www.ditl.org

Does anyone have insight as to whether humans evolved independently on several planets in the BSG Universe? It seems they evolved on Earth ("our" Earth, not the "Earth" destroyed in a nuclear war), given the existence of a presumably autochthonous human population there. It's unclear to me, though, whether the ancestors of the Colonials came from this population and were (presumably) transported to Kobol (?, by whom?), migrating from there to the Colonies, or whether the Colonials' ancestors evolved into humans on another planet (Kobol?) and constituted a separate population of humans.

While the idea of humans evolving independently on different planets seems fantastic, it's the only explanation I can imagine for this situation, assuming whole populations of humans were not transported from their place of origin around the galaxy, à la the Preservers in the ST Universe.

If this topic has been discussed elsewhere in this forum I would appreciate the reference.

Thanks.

The humans on our Earth evolved on that planet. A second human evolution.

The Colonial humans presumably evolved on Kobol. The planet where the thirteen tribes came from.

Have you watched the whole series?

Thanks for the quick reply!

Yes, I have watched the whole series and am aware of the premise of a second human evolution. However, as I noted in my original post, humans evolving independently on different planets seems fantastic.

I was just curious to know if anyone was aware of a more plausible explanation. If not, I submit to the fantastic!

Nope that is it. Though I guess you could go with the idea that our Earth were seeded by survivors of Kobol, like a fourteenth tribe and they did the same exact thing the Colonials did. Ditch their technology or had to for whatever reason.

Interesting idea, thanks!

No I think it is a definite second evolution since our planet has a fossil and evolution record of our evolving.

As much as I hate it... God. The series shows he has taken a active intrest in humanity.

It would actually be a third evolution, given the existence of the Final Five's Earth. If you don't like the idea of the same species developing separately on three different planets, I think it's possible to invent a convoluted solution that removes the multiple instances:

1) Humanity evolves on Earth (i.e. this one).
2) Humanity creates the Cylons, they rebel and mostly wipe out humanity, and a group of survivors escape in relativistic ships.
3) The survivors find Kobol and settle, deciding to abandon their technology to prevent the Cylon problem recurring.
4) At some point the Cylons on Earth fight a civil war and almost completely annihilate each other. Five survivors escape, following the route of the human exodus.
5) Kobol's population forgets their origins, develops modern technology.
6) Kobol creates the Cylons, they rebel and mostly wipe out humanity, and a group of survivors escape (possibly in relativistic ships, possibly by jump drive).
7) The survivors find the Colonies and settle, deciding to abandon their technology to prevent the Cylon problem recurring, although they retain some records of Kobol before the fall.
8) The Cylons on Kobol fight a civil war and either completely annihilate each other or abandon Kobol.
9) The colonials develop modern technology.
10) The Colonials create the Cylons, they rebel, and fight the Cylon War.
11) The Final Five arrive and end the war by offering the Cylons resurrection technology.
12) The Cylons mostly wipe out humanity and a group of survivors escape, led by the Galactica.
13) The Cylons fight a civil war and almost completely wipe each other out (with some help from Galactica).
14) This is where things get interesting. Galactica's final (divinely inspired ) jump from the colony is through time as well as space. They're theoretically the same thing, so I think it's at least possible that the jump drive is capable of it, even if its operators don't realise it. They arrive at the original Earth between steps 1) and 2), but don't recognise it due to the different constellations and lack of massive damage from the various wars. They settle, deciding to abandon their technology to prevent the Cylon problem recurring because Lee Adama is an idiot.
15) See step 2). All of this has happened before, and will happen again...

Thank you so much, Teaos and Captain Seafort! You've both proposed excellent ideas, as did you, McAvoy. I must admit that I need a bit of time to "digest" the "15 Steps." Prima facie, I really like them, convoluted though they may be. (Is convolution really such a bad thing?)

One could always argue that these ideas simply describe different timelines, all being equally real. Perhaps a bit deus ex machina, but that's hardly new to BSG ("re-imagined" after all) and sci-fi in general. Besides, who's to say that's not how things are?

I am new to the DITL Forum and have to admit I didn't know what to expect. I've been carrying on a very stimulating dialogue with Graham for a while now (starting with the topic "What is the nature of the market for advanced arms sales in the 24th century Star Trek Universe?") and have become spoiled by the extremely thoughtful discourse. I am pleased to see an equally high quality of discussion in this forum, for which I express my sincere appreciation.

That actually works pretty well and fits into the theme of the show.

Sadly the theme of the show wound up being, "Our writers are fucking clueless and don't know how to write an ending."

You think that a lack of fossil record and clear evoultion path on the 13 colonies would lead to the increased faith we see? It would be a reasonable answer to the question "where do we come from?" if their is no scientific evidence.

Tyyr wrote:That actually works pretty well and fits into the theme of the show.

Sadly the theme of the show wound up being, "Our writers are fucking clueless and don't know how to write an ending."

I didn't mind the ending too much except for the whole second human evolution on 'our' Earth and it being 100,000 years ago.

They could have had them land, keep a level of tech and get wiped out through natural causes, ala the Atlantis myth.

McAvoy wrote:I didn't mind the ending too much except for the whole second human evolution on 'our' Earth and it being 100,000 years ago.

Well, that and the colonials all voluntarily committing a slow suicide.

Tyyr wrote:Well, that and the colonials all voluntarily committing a slow suicide.

Slow? The colony on New Caprica was starting to come apart at the seams even with the support of their landed ships and two battlestars in orbit, and they decided to try and start over in Africa of all places with no support whatsoever. It's amazing Hera survived long enough to reproduce.

Slow compared to doing it Dualla style.

No, most likely Hera's parents both died of disease or maybe starved to death, saving their last food for her. She was likely captured by the locals and raped, had a few babies, and died before she was 30.