4 ms·

* If War Means Everything, It Means Nothing * If we cannot define war, it is difficult to recognise the differences between war, conflict, and competition.

• tgv 3y ago
  The article is interesting, but indeed falls in the category of journalistic hyperinflation. It's not a war, if only because winning would mean dying, but it is a form of struggle. About the article: the mechanisms moths have at their disposal are nicely described, but there's little to nothing about the bats' side. The title is word inflation at its finest, not only because it uses "war", but also "deafening", which isn't justified in the article. Worse, if it were deafening, the echo location would probably not work. The writing is simply bad: > Their age-old conflict, albeit gruesome and lethal, Albeit? Is there really a contrast between conflict and gruesome and lethal? And what about this gem: > With sensitive enough hearing organs, a moth can detect an echolocation click from far away and escape before a bat has the time and capacity to perceive its own echo. The reading "the moth escapes with its ears" should have been caught and removed. Worse is that it takes only a fraction of a second for an echo to return, as sound travels at 300m/s. Moths are sluggish in flight, so they can't really escape in that time. The sentence should probably have been written as: "A moth can detect a click from far away with its sensitive ears, and escape before the bat is close enough to perceive the echo."
  • klondike_klive 3y ago
    Albeit means "although it be", or "even though it is" to use a less archaic construction.
    • tgv 3y ago
      But that expresses contrast. "It's a conflict, even though it is gruesome and lethal" is simply a bad sentence.