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

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231–240 of 269 posts

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

#231
post #173
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.

I'd be very interested to see what dolphins could accomplish if they were to have hands and feet.

Maybe one day we will be able to give them robotic limbs controlled through brain function and see if they able able to that utility. My guess is that we would be impressed, especially if the experiment were done on a pack.

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

#232
post #49
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give them time; we took ours.

I don't think all branches of evolution lead to intelligence given any finite amount of time.

I think the real only limiting factor prevent them from accomplishing what we have is that they do not have the limbs and dexterity available which we have. This enabled us to perform many tasks which are out of the question for them. I'd say they do damn well for what their body's allow them to do.

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

#233
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Different != Special

If you don't consider humans special. What is your definition of special?

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

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is often bad tone to assume some (more or less unethical) motives behind a contrary view. Why would you do that? is it because of ? The technique seldom lends itself to a balanced discussion and will tend to deteriorate into ad hominem type arguments (I know, I used to do it a lot :-/ ...) . Anyway to your point: I find it probably that all species will find themselves more special than others, and I could easily…

I only wrote what I did from what I've seen in my own life. It's an anecdote but common enough for me that I'd imagine it applies to other people too. And you're right. If other animals were self aware enough to recognize their own exceptional qualities I'm sure they'd be proud of them. Humans have an awful sense of smell. Our vision is good, but animals have better vision. Same for hearing. But we are extremely good…

Great, so we agree to some extent. And I agree that we are right to be proud of our special qualities. It's the assertion that humans are exceptionally special in any objective sense which I don't agree with, and which would require some super-specie value system to be logically valid. Religion or some similar belief can obviously be such a system, but I personally find such incompatible with what I can reasonably infer from established facts. I guess we can leave it at that.

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

#235
post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different != Special

If you don't consider humans special. What is your definition of special?

“Special” is a human concept which may not exist objectively, empirically. Distinct, unique, etc... are probably more honest, assuming that we don’t exist in a multiverse.

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

#236
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.

I am the only animal that modded you down.

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

#237
post #173
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.

You may want to add the citation of that quote for anyone who might not already know it:

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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

#238
post #229
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on this? This sounds like a Naturalistic Fallacy.

According to Dr. Michael Greger, medical care is the third leading cause of death in America: "Since side effects from prescription drugs kill an estimated 106,000 Americans a year, the sixth leading cause of death may actually be ( gulp ) doctors. And that’s just from adverse drug reactions. Add in medical mistakes (which the U.S. Institute of Medicine estimates kills at least 44,000) and that brings “healthcare” up…

> According to Dr. Michael Greger, medical care is the third leading cause of death in America:

Everyone is going to die of something. If our medicine is good enough that, barring errors, it solves all other sources of mortality, then medical care would be the first (and indeed only) cause of death.

That it's the third (and there are still others after it) is obviously not ideal, but it's not necessarily a bad sign, either.

Nor does it mean a large share of the problems we face are of our own science/medicine/engineering, it means a large share of the problems we face that aren't solved by our own science/medicine/engineering involve failure of that science/medicine/engineering when deployed against some problem (of whatever origin.)

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

#239
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.

I think (but I'm happy to be proved wrong on this) that we are the only animal that uses abstract symbols (rather than just vocalizations or other physical displays or gestures) to communicate and build models of natural phenomena, although those abilities are probably of relatively recent origin in our species. However, I've heard that animals like chimpanzees and dolphins can learn to use symbols when taught by humans.

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

#240
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cheap and easy to encourage birds (and other animals) to come by your window more, if you want to see more of their behavior in person. A coworker has been putting out food for birds for several months, and regularly has something like 20 different species coming by for it, and another 10 or so species that only show up occasionally. It's to the point now that when he puts out food, he regularly has something li…

Be careful with this. We hired an exterminator once to deal with a carpenter ant problem and he said the number one cause of vermin infestation (rats, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, etc) is putting bird feeders near your house. Apparently the nuts and seeds attract vermin, which inevitably tunnel into your house through openings, and make it their house. I love the sight of birds, but after seeing chipmunks (ground squi…

My in-laws had similar problems. They decided they wanted chickens. The presence of chicken feed near the house ended up attracting rats.
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