[FRIAM] death

[Marcus Daniels]

"I believe that the death of the fly was both insignificant and a kind of catastrophe.  And I believe that about the deaths of frogs and pigs too, and about my own death, and yours."



Is there reason to think that flies' lives are different in some way?   Or that the death of one impacts a food or communication web or unreasonably wastes energy?

Other flies will make more.  Using gene drives to eliminate a species is a bigger step, and that could impact food webs.   Is that a bad thing to do?  Why?


One difference between flies and pigs and humans is progressively deeper development of each, if for no other reason than lifespan.   Paradoxes there too:   My fondness and loyalty to my 12 year old dog was deeper than it is for many humans. (Fat chance I'd send a 75-year-old, racist, redneck, Joe-the-Trump voter thousands of dollars for cancer treatment.)   If it is depth of development that matters, then as a society we ought to invest more in retired people as their uniqueness is deeper and also more fragile.    But instead we celebrate births even thought infants are mere hardware that won't have consciousness for months after birth.

How is helping ones' tribe any different than the flies reproducing?   So long as the tribe doesn't lose too many members, they will make more.   Why does it matter if they do or they do not?   If the tribe produces art, culture, or technology and that is bigger than the tribe, then one isn't just investing in the tribe, one is investing in something bigger.   If a group have members that die, but their experiences are captured in the these `other things', then what is the catastrophic about the death?   There is minimal information loss.


Marcus

________________________________
From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> on behalf of Russ Abbott <russ.abbott at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2017 3:47:34 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] death

Near the end of the Aeon piece.

Those hoping that I would resolve this paradox might now be getting a little anxious, as we are reaching the penultimate paragraph with no solution in sight. But it should be clear by now that I do not believe there is a solution. I believe that the death of the fly was both insignificant and a kind of catastrophe. And I believe that about the deaths of frogs and pigs too, and about my own death, and yours.

I was one of those hoping the article would arrive somewhere. It's well written. But ultimately it's a tease, implying that it will provide wisdom about a subject about which there is very little, if any.

On Sat, Oct 28, 2017 at 10:59 AM glen <gepropella at gmail.com<mailto:gepropella at gmail.com>> wrote:
Ha! I live to serve. 8^) Brings new meaning to the terrifying motivational aphorism: today is the first day of the rest of your life. Great theme for Samhain!

On October 28, 2017 10:31:43 AM PDT, Gary Schiltz <gary at naturesvisualarts.com<mailto:gary at naturesvisualarts.com>> wrote:
>Yesterday was my birthday, a milestone toward the inexorable fate of
>all
>life. Thank you so much for sharing :-Q

--
glen

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
--
Russ Abbott
Professor, Computer Science
California State University, Los Angeles
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20171028/83b6d0fe/attachment.html>