Re: Humans Not So Intelligent In Water


"Glorfindel" <notgiven@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dtb2v4$dpl$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
oscar wrote:
"Glorfindel" <notgiven@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dtaa9d$rph$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


BTW, since we've been discussing the value of SF, I'll mention there is
a Poul Anderson story which deals with this topic, titled _The Horn of
Time The Hunter_. In it explorers come to an almost-all-ocean world
where the original human colony has evolved into a water-based species
similar to seals (they give birth on land) or dolphins, in that they
are air-breathing mammals who evolved from a former land species.

That would be called devolution I believe... not evolution.

That's the mistake some of the characters in the story make.
It *is* a mistake.

I haven't had the (lack of) pleasure of reading that story so you are
welcome to evaluate it any way you want. I gave up SF for reality at about
the same time my subscription to Humpty Dumpty Magazine ran out in the
second grade and my mommy wouldn't renew it...

Devolution isn't a mistake just because you say it is... in the earthly
reality of the here-and-now. If it is a mistake in your SF world... well
then tell it to Luke Skywalker... or have R2D2 send me a holographic m-mail
(mind mail).

Now, isn't it time you were returning to "The Mother Ship" in the "Way-Out
Machine? I hear they are having a seaweed salad with oyster-crap dressing
tonight... synthesized of course.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Debunking simplistic physicalism
    ... I don't know of anybody who would claim that brain ... I understand it well enough to see your mistake. ... of reality. ... Other very smart people think it is trivial, or that consciousness ...
    (comp.ai.philosophy)
  • Re: I am going to take the Homeopathy Plunge!!
    ... Leaving aside your mistake in the name of the test -- what do you know ... Why don't you do your reality checks -- you'd see ... and not those of Bar-Ilan University ...
    (misc.health.alternative)
  • Re: What is wrong with this argument?
    ... >>The computer made that mistake. ... On a Windows system, damn right! ... 'Realism is seductive because once you have accepted the reasonable ... notion that you should base your actions on reality, ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: Unfixed number of variables.
    ... >> I assume the mistake you claim is only in my choice of words, ... >> because you've elided the working code I posted. ... Apparently he's just returned to his version of reality from the ... > trailer park so you'll have to indulge his reacquaintence with English and ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: Horn Ring needed for safetys sake
    ... No horn ring needed. ... You did not make a mistake. ... It's the same logic that is used when the ultraliberals say that ... the poor are blameless for being poor, it's the rich's fault they are poor. ...
    (rec.autos.makers.chrysler)