If we share 50% of our DNA with a fucking banana...

if we share 50% of our DNA with a fucking banana, what could some alien "life forms" that share 0% of our earthly DNA be like? what does Veeky Forums envision when confronted with this concept?

>AYYYYYYY LMAO

We actually have 100% of our DNA in common with aliens.

exact opposite of the question. but could you elaborate out of curiosity?

I don't think you understand how DNA, evolution, or living creatures work.

Sharing DNA just shows a common source. Obviously the more you share the more similar you are but you can get similar features from different DNA.

Parallel evolution is easy to find just by looking at the many different eyes that creatures have.

Whales and fish both have fins but you they aren't nearly as related as humans to whales.

apparently i do not. i guess to clarify i was just curious as to what types of crazy life forms could be out there that go beyond the concept of what the common person imagines when they hear the word 'alien'. ill try again in /x/.

The better question is what about their environment would cause them to look different from "normal" animals?

Human beings are mostly water
Bananas are mostly water
We might all be giants built from the Lego of life?

We are star children. Humans are a colony of space aliens that seeded this planet with life from the cosmos as a form of colonization. A while ago the last of the enlightened ones from the old empire left the planet for us to evolve on our own and bring about new culture and arts for the over-culture to enjoy when we finally advance enough to rejoin their galactic civilization. These last aliens who left are known in myth as the Atlantians.

The sheer breadth of ignorance displayed in this post is staggering.

They probably have HUGE dicks

Dependent on the conditions of their home planet. Life on Earth is almost exclusively Carbon based because Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen are common here on the surface. Whatever they were made from would have to have similar properties to Protein or other long Polymers (I.E. being able to form long, sturdy molecules that have good tensile strength and can store complex genetic information of some sort for reproduction.) Silicon is a good candidate and also has the benefit at being excellent at storing information (Like your computer) Sponges on Earth actually have silicon based skeletons, and in science fiction silicon based lifeforms have been a likely candidate for non-carbon based life. As for their shape and size, this is dependent mainly on the gravity and the climate of their home world, as these are the 2 limiting factors to those things on Earth. Working within those 2 basic parameters will give you about 90% of the info for determining foreign life hypothetically speaking.

>silicon-based
not likely, silicon is too heavy and can't form strands like DNA or something
I'm holding out for carbon-based but not DNA-based, DNA is a pretty specific molecule and there's lots of different kinds of nucleic acids

If the planet was smaller than earth or a moon, it would be more reliable. Also how come light weight electronics contain silicon like smartphones and laptops but don't weigh nearly as much as an equal sized piece of iron?

Aliens likely wouldn't have DNA. There's no reason the way life on Earth carries genetic information would have to be the same elsewhere.

You drunk?

I'm talking about atomic mass when I say heavy. Silicon can bind to shit and unbind to shit as quickly and easily as carbon or something idk talk to a chemist.

>silicon can't form strands like DNA or something

The DNA backbone is primarily oxygen and phosphorus. The nucleic acid bases that make up genetic sequences are sugars that are primarily carbon, but the fact is the information that is stored in them is far more important than the carbon composition.

The reason carbon "works" is because the cellular machinery works around it. This iteration of life depends on it but that isn't to say every iteration of life would.

>lightweight electronics like silicon don't weigh nearly as much as equal sized iron
Iron 26, silicon 14

This is probably true but also doesn't have to be. It could be possible that DNA is the absolute best way to ensure the propagation and survival of genetic information and all evolution converges on it's necessitation.

It doesn't matter. Our immune systems would be completely clueless how to recognize their bacteria / viruses. The first cough would be our extinction.

> Source
Look how well the Aztecs did with the flu. Or the Native Americans did with smallpox. Or the Europeans did when Middle Eastern trade brought home the Black Death.

I think alien lifeforms might havhave a completely novel type of genetic material, but who knows. I think it would be cool to find an alien lifeform that is non-organic.

you could watch jupiter ascending, besides the corny stuff it's leaked cia documents (purposely leaked) in order to condition the public.

cliffs:
>humans are mined for orgone energy to feed other near immortal human corporate imperial dynasties which rule the galaxy and this has been going on for millions of years.
>similar to how young blood regenerates your cells

>what does Veeky Forums envision when confronted with this concept?
Probably not terribly different in outward appearance. Possibly fundamental different in regards to maybe not even having RNA or DNA.

Their bacteria and viruses would be equally clueless on how to infect our bodies.

Viruses have evolved along with us, specifically to "hijack" our genetic machinery. An alien virus wouldn't know where to begin.
For example, tobacco mosaic virus infects tobacco plants. Inject it into an animal -- or simply another plant species -- and it's harmless.
And we are genetically closer to tobacco than we're likely to be to Martians.
Bacteria are less discriminating. They'll break down all sorts of cells. But they also have limitations. An alien bacteria might thrive at 107 degrees F (alien humanoid body temperature) and die at 98.6. Or our pH or salinity might be wrong.
In general, the larger the alien organism, the more likely it is to be dangerous to us. An alien tiger might be poisoned or die of an allergic reaction after taking a bite from you. That would be small consolation to you through.