Holy Sh*t here come the Nintendogs!

[sethsez]

We're costly only from a certain perspective. On the scale of larger animals, yes, we've had an appreciable impact. Insects, however, don't give a shit as a whole. We're barely a blip on their radar, and when we're all gone they'll still be here (we could never, ever manage to wipe out cockroaches no matter how hard we tried). And the vast majority of sea life has no clue of our existence, and we no clue of theirs.

[CMoon]

Insects, however, don't give a shit as a whole. We're barely a blip on their radar, and when we're all gone they'll still be here (we could never, ever manage to wipe out cockroaches no matter how hard we tried).

True.

And the vast majority of sea life has no clue of our existence, and we no clue of theirs.

Bullshit. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 7?v=glance

[sethsez]

Bullshit.

Deep sea organisms are barely affected by us.

[FatCobra]

All I got to say is that while that Nintendogs game is hella cute, I'd rather spend the money I've blow on the DS and the game and get myself a real puppy. Virtual pet games are boring, sure the real thing is more work, but it's an actual living thing that loves you back.

If you think about it, us as a species as a whole has done more damage to the planet than any other lifeform that exists on Earth. I think eventually that if we ever develop intergalatic travel, that we should leave Earth behind and give it a chance to heal. Maybe when we move to other planets, we will have better technology and know how to treat our home planet with respect. So maybe I watch too many sci-fi films....

If you really want to hate your own species however, we may be nothing more than multi-celled parasites.

[CMoon]

Bullshit.

Deep sea organisms are barely affected by us.

Hahaha, yeah, that's what Godzilla (1954) is about!

I don't know. I don't mean to buy completely into the gaia principle, but I do think that when we are changing (and wiping out) so many things, that there is very little on this earth that isn't being affected.

Deep sea life in generaly is pretty inconsequential; it doesn't ammount to even a single percent of the life on this planet, but I imagine we still have some small impact on it (whale carcasses are fed on at some of these incredible depths, but many whales are now in tiny #s because of us--what happens to the animals that fed off of them?)

I probably was even too hasty in agreeing with you about insects. I do think they are out ahead of us, and a lot of what we do won't impact a great number of their species, but there are other insect species we have certainly driven to extinction. Does that have no impact? I'm not sure we're even smart enough to understand what that impact is yet? What about Genetic modification in plants that can be passed on (through hybridization) to different species of plants, introducing entirely new, unpredicatble variables?

Now here there really is a danger. Unlike ducks raping each other, human beings really are changing things very rapidly on this planet--too fast for most longer-lived animals to adapt in any measurable way.

I reaturn again to the idea that we shouldn't argue that because humans have done terrible things that animals are saint-like (to return to my quote from Aliens, they do in fact fuck each other over for a buck, though a that buck is in Darwinian terms), rather, animals aren't capable of making the sweeping changes that are creating a 'third event' as extinction scientists refer to it.

As I said in my earlier post, Biodiversity I believe is one of this planet's most imporant resouces, and it is hard, from any stand point to look indifferently upon a man-made 'third event' (IE where the second event was the extinction of the dinosaurs, and the first being those massive extinctions documented in the Burgess shales).

What IS fact is that more species are dissapearing than have (statistically) since the disappearance of the dinosaurs. So forget ducks raping ducks, who really cares about that? Instead, let's ask ourselves where the Tazmanian Tiger went.

[Neon]

All the animals that couldn't adapt sucked anyways.

[CMoon]

All the animals that couldn't adapt sucked anyways.

Meaning of course that sharks and turtles are the shiznit!

[dave4shmups]

All I got to say is that while that Nintendogs game is hella cute, I'd rather spend the money I've blow on the DS and the game and get myself a real puppy. Virtual pet games are boring, sure the real thing is more work, but it's an actual living thing that loves you back.

If you think about it, us as a species as a whole has done more damage to the planet than any other lifeform that exists on Earth. I think eventually that if we ever develop intergalatic travel, that we should leave Earth behind and give it a chance to heal. Maybe when we move to other planets, we will have better technology and know how to treat our home planet with respect. So maybe I watch too many sci-fi films....

If you really want to hate your own species however, we may be nothing more than multi-celled parasites.

I agree with you on the Nintendogs thing; we already have a real dog at out house, as do plenty of other gamers, so this game seems to be pointless to begin with.

If we did develop intergalactic travel, IMO, it wouldn't solve much, because whatever planet we landed on we'd just trash like we have this one.

And as for the whole "There are too many people on this planet!" argument, I generally find that that get's taken waaay too far. People saying that disasters such as the Tsunami are helping by taking away some of Earth's population are just being plain arrogant, IMO. What gives ANYONE of us the right to say that we have more of a right to use up this planet's resources more then someone who perished in Indonesia, or Thailand, or somewhere else?

The bottom line, IMO, is that this country needs a serious "Manhattan Project" on renewable energy. With the level of technology we have acheived, there is simply no excuse for our continued almost total dependency on fossil fuels, which pollute the environment, help fund terrorism, and keep too much of our foreign policy bogged down in the Middle East.

Every single day that I see sunshine, and wind pass through Denver, I can't help but be disgusted that we are not taking more advantage of these clean energy sources which God has so generously given us.

[sethsez]

We do take advantage of them to a degree, but solar and wind energy don't provide nearly the kind of energy that we use by themselves.

As for everyone saying "just get a real dog," I live in an apartment that doesn't allow animals. I'm sure there are people here who do, or have, lived in dorms. Some people have allergies. Some people don't have the time to devote to a real dog. Some people do a lot of traveling and have no way to take care of the dog then.

Besides, this isn't a replacement for a dog, nor is it meant to be one. It's a cute toy that doubles as a very clever tech demo for the DS.

Edit:

If we did develop intergalactic travel, IMO, it wouldn't solve much, because whatever planet we landed on we'd just trash like we have this one.

The planet was covered with volcanoes, went through several ice ages, has had its poles reverse a few times, has been smacked with meteors powerful enough to wipe out a good portion of the planet's life... it will survive us just fine, "trash" or no.

[CMoon]

The planet was covered with volcanoes, went through several ice ages, has had its poles reverse a few times, has been smacked with meteors powerful enough to wipe out a good portion of the planet's life... it will survive us just fine, "trash" or no.

This is absurdly misleading. The original poster was discussing the way we were using up world resources, not aesthetically changing its surface. We ARE using up world resources at an astronomical rate. And if we went somewhere else, we'd probably do the same thing.

[Stormwatch]

Meaning of course that sharks and turtles are the shiznit!

As long as the turtles are ninja... and the sharks have friggin' lasers on their heads...