Download Guthrie explores the Centaurian planet, Demeter, where tides are low because there is no moon. Ebbs and storms deposit seaweed, shells and dead worm- or jellyfish-like animals on the beach. Life is rich in the oceans but scarce on land. Did the much larger Terrestrial tides cause the evolution of amphibians and thus facilitate the transition of animals from sea to land?
In "Wrong Way Street" by Larry Niven, a time traveler accidentally destroys the Moon in the remote past and thus prevents the evolution of humanity. Maybe every idea needs to be re-examined to see what time travel can do to it?
See also "There Is A Tide."
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That seems to have been Anderson's belief, that having strong tides on a planet would facilitate or hasten evolution.
Ad astra! Sean
Or the plant may just have not supported life long enough. Life on earth was largely maritime for a long period.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Did you mean "plant" or "planet"? I think there would first need to be some kinds of plants on land, however primitive, before animal life could live there.
Ad astra! Sean
Planet. Oops.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That clarifies matters.
Ad astra! Sean
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