That effect is well-known in chemistry, phase diagrams are a common tool to describe this.
Linked is a phase diagram of water—the phases “Liquid” and “Ih” are commonly known as liquid water and normal ice, but at high pressures other phases exist. Note that this diagram is by no means complete—further to the right there’s water vapor, then at higher pressures supercritical water, then gradually water is not favoured anymore and Hydrogen/Oxygen are stable, and even further out there’s a smooth transition to plasma—nonrelativistic and classical at “low” temperatures and pressures, relativistic at high temperatures, governed by the rules of quantum mechanics for high pressures.
What do we learn from this? Our models of reality can always be valid only for certain assumptions and in certain ranges for the variables we consider. It doesn’t surprise me at all that there’s novel chemistry at high pressures as the electrons get squished closer together. Similarly, at very low pressures, unionized matter is in the minority, so that the chemistry is different yet again. The only question is where this transition occurs.
Likewise, I’d guess that the psychology of animals or aliens might be radically different from ours, as will be the biology of these aliens, depending on the conditions of their homeworld.
That effect is well-known in chemistry, phase diagrams are a common tool to describe this.
Linked is a phase diagram of water—the phases “Liquid” and “Ih” are commonly known as liquid water and normal ice, but at high pressures other phases exist. Note that this diagram is by no means complete—further to the right there’s water vapor, then at higher pressures supercritical water, then gradually water is not favoured anymore and Hydrogen/Oxygen are stable, and even further out there’s a smooth transition to plasma—nonrelativistic and classical at “low” temperatures and pressures, relativistic at high temperatures, governed by the rules of quantum mechanics for high pressures.
What do we learn from this? Our models of reality can always be valid only for certain assumptions and in certain ranges for the variables we consider. It doesn’t surprise me at all that there’s novel chemistry at high pressures as the electrons get squished closer together. Similarly, at very low pressures, unionized matter is in the minority, so that the chemistry is different yet again. The only question is where this transition occurs.
Likewise, I’d guess that the psychology of animals or aliens might be radically different from ours, as will be the biology of these aliens, depending on the conditions of their homeworld.