Random Thought of the Day

Quote: Fleastiff

No.
Most life forms do not waste energy on needless slaughter or needless pain but they are quite capable of it particularly when frustrated.
Just as there is a wide range of human cruelty there is a wide range of protracted cruelty and death in the animal kingdom.

I already considered that. For instance, you really need intelligence for a N. Korean Prison system. Length/ time, no comparison. Without intelligence, you simply don't have the capability.

Quote: rxwine

Humans are the only animal capable of extended cruelty and torture.

Clearly you've never owned a cat.

Dolphins often will toss about large fish they can't even eat.

Quote: Nareed

Clearly you've never owned a cat.

Dolphins often will toss about large fish they can't even eat.

I guess I'm not being clear. I never said cruelty doesn't exist between animals.

A monkey might kill a human, but he won't build death camps and extend it into generations of torture and murder.

Quote: Nareed

Clearly you've never owned a cat.

Or raptors, but to them, killing is "just business".

It is pretty cruel what felines will do to a sofa.

Quote: rxwine

A monkey might kill a human, but he won't build death camps and extend it into generations of torture and murder.

So? A bird might chirp, but it will never write a symphony. A monkey might care about an injured monkey, but it will never develop medicine or build hospitals. It takes nasty, brute humans to do such things.

Quote: Nareed

So? A bird might chirp, but it will never write a symphony. A monkey might care about an injured monkey, but it will never develop medicine or build hospitals. It takes nasty, brute humans to do such things.

But humans misuse their intelligence much of time as well to cause destruction and other ills in society. This is why I say intelligence does not really make us superior to animals, and it is hubris to think so just because we can also do great things.

Quote: rxwine

But humans misuse their intelligence much of time as well to cause destruction and other ills in society. This is why I say intelligence does not really make us superior to animals, and it is hubris to think so just because we can also do great things.

You think we'd be better off if we gave up using our intellect?

I'd like apps like Waze and Google Maps better if they could tell you the route ahead of time. Oh, I know you can see the route on the map, but with an iphone 4's small screen, it doesn't tell you much without detailed close ups.

I'm thinking something like the voice saying "take Bosques via the tunnel and then turn to Aguilas vie Rey in order to take Leones to Lomas Hipodromo." That way I'd know which turns to ignore when they get too ridiculous, or to take another route entirely in some cases.

See, Waze in particular has no problem taking you miles out of your way in order to avoid a minute or two worth of traffic delays. Usually this is just not worth it, simply as regards distractions from my audiobook en route.

Quote: Nareed

You think we'd be better off if we gave up using our intellect?

I can't answer that. But rather than celebrate our intellectual superiority over everything though, it's probably good to note if our intellectual results ends up with an out of control *nuclear strike scenario, I would say that is a bad result. If we end up with out of control AI too smart to control, and become the next extinct species or perhaps worse, that would also be a bad result. You can't say you were so smart with some bad self-induced endings through intellectual pursuit.

*I have wondered if we can really make limited nuclear strikes. With a few missiles in the air, it might get pretty dicey, whether more are launched.

The Catholic passion for, and excellence in, scholarship has been widely exaggerated.