“on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”
4 Likes
Yup. Our arrogance with our known ignorance is always the most astonishing thing about our species.
Lol precisely. We’re losing a war against tiny non-cellular beings that don’t even have a rudimentary brain and barely classify as living organisms. Our symbiotic relationships with the likes of chickens and wheat result in them multiplying at much greater numbers (and volumes) than us. Not to mention how we’re completely pummeled by rats, mice, cockroaches and mosquitos - all of which are more successful than we are.
1 Like
How are we losing a war? We’ve developed a vaccine in a year while suffering 4 million deaths out of a population of 7 billion.
We’re “losing the war” in the sense that we’ve been brought up against the hard reality that we have very little control over such things. A lot of people find this fact very upsetting and are keen to spin out the delusion that we do have control, even if it involves trashing the entire planet to keep up the pretense.
A lot of people do not find this fact at all actually.
Probably the ancient humans were more aware about that reality.
1 Like
Dont let the interwebs hear you saying the death rate of this virus isnt all that bad…
Well, ya. Evolution. I think what finley is saying is we are still insanely ignorant about our environmnet, relationships with it etc. To which i agree, as would any honest student of science. To think of the trillions of variables in a teaspoon of sand and extrapolate that globally then into space is so mind blowing massive we cant even comprehend how big it all is.
If we were as smart as we think we are, how is it we still cant figure out things like brain barriers and parkinsons? We cant even agree on imaginary lines and to this day murder each other over such nonsense. We torture other animals by the trillions, kill them, have wars over their profits and then throw half of them into the trash can after cause we bought more than we need. Smart?
We are vastly ignorant, and its very good to be able to admit that 
1 Like
5 Likes
A cockroach flies into your house. It screams at you: “Fuck you! Stay in your room for a month!”
You say: “Yes sir … May I leave at the end of the month?”
Cockroach says: “I’ll decide later. Now where’s your grandma? Imma choke her to death!”
You go: “Second door to the left. Please be gentle. Can I at least attend her funeral?”
Cockroach: “No! Fuck off! And also, no toilet paper for you! Learn to use water!”
You (crying): “Yessir …”
Now, who do you think has won? You? Or the cockroach?
1 Like
Depends.
- Is it a garden variety critter or a genetically modified Überküchenschabe?
- How big an army does it have?
- How sturdy is your pest control infrastructure?
- How long a game are you playing?
- What’s your definition of “winning” anyway?
(This is not to say Covid is or isn’t genetically modified and so on – just a thought exercise.)
Lol under what conceivable scenario would the home-invading, grandma-killing, youth-imprisoning cockroach be seen as the loser and timid Mike the winner?
What answers to your questions would be necessary for you to say, unequivocally: “Oh, yeah, mate - definitely. Mike’s the winner here. Cockroach lost.”
Mike has lost his grandma and a month of his life no matter what your definition of ‘winning’ is.
The fact that the cockroach can speak a human language should be your first clue that it’s not from the neighborhood. Or do you already have those on Earth? 
The ones from Men in Black could speak English fairly well.
1 Like
Maybe it was made in a lab
Our cockroach has a Chinese accent
2 Likes
Some languages from other planets sound like Chinese. It’s like how my first language (Rigellian) sounds like English. Just sayin’.
And then I step on him. I win.
The Nazis swept through Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherands, and France. Therefore, they won the war in Europe.
But you haven’t stepped on him. The fact that you’re planning to do it doesn’t make you a winner. You’re still stuck in your room and he’s killing your grandma as we speak.
Also: Germany obliterated Russia in WW1. The fact that Germany subsequently lost the war doesn’t make Russia a winner. And, no, neither Poland nor Norway nor Benelux nor France won WW2. Murica and the Soviets did. France lost its empire (and dignity).
We can all cross our arms and say: “Oh, but I’m sure we’ll eliminate corona once and for all - one day”; but somewhere out there there’s also an online community of corona viruses crossing their protein spikes saying: “Oh, but we’re sure we’ll eliminate humans once and for all one day … So, whose turn is it to mutate into an ocean-crossing immortal superbug?”
1 Like
Chinese researchers have unveiled …
I hope it wasn’t made in a lab.
1 Like