5 ms·

Ants are interesting because of the complex behavioral systems emerging from their comparatively simple biological systems, reminiscent of the game of life. Se

Ants are interesting because of the complex behavioral systems emerging from their comparatively simple biological systems, reminiscent of the game of life. Seeing the insane complexity of the human condition (look at the amount of scientific disciplines we come up with) and thinking "nay, this won't be interesting to a higher mind" feels awfully dismissive. sure, depending on the leap of sophistication we may appear like... rocks, I guess? But I can't even begin to conceptualize to what in comparison we'd appear like rocks. Anything of that complexity probably is multiple magnitudes beyond our comprehension anyway, and therefore not really part of the discussion

PartiallyTyped 6y ago
To be fair to rocks, we also study them ...
- guerrilla 6y ago
  Is astrogeology (as etymologically oxymoronic as that is) already a subject?
  - Denvercoder9 6y ago
    That's basically what asteroid science is. It's such a big field that we're even sending probes to collect rocks.
  - kridsdale1 6y ago
    Maybe aliens will be interested in Earth for Astrogastronomy.
    - liotier 6y ago
      Sorry, no - only the consumption of cultivated humans is allowed.
      - madia_leva 6y ago
        How would you know that you are being cultivated?
    - jrd259 6y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man
op03 6y ago
Recently I had a bunch of snails appear out of nowhere all over the garden. And I spent a whole lot of time, trying to figure out what they were feeding on, cuz some were getting really big. The whole thing was quite fascinating...like how the hell were they producing these huge ass shells without tearing all the plants apart? So I call a good buddy over (PhD in bio something or the other) thinking he would be as fascinated. And guess what...he shows up and all he wanted to do was cook them. So much for higher minds. (we didn't btw)
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- joshspankit 6y ago
  “Listen: I’m fascinated 23 hours a day. When I go over to a buddy’s house I just wanna eat things. Yaknow?”
- 7thaccount 6y ago
  How did you know they were edible? I mean, I know people eat snails in certain parts, but how did you know these were safe?
  - evilsetg 6y ago
    That is what you have the bio something PhD for :-)
  - Archelaos 6y ago
    In Germany I only ever eat helix pomatia[1]. Nowadays, they are under nature protection. Only the consumption of cultivated snails is allowed. They are related to mussels and taste similar. I can especially recommend snail cream soup. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia
    - randycupertino 6y ago
      I used to think I loved escargot but it turns out I actually just loved them as a delivery vessel for garlic, butter and cheese.
TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
I seriously doubt the human condition seems complex to a species that went through this stage a billion years ago. Or even a million years ago. If we ever invent a time machine I doubt we'd learn much from humans of 10,000 years ago. There would be some surprises for historians and archaeologists, but we certainly wouldn't treat them as cultural or technological equals. So the horizon of interest where an encounter would be fascinating and worth the time and effort but not devastatingly disruptive to either side is probably only a few millennia. But let's call it +/- 10k years, to be generous. Compare with the age of the universe, or even of the galaxy. It's really not a big proportion of the available time.
- soufron 6y ago
  "If we ever invent a time machine I doubt we'd learn much from humans of 10,000 years ago. There would be some surprises for historians and archaeologists, but we certainly wouldn't treat them as cultural or technological equals." That's only your opinion, and it's most probably wrong. These guys were capable of feats you can only dream of. And you could be very surprised at their level of sophistication, which might appear higher than us on many levels - if not on all levels.
  - OnlyMortal 6y ago
    Quite. It’s an insult to our ancestors to dismiss their ability to use their technology. The ruins we find around the world from previous civilisations tell us they were very smart.
- at-fates-hands 6y ago
  > There would be some surprises for historians and archaeologists, but we certainly wouldn't treat them as cultural or technological equals. Generally speaking, about once a year, archeologists find something that completely challenges their theories on human evolution. https://www.livescience.com/biggest-archaeology-discoveries-2019.html https://www.livescience.com/biggest-archaeology-discoveries-... Just the amount of engineering the Egyptians did is enough to warrant our continued fascination with their culture, some 5,000 years later.

PartiallyTyped 6y ago

To be fair to rocks, we also study them ...

guerrilla 6y ago
Is astrogeology (as etymologically oxymoronic as that is) already a subject?
- Denvercoder9 6y ago
  That's basically what asteroid science is. It's such a big field that we're even sending probes to collect rocks.
- kridsdale1 6y ago
  Maybe aliens will be interested in Earth for Astrogastronomy.
  - liotier 6y ago
    Sorry, no - only the consumption of cultivated humans is allowed.
    - madia_leva 6y ago
      How would you know that you are being cultivated?
  - jrd259 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man

op03 6y ago

Recently I had a bunch of snails appear out of nowhere all over the garden. And I spent a whole lot of time, trying to figure out what they were feeding on, cuz some were getting really big. The whole thing was quite fascinating...like how the hell were they producing these huge ass shells without tearing all the plants apart? So I call a good buddy over (PhD in bio something or the other) thinking he would be as fascinated. And guess what...he shows up and all he wanted to do was cook them. So much for higher minds. (we didn't btw)

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
joshspankit 6y ago
“Listen: I’m fascinated 23 hours a day. When I go over to a buddy’s house I just wanna eat things. Yaknow?”
7thaccount 6y ago
How did you know they were edible? I mean, I know people eat snails in certain parts, but how did you know these were safe?
- evilsetg 6y ago
  That is what you have the bio something PhD for :-)
- Archelaos 6y ago
  In Germany I only ever eat helix pomatia[1]. Nowadays, they are under nature protection. Only the consumption of cultivated snails is allowed. They are related to mussels and taste similar. I can especially recommend snail cream soup. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_pomatia
  - randycupertino 6y ago
    I used to think I loved escargot but it turns out I actually just loved them as a delivery vessel for garlic, butter and cheese.

TheOtherHobbes 6y ago

I seriously doubt the human condition seems complex to a species that went through this stage a billion years ago. Or even a million years ago. If we ever invent a time machine I doubt we'd learn much from humans of 10,000 years ago. There would be some surprises for historians and archaeologists, but we certainly wouldn't treat them as cultural or technological equals. So the horizon of interest where an encounter would be fascinating and worth the time and effort but not devastatingly disruptive to either side is probably only a few millennia. But let's call it +/- 10k years, to be generous. Compare with the age of the universe, or even of the galaxy. It's really not a big proportion of the available time.

soufron 6y ago
"If we ever invent a time machine I doubt we'd learn much from humans of 10,000 years ago. There would be some surprises for historians and archaeologists, but we certainly wouldn't treat them as cultural or technological equals." That's only your opinion, and it's most probably wrong. These guys were capable of feats you can only dream of. And you could be very surprised at their level of sophistication, which might appear higher than us on many levels - if not on all levels.
- OnlyMortal 6y ago
  Quite. It’s an insult to our ancestors to dismiss their ability to use their technology. The ruins we find around the world from previous civilisations tell us they were very smart.
at-fates-hands 6y ago
> There would be some surprises for historians and archaeologists, but we certainly wouldn't treat them as cultural or technological equals. Generally speaking, about once a year, archeologists find something that completely challenges their theories on human evolution. https://www.livescience.com/biggest-archaeology-discoveries-2019.html https://www.livescience.com/biggest-archaeology-discoveries-... Just the amount of engineering the Egyptians did is enough to warrant our continued fascination with their culture, some 5,000 years later.