Variation within the one ecosphere we have studied is pretty extreme- we have life that oxidizes iron as an energy source, life that uses electromagnetic energy as an energy source, and life that consumes the stored energy created by other life as an energy source. We have life that uses carbon and phosphorus chains to build its structure, life that uses arsenic to build its structure, and life that uses other life to build it a structure.
It is more likely than not that any alien life will either share a common ancestor, or be significantly different from anything on Earth- not in the sense of having different moral beliefs, but in the sense of appearing to be natural phenomena rather than intelligent or even alive.
appearing to be natural phenomena rather than intelligent or even alive.
What's the difference between natural and alive?
Today's post, Humans in Funny Suits was originally published on 30 July 2008. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).
This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we'll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky's old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was Interpersonal Morality, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.
Sequence reruns are a community-driven effort. You can participate by re-reading the sequence post, discussing it here, posting the next day's sequence reruns post, or summarizing forthcoming articles on the wiki. Go here for more details, or to have meta discussions about the Rerunning the Sequences series.