[Aliens/Space] Defining 'Race' (in the SF sense) in a setting with panspermia?

[vicky_molokh]

Annoyed? Last time I used the word race in the original sense (as in, Mongoloid vs Caucasian), THAT'S what made people annoyed, and started giving examples of uses such as 'human race'.

Sigh. Can't satisfy everyone.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by teviet

Genetics works great... for races with genes.

If there is a multi-organism spacefaring collective they'll have a system of lifeform classification that dwarfs Linnaeus taxonomy. The Kingdom-Phylum-Order-Class-Family-Genus-Species sequence would have one or two additional divisors preceding it (for instance, Element-Dimension-World-Kingdom-Phylum-Order-Class-Family-Genus-Species, or its interstellar equivalent). In addition to separating beings by evolutionary heritage they could separate them by Element (carbon-based, silicon-based, arsenic-based), then by Dimension (two orders bigger than "kingdom") and World (one order bigger than "kingdom"). Rest assured, no matter how varied the life forms are, some wonk would try to cram them into categories.

[teviet]

Originally Posted by Fish

If there is a multi-organism spacefaring collective they'll have a system of lifeform classification that dwarfs Linnaeus taxonomy. [snip] Rest assured, no matter how varied the life forms are, some wonk would try to cram them into categories.

No doubt. Especially considering that this particular universe apparently already has a crystalline race, a machine race, and a hybrid combining the two. Once you allow lateral transfer you no longer have a straightforward heredity-based definition and have to switch to a trait-based definition (kinda the reverse of what's happening in real-world taxonomy).

TeV