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In a reality where life on earth had originally arrived on this planet due to the effects of a collision between Gaia and Theia, which later formed the earth and moon as we know them today, what would have been the most scientifically plausible type of life that existed there before this collision and in what window of time would it have evolved?
What differences would these living beings' have with respect to life as we know it on earth? Would this life have to have come from elsewhere, or is it possible it was original to that planet?
Ale Fernandez
Posted 2018-05-11T11:22:23.950
Reputation: 115
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This reminds me of https://worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4868/how-to-deal-with-i-have-a-high-concept-please-do-my-work-for-me-questions
– Raditz_35 – 2018-05-11T11:26:15.2533I'm not sure how to answer this. It starts with a good question about life on Theia being the ultimate source of Terrestrial life, but then seems to slide off into an assumption that that life was intelligent enough to build a "vessel or capsule" and survive for millions of years in it. Given that life on Theia (if it existed at all -- it was not a large body) was almost certainly single-celled, I don't know how to proceed. Perhaps it could be reworded or broken into two questions? – Mark Olson – 2018-05-11T11:42:27.293
I agree with @MarkOlson, this needs to be separated into two questions: one about what hypothetical life might have been like on Theia, and one about how that hypothetical life might have constructed a capsule capable of surviving the collision. – F1Krazy – 2018-05-11T12:51:27.520
1Flagged as primarily opinion based. Unfortunately you have offered no insight on Theia as a habitat, and any answer to "what would life be like there" is complete guesswork. The second question you offer (btw we don't usually like 2 questions in one post) might be on topic if you move it to a new question. As it stands, however, this will likely be put on hold. – bendl – 2018-05-11T13:01:32.873
1I'm going to have to go with too broad on this one, you're asking quite a number of questions here. Could you focus down to one at a time. – Separatrix – 2018-05-11T14:45:21.070
This has found its way to the reopen queue due to an edit, but this isn't a salvageable question. The moment you say "assume" you admit that there is no possible way to factually determine the answer you want - and the reality is that we only have supposition and theory about how our planet's distant past. Consequently, anything at all is possible, no answer can be judged better than another, and the question must remain closed as POB. – JBH – 2018-05-12T02:07:26.263
This seems rather easily answered: no, life could not have developed on Theia in the millions of years between Theia's formation and Earth's. – Brythan – 2018-05-12T03:06:48.800
From what I've learnt about it so far, Theia was mars sized at it's largest, and was mostly made of ice, and kept growing until it grew beyond it's orbit. If it had ice, it could have water, so I think there is a small chance it actually had some form of life outside of this world building exercise. With my assumption I am not admitting anything though: except that I am building a world from the possibility of life originating from that planet. From what I see now, this was possible as unicellular life, which is probably also the best way to survive such a collision. – Ale Fernandez – 2018-05-13T00:16:00.347