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Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

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Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#261

Post by badosu »

RealityVoid wrote: post #187
badosu wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The paranoic stimuli and possible unfolding of latent mental conditions can't be underestimated though.

"possible unfolding of latent mental conditions" Interesting, can you expand on this? First time I hear this. I know someone that told me of a friend of his that hid some LSD at a border crossing close to the body and as a result of the trip, the guy got severe permanent psychatric damage in that he's currently residing in an institution. I thought he was full of shit, but if what you're saying is true, he might not…

I am really surprised this is actually being debated on this forum, so I am glad that I am able to help. (edit: referring to a sibling comment)

Most psychoactive substances may potentiate and escalate some condition, the simplest example would be to get a full cup of strong coffee after a long period of abstinence (if you suffer from anxiety).

In the case of LSD and many other HT2A-receptor agonizing substances I can attest that it has indeed an effect that may result from simple paranoid delusions (I can read what people are thinking of me) to full on panic attacks (They are coming to kill me).

The substance in itself is not what really triggers latent disorders but what stimulates an environment in which a condition may deteriorate very fast, that's not to say that in a controlled, safe environment with the appropriate mindset this may be attenuated or even non existent.

I could digress about anecdotes here, but I don't feel comfortable, so I'll share a link [0] to an irc network where you can probably find someone tripping on LSD right now, just check if the user has |LSD appended to the nickname.

At #drugs people will be glad to talk with you about it, and you may possibly find very helpful information. Just don't do it on #sanctuary or #tripsit as these are there to help people in altered states.

[0]: https://chat.tripsit.me/

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#262

Post by jacquesm »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #194
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, the second people start weaponizing your research you have the option to stop participating. I want to agree with this, but I'm not certain how I would act if I knew my options where a) continue weaponisation research or b) get shot in the face.

Crucially, option b) is actually "get shot in the face and then someone else weaponises the research". Making a principled stand is only useful when it stands a non-zero chance of accomplishing something.

Or 'well shoot your wife and kids first if you don't cooperate'.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#263

Post by giggles_giggles »

labdsf wrote: post #253
PerfectElement wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any objective justification for that or just your own bias?

Just as mirimir said, it is biological norm to draw line between your own kind and everyone else. For example, both dogs and cats don't kill each other, but dog can easily kill a cat.

Chimps form tribes and go to war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#264

Post by chongli »

greenshackle2 wrote: post #161
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try not to kill flies, no. The only exception is for multiple flies that won't go away. Ditto for ants. It's a bit strange that violence toward insects is fine, but violence towards dogs is not. Ever killed a dog because it annoyed you? That said, doing it for science at least has a justification.

Do you eat animal products? I find it much stranger that violence towards farm animals is ok but not pets. At least there are principled reasons to care less about insects (much less complex nervous system), I can find no principled reason to care more for dogs than pigs.

I find it much stranger that violence towards farm animals is ok but not pets.

For the same reason people are more disturbed by terrorists beheading one person whose name and picture accompany the story than they are of a statistic where hundreds of civilians are killed by a dictator's bombing attack.

People are motivated by empathy which only works with identifiable beings. We just can't empathize with statistics or abstractions, as horrifying as that sounds.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#265

Post by chongli »

mirimir wrote: post #247
komali2 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, that's a cheap strike to go straight for hypocrisy as a means to win this argument. Whether or not the person posting the argument "animal testing is bad" eats meat doesn't change the question - "should we fatally test on animals." I'm a bit disappointed that nobody is really engaging this non-sarcastically. A couple are talking about "drawing a line" somewhere but nobody is being allowed to say "all life…

Well, if "all life should fall on the safe side of the line", what would you eat? Perhaps only organisms that have died without human intervention. Scavenging, I mean. But that wouldn't support very large populations.

Dead bodies, unless mummified or otherwise desiccated into jerky, are teeming with bacterial life.

There's simply no way to survive without destroying other life. Even plants kill other living things in self defense (and many plants prey on animals).

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#266

Post by chrisweekly »

komali2 wrote: post #243
greenshackle2 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you eat animal products? I find it much stranger that violence towards farm animals is ok but not pets. At least there are principled reasons to care less about insects (much less complex nervous system), I can find no principled reason to care more for dogs than pigs.

To be fair, that's a cheap strike to go straight for hypocrisy as a means to win this argument. Whether or not the person posting the argument "animal testing is bad" eats meat doesn't change the question - "should we fatally test on animals." I'm a bit disappointed that nobody is really engaging this non-sarcastically. A couple are talking about "drawing a line" somewhere but nobody is being allowed to say "all life…

Non-sarcastic question about "all life": don't you _have_ to draw the line somewhere? Bacteria? Vegetables?

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#267

Post by greglindahl »

prodikl wrote: post #165
mark-r wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of, don't they use plastic liners to keep the pollutants out of the groundwater? Filling landfills with a chemical to break down plastic could backfire badly.

pretty sure we could come up with another type of liner

It'd be an unusual landfill to start with, because caterpillars generally don't like anaerobic conditions. More like a compost pile that's kept well-aerated.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#268

Post by 3131s »

b6 wrote: post #257
labdsf wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as mirimir said, it is biological norm to draw line between your own kind and everyone else. For example, both dogs and cats don't kill each other, but dog can easily kill a cat.

Both dogs and cats do kill each other. It is not uncommon at all.

Yep, cats fight brutally all the time. My wife's old cat was a fighter and had the scars to prove it. No doubt he had killed many cats, and then he eventually succumbed to an infection from a nasty neck wound acquired in a fight.

Re: Caterpillar found to eat shopping bags, suggesting solution to plastic pollution

#270

Post by accountyaccount »

djsumdog wrote: post #235
ajarmst wrote: post #233

Oh, yeah, I know how this ends. A year from now, when we're chest-deep in caterpillars, you're going to offer to sell us some caterpillar-eating birds...

We already have troubled bee populations throughout the world too. I could also see us getting rids of insane amounts of plastic bags (boo-yea!) and then losing all bee pollinating crops (e.g. Almonds) as colonies collapse (boo-nah?)

If I have to choose one of these:

* almonds

* plastic bags

* bees

RIP the planet.

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