Quote:
Originally Posted by dworth
Or: if somehow they were able to infect you, your body would have no defence whatsoever against a new disease and the result would be a repeat of what happened to the Aztecs when they caught measles from the Conquistadors, a disease hitherto unknown in the Americas.
Food from other planets might also prove to be indegistible. Not toxic, perhaps, but your gut flora might not be able to break down unfamiliar cells and compounds. It might be like trying to eat wood. It wouldn't poison you, but you would get very little nutrition from it.
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I find both of these to be a very likely scenario, even if we should find a planet almost exactly like Earth and with vegetation and a humanoid population. (Not that I expect an Earthlike planet to be a likely scenario...)