Imagine having to force yourself to chew and swallow substances because you will die otherwise.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 day ago

    Reading how Rocky eats in Project Hail Mary got me thinking on that! I wonder if aliens would find our eating disgusting or if it’s the most common way to get energy. Pretty much every life form on Earth chews food with their face then shoves it down.

    • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      Pretty much every life form on Earth chews food with their face then shoves it down.

      The vast majority of life forms on Earth have neither a mouth nor a face.

      There’s no good reason to think aliens would be similar to animals. they could be like plants or fungus, or something entirely new.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      Depends on how far a species advances, I’d guess. It wouldn’t surprise me if advancements set us (and other potential life out there) on a trajectory where it’s possible to just get most nutrition needed via passive intravenous implants, maybe only with a requirement to drink water to maintain fluid balance. Or we just get to the full cyberpunk cyborg option and all you need is an occasional battery recharge or something.

      With the resources available today, mankind has the ability to solve world hunger, but that still keeps the dependency we have on various global supply lines for food. Few nations are truly agriculturally independent. Lenin once said that society is no more than three missed meals away from chaos, and I believe the only permanent solution to that issue would be if a society no longer needs to eat.