Topic: Research Shows Dolphins Name Each Other

[Nemesis]

True statement.  However, that being the case, why all the fuss from evolutionists over extinction?  If a species can't adapt to any particular enviornment, it'll die out and perhaps some other species will adapt it's way into the void left behind....  It's all about on-going change; who are we to think we know better or to try to force evolutionary progress to stand still?

Pragmatism.  Simplify the ecology too much and you end up with individual vital links that if they fail we go with them. 

Also knowledge.  Comparing different but related things can often tell you things that would be hard to deduce with out the variations to show how things work.

Stewardship of the Earth is a religious principle, not evolutionary.

Still pragmatism.  If the Earths biosphere goes we are done as well.  Don't foul your own nest when you don't have another one to go to.

[Bonk]

Since it hasn't been said yet but this thread is just begging for it: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."   

I have no doubts about animal intelligence whatsoever. I understand animals and they understand me, no need for words.

I do have doubts about the intelligence of biologists however. I was agreeing with Dracho's assesment:

Okay... ugh.. if animals don't recognize identity information, why does my dog know his name?

It just truly irks me when biologists are referred to as scientists by the press. They are not. All of these "ologists" give science a bad name.

Be nice to that high horse of yours; dismount and walk alongside him. 

On the subect of human evolution; unfortunately, it is over. Sexual selection has replaced natural selection and the results are obvious. Its just a matter of time now.

[Just plain old Punisher]

Biology is a science. Biologists are scientists.

biologist

n : (biology) a scientist who studies living organisms

[E_Look]

Biology is a science. Biologists are scientists.

biologist

n : (biology) a scientist who studies living organisms

Oy.  Don't be so literal!  You know what Bonk meant- they take to soft approach to scientific reasoning.  For all their high and might talk about the scientific method, they let conjecture and preset notions take the place of conclusion and hard, uncompromising investigative technique.

(On the other hand, we physical scientists take potshots at each other and let extreme rigor dig at the microcracks and tear down the most imaginative proposals...      )

[NJAntman]

You know, if you haven't read it, I bet you'd love the Uplift War series by David Brin.


And Javvt3, when you eat dolphin in a resturaunt, you're not eating porpoise.  You're eating Mahimahi, or dolphin fish.

Startide Rising would have made a great movie, with dolphins doing haiku and wearing laser cutters on tool-belts; flying laser powered sharks would be wussies before them.

[E_Look]

I thought the tactic of releasing ice crystals to shred a pursuing ship to shreds was a neat idea!

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

I thought the tactic of releasing ice crystals to shred a pursuing ship to shreds was a neat idea!

Shread... to shreds?  Isn't that a bit redundant?

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

I thought the tactic of releasing ice crystals to shred a pursuing ship to shreds was a neat idea!

Shread... to shreds?  Isn't that a bit redundant?

[Just plain old Punisher]

Biology is a science. Biologists are scientists.

biologist

n : (biology) a scientist who studies living organisms

Oy.  Don't be so literal!  You know what Bonk meant- they take to soft approach to scientific reasoning.  For all their high and might talk about the scientific method, they let conjecture and preset notions take the place of conclusion and hard, uncompromising investigative technique.

(On the other hand, we physical scientists take potshots at each other and let extreme rigor dig at the microcracks and tear down the most imaginative proposals...      )

"Soft approach"? What does that mean?

And don't all the sciences suffer from conjecture and preset notions?

[E_Look]

To The Son of the Father, 

To The Marvel Superhero with the Skull on His Shirt, I guess I was being a bit too hard- they do not subject their conjectures and propositions to enough peer-level rigor nearly as much nor to the level of the hard sciences... but in support of biologists, they are working with incredibly complex systems and while all scientific fields are fragmented, theirs seems also to be more polarized, making it harder to institute the proper degree of peer scrutiny.

[Nemesis]

Pragmatism.  Simplify the ecology too much and you end up with individual vital links that if they fail we go with them. 

Also knowledge.  Comparing different but related things can often tell you things that would be hard to deduce with out the variations to show how things work.

As an example of this:  (Link)

Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety, the Cavendish, the genetic roots of which lie in India. Three years ago, New Scientist revealed that the world Cavendish crop was threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus. The main hope for survival of the Cavendish lies in developing new hybrids resistant to the fungus, but this is a difficult and time-consuming task because the seedless modern fruit does not reproduce sexually and has to be bred from cuttings.

[Dracho]

Okay.. am I the only one thinking of this song?

http://kimberlychapman.com/corky/cldolph.wav

Corky And The Juice Pigs

 Dolphin Boy lyrics
 
 
He lived by the sea
The Dolphin Boy
And he loved the dolphins that swam so free
The Dolphin Boy
He was at one with the ocean
The dolphins he loved with devotion
And he could not hide his emotion
The Dolphin Boy
So he abandoned the land up above
The Dolphin Boy
So he could be with the mammals he loved
The Dolphin Boy
He was fulfilled in heart and mind
He was at one with all dolphin kind
And he knew God's greater design
Yes!
The Dolphin Boy
Then he was hit by a boat
The Dolphin Boy
He was torn wide open from groin to throat
The Dolphin Boy
He said to the dolphins, Please help me.
The dolphins said simply, E! E! E!
And they nibbled the pieces as they drifted free
Goodbye to Dolphin Boy
So long to Dolphin Boy
 

[Bonk]

Lol, that's too funny. This is the song that came to my twisted mind:

THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE (6:32)
(Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)

Messenger of fear in sight
Dark deception kills the light

Hybrid children watch the sea
Pray for father, roaming free

    Fearless wretch
    Insanity
    He watches
    Lurking beneath the sea
    Great old one
    Forbidden site
    He searches
    Hunter of the shadows is rising

                                    immortal
                                    in madness you dwell

Crawling chaos, underground
Cult has summoned, twisted sound

Out from ruins once possessed
Fallen city, living death

    Fearless wretch
    Insanity
    He watches
    Lurking beneath the sea
    Timeless sleep
    Has been upset
    He awakens
    Hunter of the shadows is rising

                                    immortal
                                    in madness you dwell

Not dead which eternal lie
Stranger eons death may die

Drain you of your sanity
Face the thing that should not be

    Fearless wretch
    Insanity
    He watches
    Lurking beneath the sea
    Great old one
    Forbidden site
    He searches
    Hunter of the shadows is rising

                                    immortal
                                    in madness you dwell


http://www.metallica.com/Media/Albums/albums.asp?album_id=3
http://www.sodabob.com/Metallica/Thing.asp
http://www.sodabob.com/Metallica/Cthulhu.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_Cthulhu

 

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

Pragmatism.  Simplify the ecology too much and you end up with individual vital links that if they fail we go with them. 

Also knowledge.  Comparing different but related things can often tell you things that would be hard to deduce with out the variations to show how things work.

As an example of this:  (Link)

Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety, the Cavendish, the genetic roots of which lie in India. Three years ago, New Scientist revealed that the world Cavendish crop was threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus. The main hope for survival of the Cavendish lies in developing new hybrids resistant to the fungus, but this is a difficult and time-consuming task because the seedless modern fruit does not reproduce sexually and has to be bred from cuttings.

Yes, Pragmatism Herself can often be a very harsh mistress....  And not one worthy of blind loyalty.

[Nemesis]

Yes, Pragmatism Herself can often be a very harsh mistress....  And not one worthy of blind loyalty.

Loyalty should never be given blindly.  It needs to be earned and maintained like respect.  Like respect once lost it can be very hard to regain.

[Bonk]

More from the brilliant _ologists  :

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2006/05/19/bird-ape-bahaviour.html

Referred to as scientists again! I suppose the misspelling in the url is the first hint as to the quality of the journalism. 
Scientific journalism is in a sad state indeed when Natasha Stillwell is respected and David Suzuki chastised as an eco-terrorist.

Who is giving these retards money?

And the abuse of the name Max Planck! The horror! 

I've met people without a single day of formal education who can tell you more about nature than these fools.

Its a goddamn shame it is, people actually think this is science... a bloody shame.