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Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#41

Post by blondie9x »

We have caused the Halocene extinction. Our wasteful lifestyles are the virus of the planet. The overconsumed. The technologists who think our devices and social media and VR are a substitute to blind us from the truth. We are destroying our planet. That’s reality. Our devices and travel are our escape.

“You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.“

It’s humbling to see nature trying somehow to fight back against us. Their goal. For us to chill more and be more content. What if mankind just lives in peace and balance with nature? No plastic. Carbon balance. Nothing added annually that wouldn’t be taken back and fixed anew by nature. Greenhouse gases back at 350 ppm. What if?

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#42

Post by _fat_santa »

swid wrote: post #15

This American Life just did a segment where the experts were very skeptical of both the theories presented in this article - that the first encounters near Spain were caused by a traumatic event of a matriarch, and also that orca pods would communicate with each other to spread the behavior. The theory presented in that segment was the first orcas are sort of like rowdy teenagers participating in a fad, and the newer…

> orcas are sort of like rowdy teenagers participating in a fad

That sounds more amazing to me than the theory of the traumatic event, an Ocra equivalent to a TikTok trend.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#43

Post by adrianhon »

swid wrote: post #15

This American Life just did a segment where the experts were very skeptical of both the theories presented in this article - that the first encounters near Spain were caused by a traumatic event of a matriarch, and also that orca pods would communicate with each other to spread the behavior. The theory presented in that segment was the first orcas are sort of like rowdy teenagers participating in a fad, and the newer…

Seconding! You can find the specific segment (only 7 min!) here! https://www.thisamericanlife.org/803/greetings-people-of-ear...

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#44

Post by pinkcan »

masklinn wrote: post #30
fasthands9 wrote: post #21

I dont really get how this is suggested seriously as a new behavior. The inspiration for Moby Dick, one of the most read books in English, was based on a ship sunk my sperm whales: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship) Yes I know orcas and sperm whales are different, but its weird that this is suggested a new behavior in general. And not just a new counting of something that has been going on for centuries.

A single whaler in 1820 versus a spate of events since a few months back seem rather unrelated, orcas have not been ramming boats all over for the last two centuries. Though I guess it’s possible that they’re also avenging or preemptively defending themselves.

not a lot of people knew how to write back then?

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#48

Post by xena »

FooBarBizBazz wrote: post #10
logicchains wrote: post #7

Any bets on what comes first: sapient AIs or sapient Orcas?

I'd say that orcas are already sentient and have been for a long time.

I'd be willing to argue that "sentient" is a bad word. These creatures are capable of transmitting complicated ideas. That means they have wisdom. This means they are sapient, not sentient. Sentient means they are able to respond to input, but we don't go around and call HTTP servers sentient.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#49

Post by AnotherGoodName »

glogla wrote: post #25

I wonder what kind of gun would you need to chase away an orca. I'm going to assume 9mm wouldn't even penetrate their thick skin and subskin fat.

It's not particularly harmful fwiw. A yacht sinking due to an orca would have sunk due to a strong wave.

Also it seems the orcas are bored.

If Hvaldimir is anything to go by a ball would be a good solution here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvaldimir

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