Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships • Hacker News Board

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#31

Post by kiliantics » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:56 PM UTC

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

Maybe we don't all need to read the original Darwin, but I do think there is a serious gap in most peoples' knowledge of how the natural world actually functions, how all the components in an ecosystem are interdependent and necessary. There is a framework of understanding that used to be common knowledge which now only experts and enthusiasts possess. I fear that most people in positions to make decisions that impact our natural environment have insufficient understanding of the potential consequences.

Our failure to keep people educated on these matters to a base level has probably seriously contributed to the ecological catastrophe we are experiencing and digging ourselves ever deeper into. People have been taught to have more faith in industrial and technological solutions to any problems, rather than appreciating a need to be stewards of the life support systems of this world that we depend on.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#32

Post by RobertoG » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 3:56 PM UTC

mrkstu wrote: post #10

RobertoG wrote: post #3

>>"I am sure that many of the erudite readers of this little book know On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin inside and out. " I can't parse that sentence. Does it make sense? (English is not my first language)

It helps when you see that this article is actually an excerpt from a book, without that knowledge the sentence doesn’t really parse.

Ah, that's it, thanks! For some reason I was thinking "this little book" was Darwin book (that it's actually quite small).

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#33

Post by pvaldes » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:23 PM UTC

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

> I'm never going to read that thing.

Is surprisingly accesible and easy to follow in fact. Such way to write science using logic and linking obvious facts instead to trying to wrap all in math glitter couldn't happen today.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#34

Post by vhold » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:26 PM UTC

pvaldes wrote: post #18

The prosaic reality is that bumblebees don't have any particular feelings about cats. Not more that they would feel about other carnivores. Using the same argument we could easily link being rich in England with the presence of rats in their house (that also eat lots of mice); or other similar nonsense. (But, yep. I agree that this old histories full of literary licenses feel warm inside and are entertaining as long…

Agreed, although it would be interesting if it turned out that bumblebee queens are attracted to the smell of cat urine when choosing where to establish a hive. Seems like that, or something similar, would be a possible evolutionary adaptation. Then you could say they have a "feeling" for cats.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#35

Post by ajlai » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

It actually holds up really well. Not long, and easy to read. It's been a while since I read it, but I remember being surprised at its simplicity.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#36

Post by sosborn » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

bredren wrote: post #25

twobitshifter wrote: post #21

Today no one would chose an introduced species like cats as an example of symbiosis. Outdoor cats are an invasive species which are destroying the native bird populations, and as a result the larger food chain. They are a huge problem for ecosystems.

I’ve heard this many times but do not know enough to say how big of a problem it is ecologically. I walk my cat on a leash (am on a walk now) and he is the first cat I’ve not allowed outside on his own. Cat walking and the belief you’ve espoused is extremely decisive, but not for the reason you’ve said. Letting your cat roam free is a tacit acknowledgment that one doesn’t really care that much for the animal, because…

> I’ve heard this many times but do not know enough to say how big of a problem it is ecologically.

https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/invasive-species-profiles/...

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#37

Post by EEMac » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:51 PM UTC

pvaldes wrote: post #33

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

> I'm never going to read that thing. Is surprisingly accesible and easy to follow in fact. Such way to write science using logic and linking obvious facts instead to trying to wrap all in math glitter couldn't happen today.

You get bonus points for the term "math glitter"!

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#38

Post by jbrot » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 6:11 PM UTC

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

The claim “you’ve only got time to read a few thousand books” surprised me, but some back of the napkin math strongly supports it. Assuming it takes a week to read a book and 70 years of literacy only gives you time for around 3500 books. A more avid reader might average, say, 3 books a week—-but then you only get to around 10,000 books. Now, a monk might be able to read 30 books in a week and get to 100,000, but pragmatically “a few thousand” seems to be an accurate accounting for a person who doesn’t dedicate a large portion of their life towards reading.

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#39

Post by guscost » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 6:12 PM UTC

pvaldes wrote: post #33

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

> I'm never going to read that thing. Is surprisingly accesible and easy to follow in fact. Such way to write science using logic and linking obvious facts instead to trying to wrap all in math glitter couldn't happen today.

> couldn’t happen today

Well, except for Basic Economics ;)

Re: Why bumblebees love cats and other beautiful relationships

#40

Post by MathematicalArt » Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 7:00 PM UTC

jbrot wrote: post #38

DubiousPusher wrote: post #28

> If there is someone who still has this gap in their education, you are urged to fill it without any further delay. Maybe Origin holds up better than I would guess but honestly, I'm never going to read that thing. You've got time to read a few thousand books in your life. And I would bet there are many modern books which cover the same material with a more accessible bent and more up to date and comprehensive inform…

The claim “you’ve only got time to read a few thousand books” surprised me, but some back of the napkin math strongly supports it. Assuming it takes a week to read a book and 70 years of literacy only gives you time for around 3500 books. A more avid reader might average, say, 3 books a week—-but then you only get to around 10,000 books. Now, a monk might be able to read 30 books in a week and get to 100,000, but pra…

I recommend “How to Read a Book” by Mortimer Adler. In short, not every sentence, paragraph, chapter, or even book is of equal informative importance. To read all literature as if everything is equally important is really a mistake. Once one recognizes this, it is then ideal to read only at the level of detail and focus as is required for the particular work.

What does it mean to have read a book? To read every single word and symbol? To understand the key ideas and points?

Is every book going to be one hundred percent new ideas to you or are there thematic riffs that allow you to shortcut portions of it without loss of understanding of the entire work?