4 ms·

With the ice caps melting, is there a big demand for Woolly Mammoths right now? I'm just asking.

_Microft 8y ago
Hmm, that might be something for a wildlife park. Just make sure that they can't escape. Put the park on an island in the pacific just to be sure.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 8y ago
  Also spare no expense.
  - artificial 8y ago
    Also hire only one IT guy.
    - 52-6F-62 8y ago
      Also develop the perfect hack-proof systems: https://jurassicsystems.com/ https://jurassicsystems.com/
batrat 8y ago
Maybe, just maybe, they can make mammoths big as mice and maybe a minified Jurassic Park so politicians will not get scared and say "this things are killing us". Imagine the mammoth pet...awww
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
jakamau 8y ago
They make for good PR and are truly extinct; recent extinctions have the potential to be a little less cut-and-dry. We'll need the research if we ever try to bring back species that went extinct in modern times.
sgolestane 8y ago
I saw a program on discovery channel a while back on how resurrecting mammoths would help with preserving the permafrost. Edit: A related article: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/shanephipps/2017/06/20/mammoth-solution-mammoth-problem/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/shanephipps/2017/06/20/mammoth...
- mfoy_ 8y ago
  Does that make sense? The logic is that woolly mammoths would... am I reading this right? Tamp down the permafrost? Like, they'd literally just squish the ground on top of it to compact it and insulate the permafrost from rising temperatures? And they'd knock over trees... that's... that's the plan? EDIT: Apparently, yes, that is seriously the idea. But the scale required to make a difference, and the cost to get to that scale boggles my mind. You can't just whip up one pack of mammoths and call it a success...
  - cududa 8y ago
    Well the president did suggest we take forest floors to prevent wildfires, so..
  - mirimir 8y ago
    I suspect that you'd just get lots of mammoths sunk in the mud.
  - patall 8y ago
    While the scale required is huge, mammoths are just one of the players here. I am not sure if you have heard of pleistocene park were they have started with horse, karibou, sheep, yak and a few others and already seen some effects. All those animals are seeking plants in some form or the other in the winter and by doing so move the snow cover that is insulating the permafrost, letting the cold seek deeper into it (or rather letting the warmth diffuse out). Mammoths are a key species as they as larger mammals are more prone to trampel down larger vegetation like trees to create the ecosystem all together.
  - gwern 8y ago
    > But the scale required to make a difference, and the cost to get to that scale boggles my mind. You can't just whip up one pack of mammoths and call it a success... I assume the idea is that if you can create your big furry von Neumann machines correctly in the first place, you only need to whip up one pack of mammoths and it will indeed then be a success eventually.
herogreen 8y ago
Yes, see my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19393869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19393869

Hmm, that might be something for a wildlife park. Just make sure that they can't escape. Put the park on an island in the pacific just to be sure.

0xdeadbeefbabe 8y ago
Also spare no expense.
- artificial 8y ago
  Also hire only one IT guy.
  - 52-6F-62 8y ago
    Also develop the perfect hack-proof systems: https://jurassicsystems.com/ https://jurassicsystems.com/

batrat 8y ago

Maybe, just maybe, they can make mammoths big as mice and maybe a minified Jurassic Park so politicians will not get scared and say "this things are killing us". Imagine the mammoth pet...awww

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

jakamau 8y ago

They make for good PR and are truly extinct; recent extinctions have the potential to be a little less cut-and-dry. We'll need the research if we ever try to bring back species that went extinct in modern times.

sgolestane 8y ago

I saw a program on discovery channel a while back on how resurrecting mammoths would help with preserving the permafrost. Edit: A related article: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/shanephipps/2017/06/20/mammoth-solution-mammoth-problem/ https://www.patheos.com/blogs/shanephipps/2017/06/20/mammoth...

mfoy_ 8y ago
Does that make sense? The logic is that woolly mammoths would... am I reading this right? Tamp down the permafrost? Like, they'd literally just squish the ground on top of it to compact it and insulate the permafrost from rising temperatures? And they'd knock over trees... that's... that's the plan? EDIT: Apparently, yes, that is seriously the idea. But the scale required to make a difference, and the cost to get to that scale boggles my mind. You can't just whip up one pack of mammoths and call it a success...
- cududa 8y ago
  Well the president did suggest we take forest floors to prevent wildfires, so..
- mirimir 8y ago
  I suspect that you'd just get lots of mammoths sunk in the mud.
- patall 8y ago
  While the scale required is huge, mammoths are just one of the players here. I am not sure if you have heard of pleistocene park were they have started with horse, karibou, sheep, yak and a few others and already seen some effects. All those animals are seeking plants in some form or the other in the winter and by doing so move the snow cover that is insulating the permafrost, letting the cold seek deeper into it (or rather letting the warmth diffuse out). Mammoths are a key species as they as larger mammals are more prone to trampel down larger vegetation like trees to create the ecosystem all together.
- gwern 8y ago
  > But the scale required to make a difference, and the cost to get to that scale boggles my mind. You can't just whip up one pack of mammoths and call it a success... I assume the idea is that if you can create your big furry von Neumann machines correctly in the first place, you only need to whip up one pack of mammoths and it will indeed then be a success eventually.

herogreen 8y ago

Yes, see my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19393869 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19393869