7 ms·

I'd highly recommend the YouTube channel "Journey to the Microcosmos" for videos that do a great job of improving that intuition.

nojvek 7y ago
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBbnbBWJtwsf0jLGUwX5Q3g https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBbnbBWJtwsf0jLGUwX5Q3g ^ here is the link. Pretty great animation. Thanks for the recommendation.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- computerphage 7y ago
  To be clear, it's not an animation, it's video captured from a microscope.
chadcmulligan 7y ago
I picked up a microscope last year - they were on sale, and one of those things I'd always wanted to have a play with. I remember having a look with them in school and never seeing much and it seemed very hard. All you have to do is go to a pond or creek scoop out some weeds, dirt and water and stick it in a jar and there is hours of exploration in front of you. Once you start looking its like seeing an evolutionary world in front of you, everythings eating each other and trying to not be eaten. If you're thinking of getting a telescope (I had one), think of a microscope they open up a new world, its incredibly easy to see things - I thought it would be a lot more work. Probably there's so many on line resources now to - this guy is a great start - microbe hunter https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpKY8-oz5PWlBPNzNsbLug https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpKY8-oz5PWlBPNzNsbLug
- nikofeyn 7y ago
  one of my greatest confusions of "life" is why there is this need to consume or feed off of or battle against other life. what is the purpose of this drive? why is it like this? i suspect the answer lies in thermodybamics and/or information theory, but it would be amazing to understand the reason behind life's battles for survival.
  - cowboysauce 7y ago
    Actually game theory is probably the better place to look. Though the concept of natural selection already tends to cover the big picture. Organisms need resources to reproduce. Those that can obtain more resources (or use what they have more efficiently) reproduce more and eventually drown out those who cannot reproduce as much. Taking from another organism (whether by hunting, parasitism, etc) is just one way of obtaining more resources.
  - martythemaniak 7y ago
    Look into "dissipative structures", which are indeed closely linked to thermodynamics. In short, energy gradients (ie, on hydrothermal vents) can cause matter to organize itself into structures that more efficiently dissipate this energy. You can see how the creation of this structure would in turn enable the creation of a new kind of structure that lives on top of that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissipative_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissipative_system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqPGOhXoprU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqPGOhXoprU
  - effie 7y ago
    There are competing processes in nature even without life (in the usual sense of the word) - atomic nucleus fission/fusion, light absorption/emission, crystal nucleation vs. decay, molecule synthesis vs molecule decay - each process operating towards getting more ground. Life fighting (or helping) other life can be looked upon as a more complex variant of the same process dynamics: one set of atoms and processes interacting with other set of atoms and processes, sometimes this looks like cooperation, sometimes like a battle.
  - chadcmulligan 7y ago
    Thats probably the thing I learnt looking through the microscope, or was perhaps made obvious. Life at that level is just chemical gradients and finding bio mass to procreate, so things that don't do this don't procreate and die, the winners are the ones that are the best at this. The asking why is a human thing and is so many layers on this elementary life we can afford to ask these questions, but I don't think life can exist without competition, at least not organic life that has evolved. Maybe we'll make a more pure sort of life that doesn't need competition to grow but not sure about that.

nojvek 7y ago

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBbnbBWJtwsf0jLGUwX5Q3g https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCBbnbBWJtwsf0jLGUwX5Q3g ^ here is the link. Pretty great animation. Thanks for the recommendation.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
computerphage 7y ago
To be clear, it's not an animation, it's video captured from a microscope.

chadcmulligan 7y ago

I picked up a microscope last year - they were on sale, and one of those things I'd always wanted to have a play with. I remember having a look with them in school and never seeing much and it seemed very hard. All you have to do is go to a pond or creek scoop out some weeds, dirt and water and stick it in a jar and there is hours of exploration in front of you. Once you start looking its like seeing an evolutionary world in front of you, everythings eating each other and trying to not be eaten. If you're thinking of getting a telescope (I had one), think of a microscope they open up a new world, its incredibly easy to see things - I thought it would be a lot more work. Probably there's so many on line resources now to - this guy is a great start - microbe hunter https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpKY8-oz5PWlBPNzNsbLug https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpKY8-oz5PWlBPNzNsbLug

nikofeyn 7y ago
one of my greatest confusions of "life" is why there is this need to consume or feed off of or battle against other life. what is the purpose of this drive? why is it like this? i suspect the answer lies in thermodybamics and/or information theory, but it would be amazing to understand the reason behind life's battles for survival.
- cowboysauce 7y ago
  Actually game theory is probably the better place to look. Though the concept of natural selection already tends to cover the big picture. Organisms need resources to reproduce. Those that can obtain more resources (or use what they have more efficiently) reproduce more and eventually drown out those who cannot reproduce as much. Taking from another organism (whether by hunting, parasitism, etc) is just one way of obtaining more resources.
- martythemaniak 7y ago
  Look into "dissipative structures", which are indeed closely linked to thermodynamics. In short, energy gradients (ie, on hydrothermal vents) can cause matter to organize itself into structures that more efficiently dissipate this energy. You can see how the creation of this structure would in turn enable the creation of a new kind of structure that lives on top of that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissipative_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissipative_system https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqPGOhXoprU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqPGOhXoprU
- effie 7y ago
  There are competing processes in nature even without life (in the usual sense of the word) - atomic nucleus fission/fusion, light absorption/emission, crystal nucleation vs. decay, molecule synthesis vs molecule decay - each process operating towards getting more ground. Life fighting (or helping) other life can be looked upon as a more complex variant of the same process dynamics: one set of atoms and processes interacting with other set of atoms and processes, sometimes this looks like cooperation, sometimes like a battle.
- chadcmulligan 7y ago
  Thats probably the thing I learnt looking through the microscope, or was perhaps made obvious. Life at that level is just chemical gradients and finding bio mass to procreate, so things that don't do this don't procreate and die, the winners are the ones that are the best at this. The asking why is a human thing and is so many layers on this elementary life we can afford to ask these questions, but I don't think life can exist without competition, at least not organic life that has evolved. Maybe we'll make a more pure sort of life that doesn't need competition to grow but not sure about that.