What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
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Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#2That's how new species happen. Over time, the penguins who get sufficiently tired of all the other penguins' shit march off to the edge of the map, and when they finally get lucky, enough of the smart, independent minded penguins survive to produce a new generation. The new adventure flock eventually garners enough members to march back to the feeding grounds and seize the territory from the loser normy penguins.
Thus the arc of the universe bends towards badass penguins.
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#3My personal favourite work of his is "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga". Most of the people are doing immediate purposeful work and are much more present. There is so much resilience (the bear destroyed hut), and there is also tragedy in it as well (the fire).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_People:_A_Year_in_the_Ta...
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#4That's how new species happen. Over time, the penguins who get sufficiently tired of all the other penguins' shit march off to the edge of the map, and when they finally get lucky, enough of the smart, independent minded penguins survive to produce a new generation. The new adventure flock eventually garners enough members to march back to the feeding grounds and seize the territory from the loser normy penguins. Thu…
The whole point of the sequence is that there's no chance that these "badass penguins" are going to make new species. There's no food where they're monomaniacally heading. They're going to die.
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#5My personal favourite work of his is "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga". Most of the people are doing immediate purposeful work and are much more present. There is so much resilience (the bear destroyed hut), and there is also tragedy in it as well (the fire). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_People:_A_Year_in_the_Ta...
Yes, I also love how it shows the seasons and the practical work involved in the lives of people living in the taiga through the year.
Totally different but Little Dieter Needs to Fly is one of my favorites
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#6That's how new species happen. Over time, the penguins who get sufficiently tired of all the other penguins' shit march off to the edge of the map, and when they finally get lucky, enough of the smart, independent minded penguins survive to produce a new generation. The new adventure flock eventually garners enough members to march back to the feeding grounds and seize the territory from the loser normy penguins. Thu…
The whole point of the sequence is that there's no chance that these "badass penguins" are going to make new species. There's no food where they're monomaniacally heading. They're going to die.
This particular one wasn't going anywhere useful.
That's presumably why the comment said "when [collective they] finally get lucky", not "when [individual they] inevitably get lucky".
A certain percentage of your species having genes encouraging risky/stupid behavior is likely somewhat useful.
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#7That's how new species happen. Over time, the penguins who get sufficiently tired of all the other penguins' shit march off to the edge of the map, and when they finally get lucky, enough of the smart, independent minded penguins survive to produce a new generation. The new adventure flock eventually garners enough members to march back to the feeding grounds and seize the territory from the loser normy penguins. Thu…
Interesting fantasy but these broken penguins are too infrequent to start something new. They usually just wander off to die alone in the cold.
New species are usually formed gradually while introducing their mutations to the population until they eventually break off as a group. But more commonly there’s usually a geographic barrier that separates an existing group and they gradually just drift apart from each other.
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#8I would describe it as a faustian penguin, not a nihilist penguin. The other day there was a story here about a coyote that swam to alcatraz (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46674433).
When we look at an animal that does such a thing, we characterize it as a strange and suicidal act of a disturbed creature hurtling it's life force into the abyss. But when man does the same thing, it is a heroic and uniquely human act of exploration.
If you go onto an island or some mountain range or some other type of isolated pocket of the world, you may be surprised to find that life exists there. But there is only one way in which this is possible: at some point in time, some living thing had to abandon its old world with little regard for its personal survival.
When you factor in the probability of survival in the new world, and the requirement of finding a sexed pair on the other side you realize that this takes many living things, integrated over a long period of time.
Life pushes boundaries and explores new environments. It has to start from something. Clearly some amount of mania is a requisite for success in the long term in order to overcome reason in the short term.
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#9[dead]
Re: What does Werner Herzog's nihilist penguin teach us? (2017)
#10Interesting, I've seen videos about this nihilistic penguin the last few days on Instagram... Feels like content regurgitation, but I don't know who's creating and who's recycling it at the moment.
(On HN there's often a story from one site one day, and a few days later the same story reported by a different news site..)