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Then I have another one for you: When mating, the male spider Nephilengys malabarensis snaps off his penis and leaves it inside the female. That way he can fend

by Kristine1975 11y ago

Then I have another one for you: When mating, the male spider Nephilengys malabarensis snaps off his penis and leaves it inside the female. That way he can fend off other males and also is better able to defend himself against the female that tries to eat him: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/12/male-spider-castrates-himself-and-gets-more-stamina/ http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2012/06/12/male-spid... Nature is absolutely fascinating (and makes me happy I'm a human).

acqq 11y ago
> makes me happy I'm a human Truth to be told, being human in the case of being female human but born on the wrong place, under wrong religion probably wouldn't make you happy: Typologies of FGM Hundreds of millions affected.
- kbenson 11y ago
  And yet you are responding to a comment using an example where one of the mating pair snaps off their genitals to make it easier to avoid being eaten by the other of the mating pair. Personally, I think that's a bit worse, and reason to prefer being human even considering the hardships that may be encountered due to birth circumstances such as gender and location. Your points about the hardships of being human depending on birth circumstance are important, and deserve attention in general, but I don't think they're really constructive to the discussion at hand, or at least this little branch of it.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - acqq 11y ago
    Compared with other touched topics here like "saddlebacking," (to which, surprisingly, you've posted a link to a song!?) I find this one very constructive. My comment here involves destroyed genitals of humans by humans, certainly not a reason to be a happy human if you are among the affected, and it's hundreds of millions of them. And it is in the branch of discussion of animals destroying their genitals as the necessary condition for reproduction. Consider that the partial destruction of genitals is also effectively necessary condition for reproduction if you are unlucky enough to be born there and female.
    - kbenson 11y ago
      Saddlebagging is about adopting sexual practices adopted specifically to prevent procreation, so relevant in multiple branches of the conversation. The song establishes cultural relevance, as well as being somewhat entertaining (in my opinion). What I thought made it non-relevant is that FGM is cultural, not genetic or a species wide aspect of our psychology (regardless of whether it affects millions). Additionally,I don't think you made a good case as to why being born as a species that has to contend with bad conditions (but I don't believe worse than the alternative) isn't preferable to being born a species that has to contend with death at every attempted mating. In short, it felt a bit like you used FGM for impact due to it's status in our culture, not for it's relevance to the discussion at hand. It's possible I'm not seeing a connection you thought was implied there though, so feel free to expand if you feel like it.
      - acqq 11y ago
        > Saddlebagging is about adopting sexual practices adopted specifically to prevent procreation On that level it's not different from any kind of contraception, also widely done in humanity, so not really insightful there. It's interesting to me only because it's a religious "trick," a way to do something what is formally not forbidden. Like http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/once-upon-a-time-the-catholic-church-decided-that-beavers-were-fish/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/once-u... "Once Upon A Time, The Catholic Church Decided That Beavers Were Fish" ...in order to eat their meat at the times of fasting. The rest of the article has more examples.

acqq 11y ago

> makes me happy I'm a human Truth to be told, being human in the case of being female human but born on the wrong place, under wrong religion probably wouldn't make you happy: Typologies of FGM Hundreds of millions affected.

kbenson 11y ago
And yet you are responding to a comment using an example where one of the mating pair snaps off their genitals to make it easier to avoid being eaten by the other of the mating pair. Personally, I think that's a bit worse, and reason to prefer being human even considering the hardships that may be encountered due to birth circumstances such as gender and location. Your points about the hardships of being human depending on birth circumstance are important, and deserve attention in general, but I don't think they're really constructive to the discussion at hand, or at least this little branch of it.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- acqq 11y ago
  Compared with other touched topics here like "saddlebacking," (to which, surprisingly, you've posted a link to a song!?) I find this one very constructive. My comment here involves destroyed genitals of humans by humans, certainly not a reason to be a happy human if you are among the affected, and it's hundreds of millions of them. And it is in the branch of discussion of animals destroying their genitals as the necessary condition for reproduction. Consider that the partial destruction of genitals is also effectively necessary condition for reproduction if you are unlucky enough to be born there and female.
  - kbenson 11y ago
    Saddlebagging is about adopting sexual practices adopted specifically to prevent procreation, so relevant in multiple branches of the conversation. The song establishes cultural relevance, as well as being somewhat entertaining (in my opinion). What I thought made it non-relevant is that FGM is cultural, not genetic or a species wide aspect of our psychology (regardless of whether it affects millions). Additionally,I don't think you made a good case as to why being born as a species that has to contend with bad conditions (but I don't believe worse than the alternative) isn't preferable to being born a species that has to contend with death at every attempted mating. In short, it felt a bit like you used FGM for impact due to it's status in our culture, not for it's relevance to the discussion at hand. It's possible I'm not seeing a connection you thought was implied there though, so feel free to expand if you feel like it.
    - acqq 11y ago
      > Saddlebagging is about adopting sexual practices adopted specifically to prevent procreation On that level it's not different from any kind of contraception, also widely done in humanity, so not really insightful there. It's interesting to me only because it's a religious "trick," a way to do something what is formally not forbidden. Like http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/once-upon-a-time-the-catholic-church-decided-that-beavers-were-fish/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/once-u... "Once Upon A Time, The Catholic Church Decided That Beavers Were Fish" ...in order to eat their meat at the times of fasting. The rest of the article has more examples.