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RE: Strange science ?
December 31, 2025 at 6:57 am
(December 27, 2025 at 6:09 pm)AFTT47 Wrote: On an unrelated note, Maggie Aderin–Pocock holds a doctorate. I find it a travesty that the silly chivalry title 'Dame' apparently takes precedence over 'Doctor' in Britain.
Would you expect doctor or senator to take precedence in the US?
Quote:I don't understand why you'd come to a discussion forum, and then proceed to reap from visibility any voice that disagrees with you. If you're going to do that, why not just sit in front of a mirror and pat yourself on the back continuously?
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RE: Strange science ?
December 31, 2025 at 6:07 pm
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: Strange science ?
January 1, 2026 at 11:49 pm
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RE: Strange science ?
January 5, 2026 at 6:03 pm
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: Strange science ?
January 5, 2026 at 10:50 pm
The moral of this story is that you shouldn't be getting your science from MSN. Cephalopods have been around for half a billion years, and octopi for most of that, but in all that time they've never once evolved anything sparkier than what we see today in tidal pools. They're limited by a tragic trick of biology that ensures their programmed death once they mate. They don't live long enough to get smart and can't pass it on to the next generation easily. I honestly wish that they could evolve sentience, they're amazing and wondrous creatures, but they're so very limited by that cruel trick of fate.
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RE: Strange science ?
January 6, 2026 at 12:25 am
(January 5, 2026 at 10:50 pm)Paleophyte Wrote: The moral of this story is that you shouldn't be getting your science from MSN. Cephalopods have been around for half a billion years, and octopi for most of that, but in all that time they've never once evolved anything sparkier than what we see today in tidal pools. They're limited by a tragic trick of biology that ensures their programmed death once they mate. They don't live long enough to get smart and can't pass it on to the next generation easily. I honestly wish that they could evolve sentience, they're amazing and wondrous creatures, but they're so very limited by that cruel trick of fate.
I remember an old Ted Sturgeon(?) story where the otters ascended after H. Sap's decline. If global warming succeeds in running away, I'm still betting on H. Sap. There hasn't evolved a much more vicious creature with the mental tool kit.
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
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RE: Strange science ?
January 6, 2026 at 6:00 am
^Maybe it's time for humans to start planning our replacement. With the advances in gene technology, AI, and quantum computing, we could create our own successor species.
![[Image: ggQVcjDOTMi0vLMzG_UviA.webp]](https://media.craiyon.com/2025-08-26/ggQVcjDOTMi0vLMzG_UviA.webp)
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RE: Strange science ?
January 6, 2026 at 9:51 am
The idea of octopus evolving and taking over the world is not that new. I remember watching a speculative documentary series "The Future Is Wild" (2002) about how animals would evolve in the future if humans disappeared.
The last episode features something like squids taking over the world some 200 million years in the future.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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RE: Strange science ?
January 6, 2026 at 10:37 am
It isn't new, but it isn't right either. The cephalopods are at the limit of what you can do with their biology.
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RE: Strange science ?
January 6, 2026 at 10:40 am
(January 6, 2026 at 12:25 am)Fireball Wrote: (January 5, 2026 at 10:50 pm)Paleophyte Wrote: The moral of this story is that you shouldn't be getting your science from MSN. Cephalopods have been around for half a billion years, and octopi for most of that, but in all that time they've never once evolved anything sparkier than what we see today in tidal pools. They're limited by a tragic trick of biology that ensures their programmed death once they mate. They don't live long enough to get smart and can't pass it on to the next generation easily. I honestly wish that they could evolve sentience, they're amazing and wondrous creatures, but they're so very limited by that cruel trick of fate.
I remember an old Ted Sturgeon(?) story where the otters ascended after H. Sap's decline. If global warming succeeds in running away, I'm still betting on H. Sap. There hasn't evolved a much more vicious creature with the mental tool kit.
One of the interesting things that we're seeing is other creatures becoming smarter in response to us. Raccoons were pretty bright to begin with, but when they moved from the woods to the urban jungle they started getting even sparkier. The same is true for just about every animal that we interact with so long as we don't deliberately breed them to be dumber and less threatening. We are becoming a selection pressure for animals that are smart enough to survive us.
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