4 ms·

/r/science won't allow it so here 're my questions

2 points by frade33 12y ago

First off, let's be clear, this is not a religious topic. Only reason I am asking this, I can't get Evolution Theory, even though It's not like I completely disagree with it. 1. We are perhaps the only intelligence species that exists or have existed on earth. Does our Intelligence had any part in the formation of our physical body. Let me ask you in layman terms, If our body was like Elephants, Could we have made as much progress as we did today. The physical body we have, totally support our intelligence, is it mere coincidence? 2. It's little weird, that every sci-fi movie (avatar) features ET life according to the atmosphere of their planets. Why it isn't in reality true so far. Again in layman terms, Who said 'O2 and H2O2' are the standard for life. If life had to begin at its own, like it did on earth, why could'nt life2 or life3 begin on other planets according to their own atmospheres, as depicted in Avatar Movie.

wpietri 12y ago
Your phrasing and writing style are a little erratic, so perhaps that's why you're not getting a good response elsewhere. You might do more editing before you post if you'd like to get taken more seriously. But I think the questions are reasonable ones. Neither of your questions can be fully answered. Until we've seen a bunch of kinds of life, it will be hard to generalize. It's like trying to theorize about languages in general if you've only ever heard one. It's a lot easier to think about if you have a bunch of examples. Regarding the first bit, I understand that's a topic of quite a bit of disagreement. Early AI pursued a brain-in-a-jar approach, implying that physicality was irrelevant. Others differ. If you dig up the great documentary "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" you can see robot scientist Rodney Brooks talking about how intelligence and embodiment are very much related. (Since he went on to found iRobot, he's clearly no slouch.) I haven't kept up, but I'm sure there's a lot of interesting work that's still being done in this area. Regarding the different bases for life, again, we can't say. There's been a lot of speculation of other ways life could be, but we've only got one kind to look at so far, and it's pretty hard to just go and check out a few thousand other planets to see what has cropped up.
- frade33 12y ago
  it's 3am, here. up from 10am. so i'd request pardon my language, i was being bit lazy, and obviously english is not my first lang. It's interesting., other guys have agreements and disagreements over it, since science wasn't my major, so until now, i used to believe it's only me. and sometimes too scared to ask it at the risk of for being too stupid. I can't believe, if we had a physical body like snake, elephants, we could ever had come thus far. at best we hv had an advanced jungle but nothing more than that. perhaps I could be wrong, but this just doesn't settle with me. As for the 2nd part, why we look anywhere else, Why we don't have life on lets say Mars. If we can understand the 'essence' or whatever, of Evolution theory, then we must have our martians cousins too no?.
yaur 12y ago
"We are perhaps the only intelligence species that exists or have existed on earth." Citation needed. Tool use, language, and many other "human" features have been observed in nature. What is definitely true is that humans are the only species that we are able to reliably communicate with. Note that while snakes and elephants are physically incapable of using tools, doing so doesn't necessarily require hands (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlh0cS2tf24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlh0cS2tf24).
- frade33 12y ago
  by intelligence i meant, reaching to mars, moon. even a dog is pretty intelligent, so is chimp. but as we know, chimp haven't invented a wheel or bicycle as yet, at their own.
  - CocaKoala 12y ago
    If you're setting the bar for intelligence at "reaching the moon", then aren't you saying that there were no intelligent species on the planet at all until July 21st, 1969? You need to set your terms much more clearly before there can really be a discussion. It seems like you're trying to say that invention is a hallmark of intelligence; well, how do you define invention? Is it just taking an object and using it for a purpose other than it's natural one? Crows do that; there are documented incidents of crows using sticks as tools to solve puzzles. Crows were flying before humans were; by your own logic, that seems to indicate that crows are actually smarter than we are.
    - frade33 12y ago
      So you are saying chimps or dogs can make their own space shuttle let's say in next 50,000 years? or for that matter any other species of animal.
      - lutusp 12y ago
        Yes, of course -- there's nothing special about humans that sets us apart from other animals except a few accidents of evolution. In the right circumstances, any other animal could take our place. But not in 50,000 years, more time would likely be required.
CocaKoala 12y ago
I don't know why I'm responding, this topic is pretty clearly dead, but here's another thing for you to consider. Your point 1 mentions how "the physical body we have, totally support our intelligence, is it mere coincidence" [sic]. We adapt to the bodies we have; other animals adapt to the bodies they have. Albatrosses use a technique called dynamic soaring and can fly across literally the entire ocean without flapping. They've pretty clearly adapted to their bodies; do you feel the development of that technique doesn't indicate intelligence?

2 points by frade33 12y ago

wpietri 12y ago

Your phrasing and writing style are a little erratic, so perhaps that's why you're not getting a good response elsewhere. You might do more editing before you post if you'd like to get taken more seriously. But I think the questions are reasonable ones. Neither of your questions can be fully answered. Until we've seen a bunch of kinds of life, it will be hard to generalize. It's like trying to theorize about languages in general if you've only ever heard one. It's a lot easier to think about if you have a bunch of examples. Regarding the first bit, I understand that's a topic of quite a bit of disagreement. Early AI pursued a brain-in-a-jar approach, implying that physicality was irrelevant. Others differ. If you dig up the great documentary "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control" you can see robot scientist Rodney Brooks talking about how intelligence and embodiment are very much related. (Since he went on to found iRobot, he's clearly no slouch.) I haven't kept up, but I'm sure there's a lot of interesting work that's still being done in this area. Regarding the different bases for life, again, we can't say. There's been a lot of speculation of other ways life could be, but we've only got one kind to look at so far, and it's pretty hard to just go and check out a few thousand other planets to see what has cropped up.

frade33 12y ago
it's 3am, here. up from 10am. so i'd request pardon my language, i was being bit lazy, and obviously english is not my first lang. It's interesting., other guys have agreements and disagreements over it, since science wasn't my major, so until now, i used to believe it's only me. and sometimes too scared to ask it at the risk of for being too stupid. I can't believe, if we had a physical body like snake, elephants, we could ever had come thus far. at best we hv had an advanced jungle but nothing more than that. perhaps I could be wrong, but this just doesn't settle with me. As for the 2nd part, why we look anywhere else, Why we don't have life on lets say Mars. If we can understand the 'essence' or whatever, of Evolution theory, then we must have our martians cousins too no?.

yaur 12y ago

"We are perhaps the only intelligence species that exists or have existed on earth." Citation needed. Tool use, language, and many other "human" features have been observed in nature. What is definitely true is that humans are the only species that we are able to reliably communicate with. Note that while snakes and elephants are physically incapable of using tools, doing so doesn't necessarily require hands (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlh0cS2tf24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlh0cS2tf24).

frade33 12y ago
by intelligence i meant, reaching to mars, moon. even a dog is pretty intelligent, so is chimp. but as we know, chimp haven't invented a wheel or bicycle as yet, at their own.
- CocaKoala 12y ago
  If you're setting the bar for intelligence at "reaching the moon", then aren't you saying that there were no intelligent species on the planet at all until July 21st, 1969? You need to set your terms much more clearly before there can really be a discussion. It seems like you're trying to say that invention is a hallmark of intelligence; well, how do you define invention? Is it just taking an object and using it for a purpose other than it's natural one? Crows do that; there are documented incidents of crows using sticks as tools to solve puzzles. Crows were flying before humans were; by your own logic, that seems to indicate that crows are actually smarter than we are.
  - frade33 12y ago
    So you are saying chimps or dogs can make their own space shuttle let's say in next 50,000 years? or for that matter any other species of animal.
    - lutusp 12y ago
      Yes, of course -- there's nothing special about humans that sets us apart from other animals except a few accidents of evolution. In the right circumstances, any other animal could take our place. But not in 50,000 years, more time would likely be required.

CocaKoala 12y ago

I don't know why I'm responding, this topic is pretty clearly dead, but here's another thing for you to consider. Your point 1 mentions how "the physical body we have, totally support our intelligence, is it mere coincidence" [sic]. We adapt to the bodies we have; other animals adapt to the bodies they have. Albatrosses use a technique called dynamic soaring and can fly across literally the entire ocean without flapping. They've pretty clearly adapted to their bodies; do you feel the development of that technique doesn't indicate intelligence?