I don't know if self recognition in a mirror should be such a big test of sentience but I do believe that sentience alone should be enough justification for compassion. We kill them for research and we kill them to eat them and when we do these things to them without full anesthesia they know that something awful is happening. And when we do these things with full anesthesia we know something awful is happening.
Emotion is what motivates us. Ants aren't following pheromone trails when they come across them in the same way that power flows through a cable when a light switch is switched. Ant's follow trails because it feels right.
I think there is an argument for that.
Do you remember the lioness and the cub at the rivers edge?
Since it's a mammal it might be easier to convince you that it had an emotional response. Even if it was as lacking in free will as a light switch or a wind-borne leaf it was experiencing something.
Tool use. Language. It's convenient to dismiss moral questions that might arise in our relation to animals by judging the moral value of a creature in terms of which particular things we are best at.
The brits tell the soviet union to fuck off, the soviets kill a bunch of brits for spying and the brits ban support strikes.
The aristocracy was winning even then. The proles only seem to gain ground by surviving mass scale death. Black death and the second world war. If we want to improve the conditions of the poorest maybe we should have a die off.
Even the kids by the pond are dead now. Omnibus drivers, traffic cops, men with hats. Corpses dessicated. I suppose there's a statistical chance some of the people visible or hidden behind windows still breath. But not long now for them.
What you get- what you are apportioned -is so tiny it seems a trifle, hardly worth fighting about or for. It is everything. It is everything you have.
bernokle:
Not to go all "shut the fuck the up"; but the group noun for "rounding error of care" is ...? There are far worse insults to understanding and clarity for you to be dealing with. If you stop clutching your testicles for a moment you'll find your self able to breath. Peerless 'n' tearless and able to see.
tracicle:
If the the q and a from the zoo implies that vertically slitted pupils would be found in nocturnal animals because they would more easily expand to let in more light I'd be pretty surprised. It seems like balls; why would vertically slitted pupils have an advantage over horizontally slitted eyes. I only ask 'cause the word would is weird.
since the wave function didn't collapse until he opened the envelope
his friend Caleb merely needs to calculate a probability function for a story that results in the envelope containing the best acceptance letter ever written.
BlueHorse: Some men are smarter than some women; some women are smarter than some men; most men and women are of average intelligence (whatever that is); some men and women are smarter than hell. Both men and women can think,
Some even numbers are higher than some odd numbers; some odd numbers are higher than some even numbers; most even numbers and odd numbers are between 0 and infinity (whatever that is); some even numbers and odd numbers have very large values.
BlueHorse: BUT! only women can give birth to children.
vacuous.
kinnakeet: women are better at multitasking
Comparative advantage case 3. Even where one trading partner excels in all areas, trading is profitable to both? Is that what you meant?
ThinksTwice: If we define intelligence as being good at inventing weapons for killing humans, or creating machines and processes that short-sightedly squander limited global resources, then I'd say men are much smarter than women.
I don't know if men run slower than Negroes. I am sure it's a shitty reply to explain that Negroes can jump real high.
Crap, that's long. Sorry if it comes across as a rant.
Serious? Then fuck your fears and sorrow. Dig a hole for it and put it there.
An opinion is not a rant.
These places stink, right outside the door a no-mans land of artlessly scrawled graffiti and drying piss. Concrete corridors and low wattage lighting. They weren't my corridors, but I walked them like they were, and I lived someplace just like it. "Got the money?" I'd ask and they'd unchain the door each place the same, carpets made of nylon, furniture of cheapboard, TV too loud in the other room and always kids screaming. I'd make a mark in my little book and move on. The only things I didn't like were the early starts and smelling of milk all day.
"If functionalism is true, like many cognitive scientists and philosophers correctly believe..."
Well it's nice to have their beliefs confirmed finally.
"...eliminating any unnecessary confusion."
Other than what to do with the dead guy's corpse. His other stuff too possibly.
"Massive economic growth."
Measured in processor cycles? Talking to poor people would become even more tiresome.
This sounds better than the 87 inch TV behind me!
I found that article amusing. It was meant to be and I'm Random Action. News before bedtime a shed filled with people took it serious. Including the makers. It's funny because it's true.
Obama would have said 'this be' the change 'I was' talking about 'biotch'
This is not nothing nor will it be. It is not threat tor.com. I will be pokeing around thier site.
I don't know if self recognition in a mirror should be such a big test of sentience but I do believe that sentience alone should be enough justification for compassion. We kill them for research and we kill them to eat them and when we do these things to them without full anesthesia they know that something awful is happening. And when we do these things with full anesthesia we know something awful is happening.
posted by randomaction 9 years ago
In "One of Us."
Emotion is what motivates us. Ants aren't following pheromone trails when they come across them in the same way that power flows through a cable when a light switch is switched. Ant's follow trails because it feels right. I think there is an argument for that. Do you remember the lioness and the cub at the rivers edge? Since it's a mammal it might be easier to convince you that it had an emotional response. Even if it was as lacking in free will as a light switch or a wind-borne leaf it was experiencing something. Tool use. Language. It's convenient to dismiss moral questions that might arise in our relation to animals by judging the moral value of a creature in terms of which particular things we are best at.
posted by randomaction 11 years ago
In "London 1927 in colour."
The brits tell the soviet union to fuck off, the soviets kill a bunch of brits for spying and the brits ban support strikes. The aristocracy was winning even then. The proles only seem to gain ground by surviving mass scale death. Black death and the second world war. If we want to improve the conditions of the poorest maybe we should have a die off. Even the kids by the pond are dead now. Omnibus drivers, traffic cops, men with hats. Corpses dessicated. I suppose there's a statistical chance some of the people visible or hidden behind windows still breath. But not long now for them. What you get- what you are apportioned -is so tiny it seems a trifle, hardly worth fighting about or for. It is everything. It is everything you have.
posted by randomaction 11 years ago
In "Ask MoFi: Are there any mammals other than cats that have vertical pupils?"
bernokle: Not to go all "shut the fuck the up"; but the group noun for "rounding error of care" is ...? There are far worse insults to understanding and clarity for you to be dealing with. If you stop clutching your testicles for a moment you'll find your self able to breath. Peerless 'n' tearless and able to see. tracicle: If the the q and a from the zoo implies that vertically slitted pupils would be found in nocturnal animals because they would more easily expand to let in more light I'd be pretty surprised. It seems like balls; why would vertically slitted pupils have an advantage over horizontally slitted eyes. I only ask 'cause the word would is weird.
posted by randomaction 13 years ago
In "Vegan FAIL"
vegetable-origin blood transfusions. That's spectacularly tasteless, but I suppose if organ donation is vegan then why not.
posted by randomaction 13 years ago
In "High on a dam sat a lonely goat herder"
Look Ma; No Hands!
posted by randomaction 14 years ago
In "The greatest science-fiction story ever written"
since the wave function didn't collapse until he opened the envelope his friend Caleb merely needs to calculate a probability function for a story that results in the envelope containing the best acceptance letter ever written.
posted by randomaction 14 years ago
In "The write space."
Apart from Peter Straub, they all seem to be living in the same house. How lovely. I wonder how Peter is taking it? Was he voted off first?
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Are Men"
What I mean there is that addressing issues of sexism and racism with more of it is counter-productive.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
BlueHorse: Some men are smarter than some women; some women are smarter than some men; most men and women are of average intelligence (whatever that is); some men and women are smarter than hell. Both men and women can think, Some even numbers are higher than some odd numbers; some odd numbers are higher than some even numbers; most even numbers and odd numbers are between 0 and infinity (whatever that is); some even numbers and odd numbers have very large values. BlueHorse: BUT! only women can give birth to children. vacuous. kinnakeet: women are better at multitasking Comparative advantage case 3. Even where one trading partner excels in all areas, trading is profitable to both? Is that what you meant? ThinksTwice: If we define intelligence as being good at inventing weapons for killing humans, or creating machines and processes that short-sightedly squander limited global resources, then I'd say men are much smarter than women. I don't know if men run slower than Negroes. I am sure it's a shitty reply to explain that Negroes can jump real high.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Space Zen: Will Humans' Brains Change During Travel in Outer Space?"
What they experienced was unalloyed awesomeness.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "This Republican chick in a tobacco state wants to castrate restaurant smokers"
What a fascinating article.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "John Hodgman on "meh""
Their idea of using spell check is to select the first word at the top of the list--no matter what it is. I'm stealing that line. It's damn funny.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Urban Repair Squad"
Crap, that's long. Sorry if it comes across as a rant. Serious? Then fuck your fears and sorrow. Dig a hole for it and put it there. An opinion is not a rant.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Mirrorshards: 100-word stories, a new story every day."
These places stink, right outside the door a no-mans land of artlessly scrawled graffiti and drying piss. Concrete corridors and low wattage lighting. They weren't my corridors, but I walked them like they were, and I lived someplace just like it. "Got the money?" I'd ask and they'd unchain the door each place the same, carpets made of nylon, furniture of cheapboard, TV too loud in the other room and always kids screaming. I'd make a mark in my little book and move on. The only things I didn't like were the early starts and smelling of milk all day.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "What are the Benefits of Mind Uploading?"
"Complete environmental recovery." Why not just up load it? We need all the computronium we can get for our matrioshka brain.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
"If functionalism is true, like many cognitive scientists and philosophers correctly believe..." Well it's nice to have their beliefs confirmed finally. "...eliminating any unnecessary confusion." Other than what to do with the dead guy's corpse. His other stuff too possibly. "Massive economic growth." Measured in processor cycles? Talking to poor people would become even more tiresome.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Cornify!"
Only get brownbows from mine. Can't be wishing hard enough.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Saddlebacking."
Santorum is the better word. It has a stickiness to it that stays on your tongue. Like Santa and mausoleum.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
In "Yes We Will!"
This sounds better than the 87 inch TV behind me! I found that article amusing. It was meant to be and I'm Random Action. News before bedtime a shed filled with people took it serious. Including the makers. It's funny because it's true. Obama would have said 'this be' the change 'I was' talking about 'biotch' This is not nothing nor will it be. It is not threat tor.com. I will be pokeing around thier site.
posted by randomaction 15 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)