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I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

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Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#111

Post by andix »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #77
andix wrote: post #54

St. Stephens cathedral in Vienna was built with sandstone that contains seashells. It's hundreds of kilometers away from the shore, but ~15 million years ago the area where it stands now was a seabed. The stones are not from the exact location where it was built, but from close by. The quarry where the stones came from hundreds of years ago is still active, and you can find tons of fossils there. It's practically imp…

Not Vienna or Europe, but N. America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Interior_Seaway

It’s a very common occurrence. It’s fascination to find maritime fossils far away from the shore, but also very common.

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#113

Post by charcircuit »

fzeroracer wrote: post #84
charcircuit wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one. I'm pointing out there are existing AI models that can do this that the author could have tried before investing all the work to build his own.

> investing all the work to build his own. I don't think you understand why the author did this on a fundamental level. Sometimes it isn't explicitly about getting the outcome directly, it's about putting in the work to understand how you get there.

The article says that the author wanted to have an analysis done, but ruled out the option of a human doing it. He did not rule out using a multimodal LLM. It's possible that he just is unaware that multimodal LLMs are capable of doing an analysis. Considering the approach wasn't mentioned in the article one can guess that the author just didn't know it was possible. But there is no way to know for sure.

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#114

Post by kaonwarb »

rf15 wrote: post #103
My_Name wrote: post #94

One thing that will have thrown the author off the trail is that he is holding a fossil of the organic parts of the snail and that is essentially a cast of the animal, not the shell. They are known as Steinkerns (stonecore). The insides get replaced by minerals, which harden, the shell dissolves, then the only fossil remaining is a mould of the inside of what used to be the shell. So on a fundamental level, the headl…

Splitting hairs in bad faith is not constructive to the points being made here.

Reads to me like a fascinating and relevant distinction.

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#115

Post by m463 »

My_Name wrote: post #94

One thing that will have thrown the author off the trail is that he is holding a fossil of the organic parts of the snail and that is essentially a cast of the animal, not the shell. They are known as Steinkerns (stonecore). The insides get replaced by minerals, which harden, the shell dissolves, then the only fossil remaining is a mould of the inside of what used to be the shell. So on a fundamental level, the headl…

I've been told by a friend -- a wierd thing -- in many places you can dig a hole and it will fill with water. And at some point in the future fish will be swimming in it.

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#116

Post by Ericson2314 »

rf15 wrote: post #103
My_Name wrote: post #94

One thing that will have thrown the author off the trail is that he is holding a fossil of the organic parts of the snail and that is essentially a cast of the animal, not the shell. They are known as Steinkerns (stonecore). The insides get replaced by minerals, which harden, the shell dissolves, then the only fossil remaining is a mould of the inside of what used to be the shell. So on a fundamental level, the headl…

Splitting hairs in bad faith is not constructive to the points being made here.

No, a layperson doing a bunch of math but barking up the wrong tree theory-wise is actually super instructive for this forum of autodidacts.

And I say that as one of the autodidacts.

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#117

Post by saaaaaam »

colechristensen wrote: post #106
saaaaaam wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m really not sure what you mean. Did you actually read the article? There is nothing in there that confirms this is a fossil. One moment the author says “I found a fully solid rock that eerily resembles a seashell” and the next minute they treat it as though it is a fossil but their analysis shows that the shell the piece of rock most resembles is from a completely different geological period.

Who cares? What if it isn't? What are the consequences? It's still an interesting post.

A number of people in this thread arguing with me in a remarkably personal way apparently care quite a lot. And I guess you must care at least a little bit given you’ve made the effort to comment.

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#118

Post by ex-aws-dude »

rf15 wrote: post #103
My_Name wrote: post #94

One thing that will have thrown the author off the trail is that he is holding a fossil of the organic parts of the snail and that is essentially a cast of the animal, not the shell. They are known as Steinkerns (stonecore). The insides get replaced by minerals, which harden, the shell dissolves, then the only fossil remaining is a mould of the inside of what used to be the shell. So on a fundamental level, the headl…

Splitting hairs in bad faith is not constructive to the points being made here.

how is that splitting hairs? it’s an actual interesting point

Re: I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

#120

Post by Obscurity4340 »

m463 wrote: post #115
My_Name wrote: post #94

One thing that will have thrown the author off the trail is that he is holding a fossil of the organic parts of the snail and that is essentially a cast of the animal, not the shell. They are known as Steinkerns (stonecore). The insides get replaced by minerals, which harden, the shell dissolves, then the only fossil remaining is a mould of the inside of what used to be the shell. So on a fundamental level, the headl…

I've been told by a friend -- a wierd thing -- in many places you can dig a hole and it will fill with water. And at some point in the future fish will be swimming in it.

Or trilobites?
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