There are quite a few science fiction franchises out there (notably Star Trek) which feature progenitor species which “seed” planets with their genetic code, resulting — millions of years later — in a bunch of intelligent humanoid species who can all interbreed with each other.
That is not how evolution works.
But I’ve figured it out: Whenever a progenitor species talks about “seeding” their genetic code, what they’re actually talking about are mitochondria. We don’t realize it, but mitochondria are actually heavily designed pieces of biotech with significant subspace extrusions undetectable by modern science. They are specifically designed to tweak bipedal humanoid forms to Progenitor-style intelligence. When Progenitor-style intelligent species mate, the mitochondria are also responsible for making sure that viable offspring are possible.
Hmm… that’s technobabble? Yeah. Welcome to Star Trek.
or all of history is fake, the many worlds of the gala tic empire have only been going for say 50 years, the progenitors are running it all like some giant Riverworld type simulation experiment.
Or worse: The progenitors have become decadent couch potatoes who are constantly watching the development of their favorite “seed planet” like a suped-up version of the Truman Show.
“mitochondria are actually heavily designed pieces of biotech with significant subspace extrusions undetectable by modern science.”
Reaction 1: Aren’t mitochondria cool? They give you a foundation for ALL KINDS of wacky SF-ery–race memory, hyperintelligent bacteria, solar-powered supercells, etc. etc. They’re the biological equivalent of the word “quantum”–stick them into your technobabble and you can get away with nearly anything.
Reaction 2: And these Progenitor mitochondria could create a force that connects all living things, surrounding us and penetrating us and binding the galaxy together!
Sometimes the technobabble non-explanation is worse than no explanation at all…
Jack
My resident brilliant 17-year-old son asks: “What if the mitochondria ARE the progenitors?” And we’re basically their shoggoths.
Or maybe what we’re thinking about as extradimensional extrusions from our mitochondria are actually subspacial INTRUSIONS from a single vast hyperdimensional evolutionary psychologist running an experiment with the pathetic bacteria of 3-space.
Love the blog, by the way, Jason. I’ve been lurking here for about a year. Lots of wonderful ideas.
Hey Justin,
I don’t know if you actually have a Q&A forum, so I thought I’d just ask you here: are you involved in the development of D&D 5.0 at all? It would seem like a major shame if you weren’t.
Keep up the good work, really enjoying your posts!
Best regards,
Aris
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