The perfect organism...

[Altorin]

about the closest would have to be Darwin from X-Men, having immediate adaptability to almost any situation

Except of course bad movie scripts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

This one, hands down. It can survie in the Antarktis, it can survive in the deserts. It can survive in the deep sea. It can survive in outer space.

A small quote from the wikipedia:
Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of close to absolute zero, or 0 Kelvin (−273 °C (−459 °F)),[7] temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals,[8] and almost a decade without water.[9] Since 2007, tardigrades have also returned alive from studies in which they have been exposed to the vacuum of outer space for a few days in low earth orbit.[10][11]

Ninja'd! I thought I had this one!

The smaller an organism is the hardier it seems to be. There's a whole domain of animals that are like bacteria but evolved parallel to them called Archae, and they're hard to study live because they live in things like steam vents, volcanos, etc. So life can adapt to all environments.

But tardigrades - land, water, SPACE, you name it and they seem to thrive there. I'd actually consider certain types of fungi to be even better at survival than any type of animal though. Certain spores are able to survive in space as well.

Just so we're clear about Ninja'ing, I ninja'd both of you for those little moss slurping bastards.

 

[Hazy992]

I think that's obvious:

After all, he is the perfect being

I dunno... he couldn't survive a Super Kamehameha now, could he?

That was the Father-Son Kamehameha, he survived the Super Kamehameha just fine

 

[General Twinkletoes]

How can it not be zerg? Their entire race can mutate into practically anything at any time. Even their buildings are just the workers mutating into the most useful things at the time.

 

[Ziame]

I think that's obvious:

After all, he is the perfect being

He was the perfect fighter, not being iirc.

Besides, he wasn't. Arogant, and beat by a meddlesome kid!

 

[Hazy992]

I think that's obvious:

After all, he is the perfect being

He was the perfect fighter, not being iirc.

Besides, he wasn't. Arogant, and beat by a meddlesome kid!

He called himself both at one point or another.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

I think that's obvious:

http://images.wikia.com/dragonball/images/9/9e/Prefect_cell.jpg

After all, he is the perfect being

"I am the- I am the purrfect beeeing!"

-----
as for the thread, no such thing as a perfect organism, only ones that are well adapted to their surroundings.

 

[cahtush]

The mere concept is laughable, first of all an organism might be "perfect", speaking in relative terms, for one niche in a specific enviroment. But it will not be perfect everywhere, unless it breakes the basic laws of physics. Conservation of energy to be exact. It will have to be able to create energy, becouse if its perfect then whateaver it feeds on will die out eventually. It will have to be able to change itself on a mulecular level pefectly fit new enviroment. It has to be able to "phase out" or travel through universes top escpae the inevital end of the universe.

It is impossible, atlesat at our current understanding of science, for such an organism to exist.

 

[HannesPascal]

As someone said it depends on the environment. For example aerobic organisms ("organisms that need oxygen") has a more effective metabolism ("gets more energy per kg food") than anaerobic organisms but they need air. Poisonous creature might be less likely to be eaten but have to waste energy creating their poisons. There's bacterias that can survive high temperatures but in return can't survive room temperature. Being able to survive a lot of different extreme environments would actually be useless since an organism rarely need to live in more than one environment and it would just be a waste of energy to be able to survive in other environments.

Because of this there can't be a perfect organism. A straight answer would be that humans (quite boring) are the most special organism. Biologically humans are below average but combined with humanity's technology and social structure makes them the most special (and now it sounds like I'm not a human)

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

It's pretty obvious. The one and only Sir Saxton Hale.

This thread is now closed.

 

[dontlooknow]

Am I the only one that accidentally misread the title at first? I thought it said "The perfect orgasm".

Anyway, I'm not a biologist so I really wouldn't know what would make a perfect orgasm organism.

Yeah, that was a weird moment - 'That's an odd question, I wonder what people have to say about that. Oh, he means like what physique would, well, encourage the best, well you know. [reads OP's final line] Woh! Erm, seems I've stumbled into one of those dark corners of t'interweb again. People on here are fucked up... Oh wait... I feel stupid now.'

Anyway, has anyone read the book of 2001: Space Odyssey? Well the aliens in that are more ethereal, like a bound mass of nebulous ideas. I suppose the best human-based analogue would be to imagine an organism based on memes, rather than genes - ideas are hard to kill.

 

[Redingold]

Terry Pratchett proposed the cockroach, in The Last Continent, and you can see his point.

A bit short on self-awareness for my liking though.

In "Darwin's Watch" one of the UU wizards (Ithink it was the Lecturer in Recent Runes) proposed a limpet several kilometres across, which could eat anything, and could only be killed by a direct meteor hit of considerable size.

It had a lifespan of 500,000 years, after which it would take twenty-four hours and one second to absorb enough food to last for twenty-four hours. It was from the first Science of Discworld, by the way, not the third.

 

[Griffolion]

What would make up a perfect organism in terms of survivability, body structure, sociality, adaptability, anything you can think of, what would make up a perfect organism?

For me, I'd say a dead one, but that's just me talking, erm, typing...

*points to self* You're looking at it. REMEMBER MEEEEEEE.

OT:

The perfect organism, unbound by the shackles of morality and ethics. But held in its place by horrible writing and acting (AVP anyone?)

I'm gonna go with this. The xenomorph is the perfect hunter, it takes a hell of a lot to kill one, and even then you're gonna get dissolved by its blood. I think its only problem is how it reverts to a very primitive behaviour set when out of range of a queen. But even then it's frickin lethal. If you're familiar with Warhammer 40K and how lesser Tyranid creatures either prowl or mindlessly attack the nearest thing when away from a synapse creature. I think that's where Citadel got the idea from.

 

[hiei82]

Tardigrades. I love those cuddly little monsters

Seconded with (additional)proof!


Alternatively.... Facehugger on Tardigrade = dear god why! (also how?)

 

[Thaliur]

Terry Pratchett proposed the cockroach, in The Last Continent, and you can see his point.

A bit short on self-awareness for my liking though.

In "Darwin's Watch" one of the UU wizards (Ithink it was the Lecturer in Recent Runes) proposed a limpet several kilometres across, which could eat anything, and could only be killed by a direct meteor hit of considerable size.

It had a lifespan of 500,000 years, after which it would take twenty-four hours and one second to absorb enough food to last for twenty-four hours. It was from the first Science of Discworld, by the way, not the third.

Really? Damn! I tend to mix them up in my memory, and just assumed it was frm the third, because it would it into the whole evlution theme. But you are right, of course. It was conceived to survive the frequent extinction events on Earth.

 

[Syzygy23]

What would make up a perfect organism in terms of survivability, body structure, sociality, adaptability, anything you can think of, what would make up a perfect organism?

For me, I'd say a dead one, but that's just me talking, erm, typing...

Soooo... you basically are talking about a race of God(s) here.

The perfect organism in terms of what you listed would have to be omnipresent, omnipotent, and invulnerable to anything the universe could throw at it.

 

[Yopaz]

For me, I'd say a dead one

Really? Let's examine this

- survivability - I think we can put a great big red X here. It's dead by definition it failed surviving.
- body structure - well that's a ??? isn't it. The body structure of a dead organism is...undefined.
- sociality - X
- adaptability - X...although it would adapt nicely into "nothing" in a while. It would be practically immortal, if it weren't for the fact that it is gone.

So, I think your suggestion failed to pass your criteria.

Not to mention that the criteria are unclear. Ducks are better than bears in some regards, e.g., they can fly, but worse in others, e.g., they aren't bears. So if the criteria is "what makes the best duck", then the answer would be "ducks" but then again, humans are better than ducks in many regards. Only there are things that are better than humans depending on which context you use.

Exactly. OT: I'm talking about an all-rounder. Something that could survive in all conditions...

Uhm, but it can't. It didn't. A non surviving organism has failed by default.

OT: the closest thing to the perfect organism must be this little fella.

As far as we know some species can survive absolute zero, boiling, radiation, dehydration (almost a decade without water) and space travels (vacuum and radiation). It can be killed, but not easily.

 

[Random Fella]

Well, no organism is perfect
To say an organism is perfect would mean that it could be in any habitat, and not have to genetically change to fit this habitat, and survive against any odds
The species would have to survive for eternity, never diverging or branching off to new species genetically (As being perfect it should never need to change, so it's gene pool would remain relatively similar)
So really no organism can ever be said to be 'perfect', as eternity has yet to pass to show it's never ending survival.

 

[CODE-D]

about the closest would have to be Darwin from X-Men, having immediate adaptability to almost any situation

but an ideal perfect organism would have a body similar or exactly like a primate in design for maneuverability and climbing, thick hides for dealing with the cold, eyes that can see in the dark or long distances, ears that can pick up faint sounds easily, an excellent sense of smell, coloration that can allow for blending, a light skeleton for movement or a thick one for carrying weight over long distances, a form of protection like claws (preferably retractable), webbed digits like frogs for swimming along with the ability to close off air passageways like alligators for underwater, and wings for flight.
Basically, a human with eagle/cat eyes, tough skin like an elephant, dog's ears and nose, fur like a snow hare, a bird-like skeleton and wings, (the I don't know what it's called organ that alligators have to allow them to stay underwater for hours) and webbed hands and feet, and claws like a lion - quite the chimera.

Or instead, a flying squirrel with amphibian lungs and claws

Id say ergo proxy.

 

[Woodsey]

Probably when the belt's around your neck and is just tight enough that you can get your little finger through.

Love it.