There actually might be enough water to help if we warm it up. And that would also release some hidden gasses too
It’ll still probably need more, and there’s sands that make it hard for plants to grow, but it seems like there’s feedback mechanisms that would help massively
I like to watch a streamer and skip through the stream for anything that looks crazy
I’ve definitely been watching less and less because less is happening, but I’m enjoying the highlights
I believe that orcas are out there having philosophical debates and singing stories of their history and mythology that dates back even further than our own. I don’t think they’re doing math proofs, but if they are I’d be curious what base they use
All the cutting edge science suggests we’re not special. We are not different in kind from animals
Since science became a thing, we’ve been drawing lines between us and animals since we could no longer gesture to the soul. We’ve progressively disproven every single one. I’ve had this debate over various lines so many times
It’s human arrogance
But that’s exactly what I’m saying. There are elephants out there contemplating morality. Even dogs do it, even if it’s massively based on the rules we impose on them
Not math though. Math exists in the minds of humans, it doesn’t even exist in the universe. There is no two of anything, there’s one object and another similar object
What does exist are ratios and harmonics, and animals have no problem understanding them
Lol right? It’s crazy how far on a limb they go, despite interacting with dogs
How often do we talk about how dogs want this or that, how they’re thinking of doing something “bad”, how they look so guilty they tell on themselves
But yeah, nothing going on up there. It’s all projection, they’re just dumb animals and humans are super extra special
LMAO okay then. My comment will age like wine, your’s will age like milk
Meet back in 5 years?
What are you even saying? What evidence do you have?
That sounds like a bunch of unfounded nonsense to me.
Elephants seem to clearly understand life and death, cause and effect, who fucked them over and where they ran off to
I’d bet the average elephant has a better grasp on the meaning of life than the average human
Bullshit. You just don’t speak any animal language
I can tell you what a dog is thinking at any given moment. They’re so expressive I can dictate it in real time. They tell you where and how they want to be pet, they can understand time and remember names
Koko was barely special. She spoke a form of sign language, and she enjoyed interspecies communication enough to devote time towards it. That’s what is rare
Do you understand how much more they’ll have to say when we crack their language? Because it’s coming
I don’t think that’s different, I think that’s very related to the topic at hand
And yeah, that’s all true. All living things can suffer, down to single cells
The real question here is where is the line between us and other animals. And I think you’re almost there - you’re on the verge of recognizing there is none, or maybe of internalizing that realization
Most animals don’t often think about the meaning of life, just like most humans. They don’t think to ask us either, because we’re honestly a pretty foolish species. We’re powerful and intelligent, but not wise
An orca, elephant, or corvid is probably the wisest being on earth right now. Possibly even a whole forest
It is the question at hand. It’s a question about the mental process of animals
The question isn’t are they curious - we know they are. The question is why they don’t ask humans questions when you teach them how to speak
The answer is - it’s because you’re not speaking gorilla, the gorilla is learning a foreign language, which it learned by being motivated by food.
Animal languages have a different grammar to human languages. When they ask questions, they often do it by making statements to be agreed with or corrected. They might even disagree, and assert the statement again in reply
You have to meet animals halfway… Well, really like 10% of the way since they’re the ones learning to speak to us in our languages
but also the more esoteric, “what sort of creature are you?” And “what sort of creature am I?”
I agree, but that is the kind of question they do think about. Koko was “a wonderful gorilla person” in her own words
There’s a dog that uses one of those word button mats that thinks small dogs are cats, dogs are dogs, and that she’s a human (or that her owner is also a dog, she’s convinced she’s the same as her owner and always gets confused when it’s explained otherwise)
They don’t ask, because they already know what they think. They aren’t confused about where they stand in the world, it’s learning human categorization that confuses them
They already understand the second order questions though. Why would they ask the humans?
They know what’s outside their enclosures, they know they’re there because the humans want them there, they know strange humans like to see and interact with them through the glass. They just don’t care, so long as they have their tribe around with things to do and they get tasty food
Animals understand existence better than humans do. They understand life and death better than we to. Our higher intelligence makes second order questions complicated because we put ourselves through mental gymnastics
We should be asking apes about the meaning of life, not the other way around
How does it break down? It seems like it would work normally, if a little strangely
That’s crazy. You think monkeys aren’t curious about the world around them?
They just don’t look to humans for answers, they look to humans for treats
That’s just not true. Most of them simply aren’t interested in communicating with humans, they just care about the reward
That’s what made Koko special. She was interested in communicating with humans, and her conversations were wild. It got existential
You’re just doing a whataboutism
This is the wrong place to put in work, we’re already working over here and you’re not helping.
Go find somewhere people aren’t already talking about a genocide, go build unrelated threads about it. Go find someone talking about France
You’re acting like that Republicans right now… No, we don’t want to protect Bill Clinton from the Epstein files, stop bringing him up. We’re talking about Trump right now
No, you fucking organize. Do you think a platform comes for free?
You have to work for it. If you actually cared for the cause, and weren’t bullshitting, you’d put in the work
I was just giving them enough rope to hang themselves with honestly
My positions are real… Cultural genocide is bad, and we should stop it from happening if we can
Is the thing in France happening? Probably not, but if it was I’d want it to stop
That’s the benefit of having real beliefs. When they start dancing around and mudding the waters, you can ignore all that and assert your beliefs proudly
Unfortunately, it also works if you believe in bad things, but luckily tankies (can’t believe they’re self admitted, that’s so rare) have to pretend they believe in good things
No, that’s whataboutism.
When we’re talking about China, I don’t need info on the horrors America has inflicted on the world. Just like when I talk about America’s past, I don’t compare it to Canadian history
Advocate for good things and against bad things. Don’t interrupt people already doing that
I’m trying to move to a better area, one where things can get better locally
Even if the country ends, we’re not all going to die. We’re going to have to organize locally, and I’d rather be somewhere where I can do that