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> Black holes are gatherers, not hunters. They lie in wait until a hapless star wanders by. Not that it matters much, but lying in wait until prey wanders by i
by Sebb767 4y ago
> Black holes are gatherers, not hunters. They lie in wait until a hapless star wanders by.
Not that it matters much, but lying in wait until prey wanders by is behavior I'd associate with hunters, not gatherers.
- account-5 4y agoI think it's just a bad analogy. Blackholes lie in wait the same way quicksand does. There's no intent on the part of either, not gathering or hunting, they just do what they do.
- tomrod 4y agoAye. Anthropomorphizing leads people to essentialism and its unnecessary to both describe the phenomenon and to learn more about it.
- korroziya 4y agoYou're the kind of person who read Terry Pratchett's "Reaper Man" and thought The Auditors were correct to fire Death.
- tomrod 4y agoI might be! You've identified a very bright gap in my scifi reading. Not sure what I'm saving Pratchett for, but I appreciate the reminder to read his works.
- korroziya 4y agoOh you're in for a treat. I personally like the Audiobooks read by Stephen Briggs, but Penguin just last year redid the whole set with an all-star cast. Great time to get into Discworld.
- earthling8118 4y agoAt what point is the intent defined. Do all of the animals out there not just "do what they do"? I can see how the analogy isn't great but I think it's closer than it initially seems
- account-5 4y agoI don't know but if something can decide to do or not do something, I'd say that's a start. Blackholes can't decide not to suck everything in to them, there is no intent behind it, no responsibility. It just is what it is.
- soiler 4y agoIt's an arbitrary line, but you might say that a biological phenomenon such as mountain lion or even sunflower has a different meaning of "do what they do" form a purely physical one such as a black hole, quicksand, or a volcano. Even if we don't ascribe consciousness to the biological phenomena, they can be said to "seek" certain resources/input and "avoid" others. They actively avoid death and attempt to sustain their processes over generations by consuming specific resources. A black hole, if offered a red giant or an asteroid, will not respond to either, because it has no sensory input and no preference for growth or evaporation. I think it is also fair to look at a mountain lion as an essentially chemical/physical process similar to a black hole, but in that case I would say it's hard to declare humans are any different.
- peteradio 4y agoMaybe they should have used a sand based analogy. Blackholes are like quicksand while most other things are just like regular sand.
- lordnacho 4y agoYeah it makes little sense to compare it to people. We really need to know what kind of donut it is. Jam filled or toroidal? What glazing?
- GuB-42 4y agoTrue, people have hair, black holes don't. Not an appropriate comparison.
- korroziya 4y agoImmediately thought of trapdoor spiders.
- BurningFrog 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_predator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_predator