tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post8430169057738478936..comments2024-03-15T21:43:52.652-05:00Comments on City in the Trees: Are we alone?Lone Primatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15746801663695992138noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-61671057481013970932013-02-02T04:48:08.558-05:002013-02-02T04:48:08.558-05:00We've never been alone--we've just believe...We've never been alone--we've just believed we were, thanks largely to the Bible. We are part of a One, a net of life interdependent, and not separately created to be masters of all we survey--and most definitely not as smart as we think we are, given the wanton destruction of that net for our momentary convenience. So sorry, TPers--evolution, as the adaptive change for survival, and extinction, as the failure to adapt, are proceeding before our very eyes throughout the net. For some critters, including us, increasing intelligence is the key to survival. Domestic dogs evolved within our timeframe, the wild ones whose ingratiating behavior pleased us surviving best to pass on their DNA, and that border collie being the best example, since we have sped up the process by selective breeding for intelligence. The raccoons will be all right as long as they charm us or become useful to us and unless/until they inconvenience us--and then it's buh-bye, 'coons. Gorillas, elephants, whales--intelligent creatures all, butchered to near extinction for our pleasure. These and other intelligent animals have the capacity to understand our speech and to communicate needs without speech, but their ability to transmit concepts to their fellows and the next generation is apparently limited at present. The border collie understands the idea of a picture of a ball as a representation of a ball to be fetched from the next room, but can he explain it to his pups? Not yet, as far as we know--although our knowledge of our fellow earthlings is growing by the day; it was not so long ago that we believed ourselves the only beings that used tools or that had a sense of self or any understanding of death. We are on a continuum, albeit with a gap between us and the next most intelligent beings. How convenient for us--no real competition except each other... And the way that must have come about is what makes me cynical about the fate of the raccoons. We are indeed set apart by the reality that we are the only beings that have a big picture of our habitat; sea creatures know only the world of water, other land animals know only terra firma, and no other creatures here have a concept of what lies beyond our planet. And as far as our knowledge of aliens from Out There is concerned, we are little better off than the monkeys. There are scientists who believe it was a terrible mistake to announce our existence to the galaxy at large. In this regard an episode of Twilight Zone comes to mind, in which beings from another world brought peace to us, and prosperity and abundance for all. We were happy until a book spirited from the alien ship, entitled "How to Serve Man," was translated and revealed to be a cookbook. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy...Bridgewaterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06536588122777725073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12941086.post-31461765671785223602013-01-28T11:50:40.161-05:002013-01-28T11:50:40.161-05:00I can vouch for that racoon Doc on CBC, very inter...I can vouch for that racoon Doc on CBC, very interesting to watch especially if you live in Toronto and learning about how they have territories and they actually keep to a very small area (They attached GPS to racoons and mapped the results.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16685614324288206301noreply@blogger.com