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Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I had this vision in a strong ayahuasca trip... I met "Mother Nature", but it wasn't the feminine caring image you'd think of. It was an unstoppable force of life that did not had any caring of right or wrong. It only wanted to create more life. It had more a feeling of millions of beings crawling over each other, like a beehive or ants nests. Just devouring everything with "life". Like a "Squiggle Maximizer" wi…

Abject nihilism is fucking lame, and I don't care whatever chemically-induced experiences you or anyone else has had or whatever value you think you found within them or whatever the fuck, but I'm frankly tired of pretending otherwise.

That’s a nihilist statement though. :p I was just outing my experience, no need to get that riled up.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#82
post #43

Feels like it's more likely they got trapped in a plane, ship, box and got there unwillingly. I'm surprised as a scientist you can get to this conclusion

You should consider reading the article where the evidence against this is explicitly discussed in detail.

I have read it, I don't see any mention of that in the article.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#83
post #47
post #43

Feels like it's more likely they got trapped in a plane, ship, box and got there unwillingly. I'm surprised as a scientist you can get to this conclusion

I'm surprised that one can feel okay with completely dismissing scientific observations on the basis of "feels like".

They explicitly say "this method is not perfect and still hinges primarily on educated guesswork". So why are they dismissing a completely possible explanation? At least they should mention that's it's a possibility

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in awe of the tenacity of life. Over a decade ago, a snowy owl made its way to the island of Oahu on its own. Sadly, it had to be killed because it arrived near Honolulu’s international airport and could not captured by animal control. An autopsy revealed that this owl had expended so much energy crossing the pacific that it almost certainly would have died of exhaustion within a few hours of its arrival. But, it…

I don't forget, to establish a new owl community you have to convince a lady owl to come with you on the suicidal journey.

> babe we gonna fly towards the setting sun

> k

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in awe of the tenacity of life. Over a decade ago, a snowy owl made its way to the island of Oahu on its own. Sadly, it had to be killed because it arrived near Honolulu’s international airport and could not captured by animal control. An autopsy revealed that this owl had expended so much energy crossing the pacific that it almost certainly would have died of exhaustion within a few hours of its arrival. But, it…

I don't forget, to establish a new owl community you have to convince a lady owl to come with you on the suicidal journey.

It was never mentioned in the article, but this owl could have been female and might have been gravid.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#86

How is this possible? I cant even walk 10 miles without needing food. Where did the butterflies store their energy? So many questions... Amazing if true.

You could walk for many days without food if it was your only hope of living.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once I had this vision in a strong ayahuasca trip... I met "Mother Nature", but it wasn't the feminine caring image you'd think of. It was an unstoppable force of life that did not had any caring of right or wrong. It only wanted to create more life. It had more a feeling of millions of beings crawling over each other, like a beehive or ants nests. Just devouring everything with "life". Like a "Squiggle Maximizer" wi…

Abject nihilism is fucking lame, and I don't care whatever chemically-induced experiences you or anyone else has had or whatever value you think you found within them or whatever the fuck, but I'm frankly tired of pretending otherwise.

What you think is nihilism is not nihilism. Please change your semantic understanding of this word to be more in line with reality.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The butterflies were lucky. There must be many others that didn't make it. "Nature is prolific. There are many more creatures that are born than can possibly survive." -- Carl Sagan It's a feature, not a bug! (pardon the pun)

Once I had this vision in a strong ayahuasca trip... I met "Mother Nature", but it wasn't the feminine caring image you'd think of. It was an unstoppable force of life that did not had any caring of right or wrong. It only wanted to create more life. It had more a feeling of millions of beings crawling over each other, like a beehive or ants nests. Just devouring everything with "life". Like a "Squiggle Maximizer" wi…

> but made me seriously reconsider the "sacredness" of life

When I think of life mattering, I think of the individual, not life in general.

I think nature is quite cruel and there's very little about nature to suggest that the life of an individual matters at all, but to that individual, their life is the most important thing they have.

It's like the argument people make to vegans: if we stop eating cows, they'll go extinct and that's bad.

It initially sounds bad to think of a species going extinct, but the species doesnt matter in this case. What really matters are the individuals who make up the species, and they're living a short existing with a cruel death. No cow would suffer if we stopped breeding them and let the species go extinct, but people think of the species as a being that woukd somehow be hurt by not existing.

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abject nihilism is fucking lame, and I don't care whatever chemically-induced experiences you or anyone else has had or whatever value you think you found within them or whatever the fuck, but I'm frankly tired of pretending otherwise.

What you think is nihilism is not nihilism. Please change your semantic understanding of this word to be more in line with reality.

Yawn

Re: Butterflies flew 2,600 miles across the Atlantic without stopping

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The butterflies were lucky. There must be many others that didn't make it. "Nature is prolific. There are many more creatures that are born than can possibly survive." -- Carl Sagan It's a feature, not a bug! (pardon the pun)

I’m in awe of the tenacity of life. Over a decade ago, a snowy owl made its way to the island of Oahu on its own. Sadly, it had to be killed because it arrived near Honolulu’s international airport and could not captured by animal control. An autopsy revealed that this owl had expended so much energy crossing the pacific that it almost certainly would have died of exhaustion within a few hours of its arrival. But, it…

It may have been someones pet
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