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"Is a virus alive?"
"Is Pluto a planet?"
"Is Louisiana Creole a language?"
Y'all
I don't think you understand exactly how many conversations in Academia are just "Is a hotdog a sandwich" for people with crushing student debt.
"Is Pluto a planet?"
"Is Louisiana Creole a language?"
Y'all
I don't think you understand exactly how many conversations in Academia are just "Is a hotdog a sandwich" for people with crushing student debt.
"Red queen or Court jester hypothesis?"
Now you're just being fancy to cover it up.
Now you're just being fancy to cover it up.
In order, by the way, yes, yes, yes, depends, and both, I say with all the confidence of a mediocre white man with no expertise.
I don't think y'all realize how serious I am.
We made the word "Henge," from the word "Stonehenge," and then decided that Stonehenge ISN'T A FUCK-DAMN HENGE.
We made the word "Henge," from the word "Stonehenge," and then decided that Stonehenge ISN'T A FUCK-DAMN HENGE.
Also, hot take:
Maybe nothing is alive? https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/why-life-does-not-really-exist/
Maybe nothing is alive? https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/why-life-does-not-really-exist/
Anyway, as @CoronaCoreanici put beautifully, "'How do we most efficiently carve reality at its joints' arguments are pointless without a broader understanding of the field of study"
And as @howardtayler was saying (and I agree!), taxonomies are tools. They serve PURPOSES.
And as @howardtayler was saying (and I agree!), taxonomies are tools. They serve PURPOSES.
The reason why "Are viruses alive?" matters depends on why you're studying them. Trying to find ways to Kill (sorry, "Denature") them? That might have a different frame of reference than studying how they evolve.
Here's NASA's working definition, btw:
https://www.sfu.ca/colloquium/PDC_Top/OoL/whatislife/Vikingmission.html
Here's NASA's working definition, btw:
https://www.sfu.ca/colloquium/PDC_Top/OoL/whatislife/Vikingmission.html
That's why my answer to the "Is a hot dog a sandwich?" question is actually this: https://twitter.com/NomeDaBarbarian/status/1290817395884347392
Words are tools. We use them for jobs. We forget, in our "technological" age, that Language is a technology, a tool.
When I compare deep academic questions to "is a hot dog a sandwich?"
I am not diminishing those questions.
I -love- that we have this conversation.
When I compare deep academic questions to "is a hot dog a sandwich?"
I am not diminishing those questions.
I -love- that we have this conversation.
Right now, this conversation is distracting me from the fact that I cannot trust my local police department.
So. If you've come this far, as a breather, maybe look into the #AuroraPoliceDepartment tag, and consider, maybe, abolishing policing as we understand it.
So. If you've come this far, as a breather, maybe look into the #AuroraPoliceDepartment tag, and consider, maybe, abolishing policing as we understand it.
I'm not actually QTing it in, out of respect for people who are ground down and need the break.
It just... feels disrespectful, to let myself get lost in this, and to let it do numbers, when there's something worth caring about going on.
Cheers, all.
It just... feels disrespectful, to let myself get lost in this, and to let it do numbers, when there's something worth caring about going on.
Cheers, all.
Also, remember that this is always an acceptable answer to one of these questions: https://twitter.com/NomeDaBarbarian/status/1290835326475202560
Anyway I put it to you: https://mobile.twitter.com/NomeDaBarbarian/status/1290997192723841028
Y'all, I know why viruses aren't defined as alive by most definitions, that part isn't in question.
I'm just pointing out that a definition of life developed in the 1800s maybe isn't sufficient to describe something we didn't begin to know existed until 1892?
I'm just pointing out that a definition of life developed in the 1800s maybe isn't sufficient to describe something we didn't begin to know existed until 1892?
And the ongoing conversation about that is interesting!
If we knew what viruses were, how DNA/RNA worked, and how they evolved BEFORE we defined life,
Do you think we would have defined life to exclude them?
If we knew what viruses were, how DNA/RNA worked, and how they evolved BEFORE we defined life,
Do you think we would have defined life to exclude them?
To be absolutely clear, to people who are agreeing with a point I'm not making:
This is not a /problem/ with academia. The Pluto thing? The planetary geologist who advocated FOR it being a planet at the 05 IAU conference did so because it's useful for his field of study.
This is not a /problem/ with academia. The Pluto thing? The planetary geologist who advocated FOR it being a planet at the 05 IAU conference did so because it's useful for his field of study.
Dr Stern also wanted (wants, probably) "satellite planets" to go alongside "classical planets" and "dwarf planets" (he's the one who coined the term, by the by), to recognize the different processes that apply to planetary mass objects.
Io, Europa, Ganymede, Tethys. Planets.
Io, Europa, Ganymede, Tethys. Planets.
The definition the IAU settled on says a planet must become static and spherical by its own mass - that excludes some satellite planets, though, who do so through tidal forces, etc.
I'm not a physicist, so this is just the science enthusiast level of understanding, mind.
I'm not a physicist, so this is just the science enthusiast level of understanding, mind.
This discussion isn't getting in the way of studying planets - far from it!
It's coming from an active and engaged field of passionate people with different and intersecting understandings of the world, and God willing, they'll see us learning under the light of another Sun.
It's coming from an active and engaged field of passionate people with different and intersecting understandings of the world, and God willing, they'll see us learning under the light of another Sun.
The questions of "what is a planet?" And "is Pluto one?" are good to ask, as long as they expand our understanding.
Imposing order on chaos is one of the most human things we can do.
So when we ask if a hot dog is a sandwich? When we try to probe the boundaries?
Imposing order on chaos is one of the most human things we can do.
So when we ask if a hot dog is a sandwich? When we try to probe the boundaries?
Look, motherfuckers, not to be dramatic,
But that is an expression of our humanity, purely for its own sake.
And it's also easy to get lost in that, and turn the convo SUPER DUMB.
Which is also, for the record, an expression of our humanity.
But that is an expression of our humanity, purely for its own sake.
And it's also easy to get lost in that, and turn the convo SUPER DUMB.
Which is also, for the record, an expression of our humanity.
Carbon atoms building a nerve system and a flesh mech in order to observe infinite nuclear fires in an unimaginable void?
To gaze upon those fires in the dark, and number them, name them, and chart their course? Divide them from the worlds that merely reflect their brilliance?
To gaze upon those fires in the dark, and number them, name them, and chart their course? Divide them from the worlds that merely reflect their brilliance?
And getting hung up on WHICH FLAPPING MEAT AND WIND NOISE IT SHOULD USE TO REMEMBER THEM?
IT'S EXACTLY AS RIDICULOUS AS IT IS GORGEOUS.
FIGHT ME, Y'ALL
BUT NOT ABOUT THIS
FIGHT ME ABOUT HOT DOGS AND IF THEY'RE SANDWICHES.
IT'S EXACTLY AS RIDICULOUS AS IT IS GORGEOUS.
FIGHT ME, Y'ALL
BUT NOT ABOUT THIS
FIGHT ME ABOUT HOT DOGS AND IF THEY'RE SANDWICHES.
Anyway, RE: Stonehenge, I think we need a new word. https://twitter.com/NomeDaBarbarian/status/1291363762776076290
And also, just to be recursive, let's link the later work on what constitutes a sandwich here. https://twitter.com/NomeDaBarbarian/status/1338876619205746688?s=20
