Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: wotw2112 on August 11, 2008, 04:15:15 PM
-
Maybe this idea has been brought up before but:
The premise of morphing is the absorbing of DNA. So...
1. Could someone acquire DNA from a dead body? The DNA is still there.
2. Could someone possibly acquire the dna of something extinct (i.e. they've found Dinosaur DNA in bones, etc) It would seem if they could somehow make it in a large enough quantity to touch then it should be absorbable.
Unless I'm missing some fundamental rule about the creature having to be alive (which I don't recall).
-
We don't know why, but it is said to be impossible to acquire anything that's dead, which would obviously include fossils of extinct creatures.
-
It says at one point in the book that the creature being acquired needs to be alive. However, seeing as how Ax said you could acquire from blood alone in book 18, I'm going to guess that it might be more along the lines of the blood needing to still be warm. So recently dead bodies might be acquirable.
-
Presumably there is something about the morphing technology that requires living tissue in order to allow the acquiring process. Since the thing about acquiring from blood alone was only mentioned in #18 then it's possible that KA simply made that part up just as a plot device for that book.
-
Ok, i guess that makes sense but DNA is DNA...stupid frustrating limitations of made-up technology ;D
-
Well for fossils it probably makes sense, since after millions of years I doubt there is a lot of DNA left. That's why they had to use blood taken from mosquitoes in Jurassic Park, there wasn't enough DNA left in the actual fossils to clone the Dinosaurs.
-
I think the idea is that they need a living cell. Blood could possibly contain cells that are still alive. Here is a better question. Can you aquire and morph a creature that lacks a central nervous system?
-
Well for fossils it probably makes sense, since after millions of years I doubt there is a lot of DNA left. That's why they had to use blood taken from mosquitoes in Jurassic Park, there wasn't enough DNA left in the actual fossils to clone the Dinosaurs.
I thought the same and any blood taken from fossilized amber probably would be too little to allow for acquiring anyway...but if they could find a way to synthetically reproduce it?
Can you aquire and morph a creature that lacks a central nervous system?
I would have to say yes. DNA is DNA. Is there some other factor I'm not considering?
-
*nods*
If it has no C.Nervous system...it has no BRAIN.
How do you control it?
In view: jellyfish?
-
*nods*
If it has no C.Nervous system...it has no BRAIN.
How do you control it?
In view: jellyfish?
Yeah but so what? A cat doesn't have a human brain but the morpher maintains their human personality and thoughts in morph anyway so I can't imagine the lack of a brain would matter. They just wouldn't have to fight for control as there would really be nothing opposing them.
-
Hmmmn...how to explain. Aha!
Okay, you know that humans NEVER use 100% of their brain at once? Seriously. Using more than 60% of your brain (JUST the 'thinking' part, not counting the sensory areas and the centres of balance and symbol/word recognition) at a time is what doctors call "epileptic seizure".
I think that when they morph an animal, they use the parts of the brain that aren't occupied at the time. NOTHING uses all its brain at once. EVER.
So...what do you do when there is no brain to use?
-
No I mean since this is alien technology it should not be specific to animals since animals are just a kingdom classified by humans. Since DNA is DNA that means the animorphs should be able to morph bacteria or plants. However, they could not exert control over something without a central nervous system. Oh jellyfish would be possible because though they lack a brain they do have a nervous simple.
-
Obviously, the only purpose for morphing a plant in the first place would be to hide or to obtain some medicinal/toxic/caustic chemical from the plant, but both cases are redundant:
Hide? The Yeerks burn EVERYTHING.
Chemical? Just get it from the original plant, instead of acquiring it.
-
Unless I'm much mistaken, Starfish have no brains. However, Rachel still morphed one. Perhaps the mind of the morpher is stored in Z-space and connected to the body via the morphing technology?
-
yes but they have a nervous system. There is a network that is able to cause dynamic coordinated movement.
-
I always wondered why they never accidentally acquired bacteria or something else that was on their hands at the time...
-
well they weren't thinking about acquiring bacteria. remember you have to sort of visualize the animal to acquire it.
-
Yeah, otherwise I'd accidentally acquire every animal or human they touched.
-
Unless I'm much mistaken, Starfish have no brains. However, Rachel still morphed one. Perhaps the mind of the morpher is stored in Z-space and connected to the body via the morphing technology?
bingo, they say this in the book where ax explains the bag of matter being pushed into zspace and all that fun stuff, im pretty sure it was 18
-
Bacteria are not animals. They're Monerans. Two completely different kingdoms.
-
Bacteria are not animals. They're Monerans. Two completely different kingdoms.
do they have DNA?
-
They have something very similar to DNA, but more primitive.
-
well then, it still fits what we're talking about
No I mean since this is alien technology it should not be specific to animals since animals are just a kingdom classified by humans. Since DNA is DNA that means the animorphs should be able to morph bacteria or plants. However, they could not exert control over something without a central nervous system. Oh jellyfish would be possible because though they lack a brain they do have a nervous simple.
-
Of course Bacteria have DNA. But tehy're still not Animals so the Animorphs can't morph them.
The definition of an aninal is specific and universal: A multicellular organism that gets it's energy from other organisms.
Elfangor, the friggin's ALIEN that gave them their powers, SAID animals.
-
well tell that to wolfev then.
-
Yeah, The Decision has complicated the issues with the acquiring ability. But that book itself confirmed the Andalites realized that the Anirmophs themselves had more morphs than their own Andalite spies. So the Animorphs are really the ones pushing the boundaries of this piece of techonolgy.
Has anyone ever done a count on which animals were unaffected by the 'drowsy' effect that comes with the acquiring process?
Oh! And here's another question.
I always wondered, say in the case of Cassie, if she wanted to morph back to a catterpillar, would she be unable to due to the metamorphosis into her butterfly morph... Has the metamorphed DNA remain in the system, too?? And if so, would the new morph be preserved?
-
Has anyone ever done a count on which animals were unaffected by the 'drowsy' effect that comes with the acquiring process?
I remember 2. Tobias's dolphin, and David's cobra
-
It's weird that the Dolphin Tobias acquired didn't go into a trance, as the other Dolphins did when the other Animorphs acquired them. I'm guessing it was just a fluke, like the sedative effect has a very small chance of failing.
-
maybe tobias acquired a different dolphin from the others. and that particular dolphin had something special about it that made it immune...
-
After reading #18, I think that the big deal isn't tissue or having a brain. I think that it has to do with the actual flow of blood. Example: You wouldn't be able to acquire a bug by squishing it and trying to acquire it's blood and guts, but as a mosquito you could 'acquire' flowing, fresh oxygen-rich blood and TA-DA!!!
But who knows 100%? Nobody. Interesting discussion, though.
-
Maybe the mosquito blood trick was never gonna work?
Maybe you still can only acquire living animals and Jake and co. couldn't have morphed Andershot at all? Ax couldn't correct them because he's no scientist and never paid attention in class to know better.
-
well they weren't thinking about acquiring bacteria. remember you have to sort of visualize the animal to acquire it.
The Hidden: How did that buffalo acquire Chapman and Visser 3? What would have led it to even visualize those two people?
How did the ant acquire Cassie? (How would an ant visualize Cassie?).
-
Of course Bacteria have DNA. But tehy're still not Animals so the Animorphs can't morph them.
The definition of an aninal is specific and universal: A multicellular organism that gets it's energy from other organisms.
Elfangor, the friggin's ALIEN that gave them their powers, SAID animals.
It could be that the Andalites have a blind spot in that area, that being their assumption that no one would want to acquire anything that can't move, so would only acquire animals.
-
The Hidden: How did that buffalo acquire Chapman and Visser 3? What would have led it to even visualize those two people?
How did the ant acquire Cassie? (How would an ant visualize Cassie?).
The world may never know. It's the magic of Cassie.