The Mediocrity Principle
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The Mediocrity Principle
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Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#2Hey, this principle's not so special.
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#3The only thing that seems to violate the mediocrity principle is the staggering odds that we exist in the first place given the conditions under which intelligent life needs to have in order to exist. But then, Anthropic_principle, so there's that.
Een then, once you understand the vastness of the universe, even falls under the veil of inevitability.
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#4What follows immediately from the principle is that humans are not special among species. We are average. Most of the life on Earth is bacteria life. At least half of bacteria must be more intelligent than we are. Instead of pursuing futile AI idea, we need to find a way to cooperate with bacteria, as equal partners, and make use of their talents.
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#5Hey, this principle's not so special.
That's ok, neither are we :)
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#6Yes, nobody whatsoever is special, except, that is, for those of us who are.
Furthermore, our cosmological position is, in fact, at least somewhat special, but that is not surprising, by the anthropic principle.
Yet another idiotic bloviation from PZ.
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#7What follows immediately from the principle is that humans are not special among species. We are average. Most of the life on Earth is bacteria life. At least half of bacteria must be more intelligent than we are. Instead of pursuing futile AI idea, we need to find a way to cooperate with bacteria, as equal partners, and make use of their talents.
I don't know. Everything in the principle seems to equate equal to equal - you as a human are not special among humans... Earth is not special among planets, and so on. To assume humans are not special among all life is to ignore evolution and our dominant position on Earth.
That said, we didn't get here by divine intervention, and on another planet with life, the dominant species will likely have followed a similar pattern to dominance, and our existence as the dominant species is not special (the dinosaurs once owned the place).
Also my ability to understand to what level you are being silly or snarky or sarcastic is equally non-special.
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#8"The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent. If we can come to terms with this indifference, then our existence as a species can have genuine meaning. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.", Stanley Kubrick
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#9The only thing that seems to violate the mediocrity principle is the staggering odds that we exist in the first place given the conditions under which intelligent life needs to have in order to exist. But then, Anthropic_principle, so there's that. Een then, once you understand the vastness of the universe, even falls under the veil of inevitability.
> the conditions under which intelligent life needs to have in order to exist
We know what these are?
Re: The Mediocrity Principle
#10[deleted]