Intentional Fire-Spreading by “Firehawk” Raptors in Northern Australia

Post by pathseeker » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 7:13 PM UTC

CPLX wrote: post #173

taneq wrote: post #7

So we're not the only: - tool-using animal - fire-using animal - language-using animal - animal which domesticates other animals - animal which builds complex structures Aha! I know! We're the only animal which continually comes up with reasons why we're special.

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.

Post by carapace » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 7:25 PM UTC

pathseeker wrote: post #211

CPLX wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.

Yet the dolphin dies whenever it encounters something it's body can't heal on it's own. The whole "whoever lives the simpler life is smarter" doesn't really hold up when science/medicine/engineering solve life threatening problems.

Post by anigbrowl » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

stupidcar wrote: post #150

krapp wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I really don't understand this feeling that humans need to be modest or that describing ourselves as special is wrong. We are special. To simply state that humans are best adapted at certain traits is true, but humans have tended to think of themselves as "special" in that "we're not even animals, but beings made in the image of God and given divine right to conquer Nature and do with it what we will." That anthropo…

But the opposite view could just as easily be used as a justification: I.e. "We're just animals, no different from any other. So anything we do is a part of nature, and we shouldn't second guess it, any more than any other animal would second guess its instincts." I think we need to recognise that we are, at least, unique. And that we have a unique ability to affect the world, for good or ill, that sets us apart from…

Post by mmjaa » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 7:51 PM UTC

esaym wrote: post #205

mmjaa wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a native-born Australian, your last sentence really resonates with me. I was lucky to have been born there, and raised a bit, but when I was old enough to have a religious-like experience out there in the north-western deserts, I realised I couldn't ever feel comfortable for as long as I, a privileged white boy, lived on the Australian continent. So, I left. 30 years later, I'm taking my kids back for a bit of tou…

I guess I don't know much about Australia. Why were you no longer comfortable there and what are humans doing to it??

Post by QAPereo » Fri, Jan 05, 2018, 7:55 PM UTC

JackFr wrote: post #146

krapp wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I really don't understand this feeling that humans need to be modest or that describing ourselves as special is wrong. We are special. To simply state that humans are best adapted at certain traits is true, but humans have tended to think of themselves as "special" in that "we're not even animals, but beings made in the image of God and given divine right to conquer Nature and do with it what we will." That anthropo…

> That anthropocentric bias has led to a multitude of evils How about we're the only species which we hold to a moral standard? Unless you're going to hold other species to that standard, you have to admit that we're special.