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#261 |
Domesticated Swing Babe
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Reality
Posts: 5,340
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Well, I can't go with humans being the only creatures with the mental capacity. We don't know what other species are THINKING, it's just a bunch of electrical impulses and biochemical reactions right....... Yet, you feel more than that, who's to say a cow or dolphin doesn't.
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#262 |
The Rogue Elf
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,722
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Their minds don't have the power to, Lizra. They haven't developed those parts of the brain as much as we have yet. By the way (and no, this isn't trying to be snotty) how much of that kind of science do you know?
Last edited by Rána Eressëa : 08-02-2002 at 01:16 AM. |
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#263 |
Domesticated Swing Babe
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Reality
Posts: 5,340
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Alot. I know we haven't even scratched the surface of understanding what goes on in the brain. How much do you know?
I really think the cat thinks those terrifying things might kill him, that's why he's scared........but then again, I certainly don't know what animals "think". Nobody does. ![]() Well If it wasn't meant to be snotty, them it was simply rude and insulting. I majored in science in high school and have three years of college, majoring in environmental science. Even if I didn't, what a snippy thing to say to someone. ![]() Last edited by Lizra : 08-02-2002 at 01:27 AM. |
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#264 |
the Shrike
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA <3
Posts: 10,647
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Just a thought, but I would like to mention that there seems to be an overwhelming capacity of people that "dumb down" an animals ability to perceive the world which they live in. To say that humans are the only ones that think about death seems to me to be very arrogant. (And I would like to see a few more studies into the nature of quantum mechanics, etc, before I draw any judgments of the "dumbness" of animals.) I think perhaps it would be more accurate to say that humans are the only ones that perceive the relevance (or symbolism) of death. Have you ever seen a lamb led to slaughter? Seen the fear in their eyes? How they smell the blood? That seems to me, very much like they have an ability to pick up on the event of death. That is not to say, however, that they realise the significance of it, or the symbolism of it, because as far as that goes, humans are the only species which thus far seem to exhibit an ability to perceive symbolism.
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"Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords |
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#265 |
The Rogue Elf
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,722
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I'm not saying their dumb. They realize a lot of things we do. They have emotions, and they can think. But death - in such as what it truly means, and the way we perceive it - is not something that would cross their minds. They run when their chased. When they're no longer chased, they stop immediately and go back to their regular life. We don't do that; we run til we can't run. That's basic proof they don't worry about death and dying - once again as I must say - in our term of its meaning. They don't fear it as we do, nor think of it the way we can.
Animals are smart - just not in the same way we are. And I don't find it arrogant, but I do find it rushed and thoughtless when people don't clearly disect what was written, BoP. Last edited by Rána Eressëa : 08-02-2002 at 01:10 AM. |
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#266 |
Eccentric Chocolate Crow
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: The Emerald City--Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,861
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I think the point would be, perhaps, that humans are the ones who obsess over death. We don't know what exactly goes on in the mind of an animal, and therefore we can't really say they don't think about death. But we can say, I think, that humans have a huge preoccupation with death. Example: massive amounts of theories about what happens when you die. The vast majority of people don't want to believe that nothing happens, that it's simply over. Then there's myths about immortality, things coming back from the dead (like vampires. . .) and so on. We're really quite obsessed, and I don't think (though I don't know this at all) that animals do not have this obsession.
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Wisdom for Short Attention Spans...Ozy and Millie. It rocks. Food Of The Gods: 3,7-dihydro-3,7-dimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione Feed Me.... Another Online Dwelling Place... "All right, I confess. It is my intention to comandeer a ship, pick up a crew in Tortuga, to rape, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out." -Captain Jack Sparrow "The trouble with unknown enemies is that they are so difficult to identify." -Amelia Peabody Emerson "Most people obey the orders of someone who is pointing a gun at their head." -A.P. Emerson |
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#267 | |
the Shrike
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA <3
Posts: 10,647
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Quote:
Oh yeah, and what Tano said. ![]()
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"Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords Last edited by BeardofPants : 08-02-2002 at 01:12 AM. |
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#268 |
The Rogue Elf
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,722
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How do I know they don't think of it as we do? Because I don't see them going to church or worshipping a golden statue. That's how. It's not hard science - it's simple knowledge.
But the capacity thought of animals wasn't the point of my post. Nobody seems to be registering that. ![]() Last edited by Rána Eressëa : 08-02-2002 at 01:14 AM. |
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#269 | |
Alcoholic Villain-Fancying Elf Pirate
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Lyonesse
Posts: 4,547
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Eruviel Greenleaf in a past life. "Whoever has come to understand the world has found only a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world." -The Gospel of Thomas SQUAWK! |
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#270 |
Domesticated Swing Babe
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Reality
Posts: 5,340
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#271 | |
the Shrike
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA <3
Posts: 10,647
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Quote:
Good post EG. ![]() ![]()
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"Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords |
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#272 | |
The Rogue Elf
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,722
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#273 | |
The Rogue Elf
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,722
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#274 | |
the Shrike
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA <3
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"Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords Last edited by BeardofPants : 08-02-2002 at 01:30 AM. |
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#275 | |
The Rogue Elf
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,722
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Quote:
![]() Animals can be deceptive, but we will be deceptive in some ways that they wouldn't. So their actions are often more honest than ours, making cause and effect quite more effective with them than us. They have no reasons to be deceptive in many ways that we are. And all that useless fire from my post came from me not mentioning "death - in the way we think of it as". I thought most of you would pick up on that, but obviously you have to clarify everything down to the very last atom to get the point clear across. ![]() Last edited by Rána Eressëa : 08-02-2002 at 01:35 AM. |
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#276 | |
Alcoholic Villain-Fancying Elf Pirate
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Lyonesse
Posts: 4,547
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Quote:
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Eruviel Greenleaf in a past life. "Whoever has come to understand the world has found only a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world." -The Gospel of Thomas SQUAWK! |
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#277 | |
The Original Corruptor
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,881
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Quote:
Why are humans so special? On a planet that sustains lifeforms, there will be some animals that are more intelligent than others, and there will be a most intelligent animal. You and I and the rest of us here just happen to be examples of the most intelligent creatures on the planet; the ones with the most complex brains. What is the big deal? We think humans are special because we are humans. We think "Oh, humans are so great, just look how clever we are - no other animal is as clever as us...". But how "great" are we in other regards? Can we swim as fast as a dolphin? Can we fly? Can we run as fast as a cheetah? Can we beat a silverback gorilla in one-on-one weaponless combat? Are we really "special"? Do we have the most complex brain? Yes. And how much, exactly, of that brain do we actually use? It seems to me that humans could be a whole lot more "special". Anyway, looking at your statements, I think those are the nonnest non-sequiturs that I have yet seen. Oh, and btw, some humans do eat their young. And can you prove to me that you exist? |
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#278 | |
Bard of Mangled Songs
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: West of Middle Earth...oh alright...Manila
Posts: 2,679
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There's another feature where Jane Goodall (sp?) was describing how chimps she used to study would pause and seem to enjoy the view of a waterfall and even start playing a bit as if appreciating its beauty. What I'm saying is that I'm open to the possibility that animals may be sentient too but we just don't speak the same language.
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Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible. -Missionaria Protectiva, Frank Herbert Accio, Ash Nazg! Elennuru s?*la lúmenn' omentielvo (The Death Star shines on the hour of our meeting) - Darth Arathorn Put aside the ranger... Start looking for Mumakil action figures... Last edited by Arathorn : 08-02-2002 at 03:52 AM. |
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#279 | |
the Shrike
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: San Francisco, CA <3
Posts: 10,647
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Quote:
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"Binary solo! 0000001! 00000011! 0000001! 00000011!" ~ The Humans are Dead, Flight of the Conchords |
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#280 | |
the Shrike
Join Date: Mar 2002
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I'm writing an essay on relativism in LOTR | IronParrot | Lord of the Rings Books | 152 | 02-11-2005 05:38 PM |