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I hate to break it to you, but we have already dammed most of the rivers. Any beaver who thinks that there are no dams around is just one that hasn’t tried to s
by danieltillett 10y ago
I hate to break it to you, but we have already dammed most of the rivers. Any beaver who thinks that there are no dams around is just one that hasn’t tried to swim far downstream :)
The argument is really more why is there only one technological species on the planet - the answer is the first one to arise will displace all the other potential competitors. This is exactly what has happened on Earth and why any other species that has a chance of creating a technological civilisation is not doing so well.
The same argument applies to the universe where the first civilisation that chooses to take over the universe will displace any competitors that choose not to. All it takes is one civilisation to spread and the whole universe goes dark.
- WildUtah 10y agoPopulation of apes on Earth: Orang-Utan: 50,000 Chimpanzee: 200,000 Bonobo: 35,000 Homo Neandertalensis: 0 Homo Habilis: 0 Gorilla: 100,000 Homo Sapiens: 7,500,000,000 Yup. "The first civilisation that chooses to take over the universe will displace any competitors that choose not to."
- dogma1138 10y agoHow many zeros would you need to use to count the ants in the world?
- Terr_ 10y agoJust one zero who makes many appearances.
- dredmorbius 10y agoI'd look at ant species rather than ants. Note that ants don't directly compete for a niche with humans. And megacolony species such as the Argentine ant are displacing other ant species.
- WildUtah 10y ago1. Ants are not, technically, apes. 2. Ant biomass is about the same as human biomass on Earth. 3. Typical human mass is 60kg, typical ant mass is 3mg. 4. Do the math.
- danieltillett 10y agoNo species the size of ants can ever smelt steel. They are not competitors for humans to become Earth's technological primary species.
- Tloewald 10y agoHave you read City? (Not that it's seriously making an argument the other way.) Arguing that smelting steel is the key thing is the typical, we're good at this therefore this is what matters argument we've been making since time immemorial. Humans can't sneak into other organism's bodies and take over their DNA (yet, to be sure) but viruses can, so humans just don't have a real shot.
- Terr_ 10y agoNo, for power we only bother to dam huge ones which no beaver could possibly take on.