I don't really see any majour changes it would produce in the way we live.
Now, just because thought experiments are fun (You joykills
) we'd probably not live much differently than we are now. Space stations and shuttles would be easier because we don't need to ship up oxygen canisters. So maybe a bit of cost reduction there. That extends to colonies on other planets too.Can't live underwater due to the pressure. Well at least not too deeply down.
Other than that, I don't really see any majour changes it would produce in the way we live.