starship-design: Re: Re: Aliens, why haven't they contact us?

[KellySt@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/18/97 7:16:33 AM, jimaclem@juno.com wrote:

>>>Kelly,
>
>>>
>
>>>>>Immune systems usually see almost every non-self organism as 
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>>dangerous. I
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>>>>>wouldn't think that it doesn't matter much whether the non-self 
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>>organism
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>>>>>comes from space or Earth.
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>>>>>In some cases the body even starts killing something of itself, 
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>>this is
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>>>>>called an auto-immune disease.
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>>>>
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>>>>Immune systems arn't that good at detecting, much less combating, 
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>>'any'
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>>>>non-self organism.  They are best at detecting and defeating things 
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>>that
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>>the
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>>>>organism routinly is attacked by.  Alien micro life would not be 
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>>something
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>>>>were 'tuned' to fight or look for.
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>>>
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>>>As far as I know they are quite good at detecting, only finding the
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>>>"antidote" before it is too late can be a problem. However 
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>>antibiotics
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>>>usually can help quite a lot.
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>>
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>>You can't use an antibiotic on alien microbes.  They work by suttle
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>>disruption of celular chemistry.  I.E. something that will kill them, 
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>>but not
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>>us.
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>>
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>>>And even if we were not immune to alien bacteria, would we be able to 
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>>spot
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>>>it? Likely there are more Earthly bacteria that kill people than 
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>>Space
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>>bacteria.
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>>
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>>No way to know.  Can't even know anything basic about their celular
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>>construction or chemistry.
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>>
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>
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>Just a thought to consider folks.  All living organisms on this planet,
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>including viruses have DNA and RNA constructed from the same four
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>proteins, adenine, cytosine, guanine and tyrosine.  (And I do mean ALL
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>life forms on this planet, from viruses to trees to us).  The chances
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>that an alien microbe, or anything else, would use these same proteins
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>seem rather small, thus rendering them and us relatively harmless to each
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>other since we cant read each other's cellular codes.
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>
>
>Jim 


The problem with that common misundarstanding is that most deseases and
infections don't involve interaction with the organisms genetics.  Only viruse
s do.  Bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc just need compatable pretean
structures (very simple and common in nature) and an environment that isn't
leathal enough to kill them quickly.

Kelly