(June 26, 2020 at 8:37 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Most animals are pretty good at being whatever they are.  Humans are different in this regard.  In addition to being good at being humans, we're also good at being what any other animal is, as well.

I recently watched an episode of "mind field" (Vsauce) that gave me a new perspective on this topic.  In short, researchers show that chimps outperform humans by a significant margin in a short-term memory test.  The test briefly flashes numerals on the screen and the subject must touch the area of the screen in numerical order after the numerals are masked.

The chimps could memorize the positions of the numerals and succeed after seeing the numerals for less than a second.  The human subject, Michael, took much longer to memorize.  At the same timing as the chimp, he could only identify 3 or so of the 9 numerals before just guessing.

My point, and the subject of the research, is that some animals have abilities beyond ours in some contexts, and it is theorized that we lost these abilities in an evolutionary trade-off for something else like language.

Yeah, the glass box. They're better at glass box puzzles.

I have a hammer.

(June 26, 2020 at 7:35 am)Little lunch Wrote: Cats are better.
Just ask them.

Pick one flom column A and one flom column B.

(June 26, 2020 at 8:02 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Everything alive survived the last five extinction events.

Except the 99% of life that did not.

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(June 26, 2020 at 4:25 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:

(June 26, 2020 at 7:35 am)Little lunch Wrote: Cats are better.
Just ask them.

You are right to point out distinctions.

The worst I have to worry about with my cat is his digging his nose in my ear every morning telling me to feed him. A cat like what you just pictured would kill me.

(June 27, 2020 at 11:36 am)Brian37 Wrote:

(June 26, 2020 at 8:02 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: Everything alive survived the last five extinction events.

Except the 99% of life that did not.

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(June 26, 2020 at 4:25 pm)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:

You are right to point out distinctions.

The worst I have to worry about with my cat is his digging his nose in my ear every morning telling me to feed him. A cat like what you just pictured would kill me.

No, Brian, you’re misunderstanding what TGN said. Literally EVERYTHING that is currently alive survived all major and minor extinction events. The evidence of this is so brutally obvious that it doesn’t need explaining, but I’ll have a go.

-All life on Earth (you, me, Tardigrades, camels, penguins, cats) is descended from a common ancestor.

-This ancestor, via reproduction, mutation, and selection, formed multiple lines of descent.

-These lines, through the same processes, formed their own lines. And so on and so on.

-Everything alive today represents the current state of one or more if these lines of descent.

-Therefore, the ancestor species of living camels did not go extinct.

This doesn’t mean that there are no extinct species - there obviously are. What it means is that from the very first living organism to you is that there is a solid, unbroken chain of descent that never went extinct. This is true for every single living organism we see today.

I hope this clears it up a little.

Boru

(June 27, 2020 at 1:32 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(June 27, 2020 at 11:36 am)Brian37 Wrote: Except the 99% of life that did not.

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You are right to point out distinctions.

The worst I have to worry about with my cat is his digging his nose in my ear every morning telling me to feed him. A cat like what you just pictured would kill me.

No, Brian, you’re misunderstanding what TGN said. Literally EVERYTHING that is currently alive survived all major and minor extinction events. The evidence of this is so brutally obvious that it doesn’t need explaining, but I’ll have a go.

-All life on Earth (you, me, Tardigrades, camels, penguins, cats) is descended from a common ancestor.

-This ancestor, via reproduction, mutation, and selection, formed multiple lines of descent.

-These lines, through the same processes, formed their own lines. And so on and so on.

-Everything alive today represents the current state of one or more if these lines of descent.

-Therefore, the ancestor species of living camels did not go extinct.

This doesn’t mean that there are no extinct species - there obviously are. What it means is that from the very first living organism to you is that there is a solid, unbroken chain of descent that never went extinct. This is true for every single living organism we see today.

I hope this clears it up a little.

Boru

You probably need to get out the crayons and puppets.

(June 27, 2020 at 2:34 pm)arewethereyet Wrote:

(June 27, 2020 at 1:32 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: No, Brian, you’re misunderstanding what TGN said. Literally EVERYTHING that is currently alive survived all major and minor extinction events. The evidence of this is so brutally obvious that it doesn’t need explaining, but I’ll have a go.

-All life on Earth (you, me, Tardigrades, camels, penguins, cats) is descended from a common ancestor.

-This ancestor, via reproduction, mutation, and selection, formed multiple lines of descent.

-These lines, through the same processes, formed their own lines. And so on and so on.

-Everything alive today represents the current state of one or more if these lines of descent.

-Therefore, the ancestor species of living camels did not go extinct.

This doesn’t mean that there are no extinct species - there obviously are. What it means is that from the very first living organism to you is that there is a solid, unbroken chain of descent that never went extinct. This is true for every single living organism we see today.

I hope this clears it up a little.

Boru

You probably need to get out the crayons and puppets.

Nah, just trying to help clear up a little misunderstanding.

Boru

(June 27, 2020 at 1:32 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(June 27, 2020 at 11:36 am)Brian37 Wrote: Except the 99% of life that did not.

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You are right to point out distinctions.

The worst I have to worry about with my cat is his digging his nose in my ear every morning telling me to feed him. A cat like what you just pictured would kill me.

No, Brian, you’re misunderstanding what TGN said. Literally EVERYTHING that is currently alive survived all major and minor extinction events. The evidence of this is so brutally obvious that it doesn’t need explaining, but I’ll have a go.

-All life on Earth (you, me, Tardigrades, camels, penguins, cats) is descended from a common ancestor.

-This ancestor, via reproduction, mutation, and selection, formed multiple lines of descent.

-These lines, through the same processes, formed their own lines. And so on and so on.

-Everything alive today represents the current state of one or more if these lines of descent.

-Therefore, the ancestor species of living camels did not go extinct.

This doesn’t mean that there are no extinct species - there obviously are. What it means is that from the very first living organism to you is that there is a solid, unbroken chain of descent that never went extinct. This is true for every single living organism we see today.

I hope this clears it up a little.

Boru

Your point is taken but I believe that the claim was that humans didn't survive the last five extinctions. This is correct. Our distant ancestors survived them. The ones that saw the K/T fireworks were likely some form of tree rat that was barely a primate. Claiming that humans survived the last five extinctions would be akin to claiming that you fought in the Punic War because your great-great-grandfather was Italian.