What if you could break the human body down into say 30,000 units or so? Each unit would be autonomous but could also form up with other units for more complex tasks. Imagine separate fingers coming together to form a hand when needed and breaking up again when you needed to pick your nose, ear and ass at the same time. Now imagine this creature’s brain is not separated into units, but spread over ALL the units. So units do not need to communicate, as they share a collective brain; they just know. Far more efficient and no glaring weak point, no head to cut off or spine to sever. Net-based designs are extremely robust. Damage to any one location is easily absorbed across the rest of the net. Our brains are not currently wired that way. Drill a hole in the right spot and you lose the ability to do long division. If your natural habitat is counting cards in a casino, you’d be fucked. But with a net brain and a unit-based body, you could play at 50 tables, count cards at each, compare results over all 50 tables, and enjoy a complimentary beverage all at the same time.
Of course you know I’ve been describing a hive system. Bees and ants mainly. Some might argue it is a more evolved system. But zoom out a little, what’s the ultimate ‘unit’? DNA makes up every living thing and every living thing’s sole purpose is to make more DNA. Fish do it one way and oak trees another, millions of strategies…as many as there are species of plants, animals and bacteria (not sure about viruses, lab people?).
It is argued that humans are special (and therefore the above argument false) because of our self-awareness. Oddly the bible describes this as the punishment God doled out to those mixed up kids Adam and Eve. Went and made them self-aware, unique among creatures – as a punishment. This has a strange resonance with the evolutionary model which would have us as temporarily superior freaks, spikes in the graph – bumps really when spread over any fraction of time.
Then again, mom always did say I was special and would prove it by spitting on a napkin and wiping it in my face. Yeah, top of the food chain, that’s me.
Of course you know I’ve been describing a hive system. Bees and ants mainly. Some might argue it is a more evolved system. But zoom out a little, what’s the ultimate ‘unit’? DNA makes up every living thing and every living thing’s sole purpose is to make more DNA. Fish do it one way and oak trees another, millions of strategies…as many as there are species of plants, animals and bacteria (not sure about viruses, lab people?).
It is argued that humans are special (and therefore the above argument false) because of our self-awareness. Oddly the bible describes this as the punishment God doled out to those mixed up kids Adam and Eve. Went and made them self-aware, unique among creatures – as a punishment. This has a strange resonance with the evolutionary model which would have us as temporarily superior freaks, spikes in the graph – bumps really when spread over any fraction of time.
Then again, mom always did say I was special and would prove it by spitting on a napkin and wiping it in my face. Yeah, top of the food chain, that’s me.
7 comments:
I've always wondered where the idea that there is a "top" to the food chain comes from. Aren't humans just very expensive meals for bugs?
And what if the North Pole was the South Pole? The maps would all look different.
I like Dans comment re the food chain having no TOP, we are all interconnected .
As a species we are undoubtably right up there, but put a man or woman in in a desert, in the ocean ,or next to hungry bear , and it all becomes relative.
The general population might assume our superiority, the relgious people be certain of it, but the scientists for the most part realise that we are just different!
this is my point...a comedian once called humans 'monkeys with car keys' and I think that's pretty damn close.
nice pic of you there on the right, have you been working out?
all-coffee-and-cigarette diet
monkeys not only do not own car keys but haven't found as many creative ways of jacking off as we humans have.
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