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Death in the Microcosmos
MonkeySpank says...These series are absolutely fascinating. Hank Green is a genius.
This ≠ That
MonkeySpank says...There is a strong inverse-correlation between climate change and the number of pirates at sea
Nerdwriter: Why Funk Music Makes You Want To Dance
MonkeySpank says...Come get some o' that booty shaking
How High Can You Hear? [test]
MonkeySpank says...19,120Hz @ 41 on my AE2 Bose Headphones. Headphones might play a big role here boys and girls; don't be quick to judge your hearing.
Nobody's Exactly Sure How Much A Kilogram Is Right Now
MonkeySpank says...This only applies to the metric system. For the empirical system, it gets even more confusing. Here's a simple quote from NASA's Pre-Jesus era website:
The effective acceleration of gravity at the poles is 980.665 cm/sec/sec while at the equator it is 3.39 cm/sec/sec less due to the centrifugal force. If you weighed 100 pounds at the north pole on a spring scale, at the equator you would weigh 99.65 pounds, or 5.5 ounces less.
Whenever we talk about weight in pounds, we need to define where with respect to the center of our little bluey.
What Are You? - Kurzgesagt
MonkeySpank says...To me, the problem reduces to this:
1) Brain is the hardware
2) Current charge of neurons is the software that we like to call consciousness.
Consciousness, just like software, is intangible. This video about cells didn't bother to distinguish the "who" from the "what" when it talks about "us".
There are established fields in ontology and epistemology that address this very problem better than the "cells" argument. For anyone interested, I'd start here first.
Cells have no "purpose"?
I think that depends on how you define "purpose". I don't think humans (or other animals / organisms) have any particular intrinsic purpose. At least, nothing granted to us by a higher power or outside influence or whatever. We assign purpose to ourselves, and to other fuzzy-boundary collections of things. Things that are "alive" exist to use energy, move, reproduce, etc. Things that are "tools" exist to be a preferable means of accomplishing some task. Etc.
If any of those things have "purpose", certainly cells can have a "purpose" as well. Neurons exist to transfer bio-electric currents. Rod and cone cells in our eyes exist to react to light in general or particular wavelengths of light.
I don't think that we have any physical or intangible soul that serves as the core of our being. We have cells, organs, and organ systems that make up a "meat computer" that provides us with consciousness (a word that we invented, but which describes a fairly concrete idea), and I would argue that consciousness is the closest thing that we have to a "soul".
At some point, if we can create a machine that emulates / replaces the functionality of all those cells, organs, and organ systems that are responsible for consciousness, and copy a snapshot of the states of all of that in an organic being (like us) into a mechanical counterpart, then ... yeah. I think that machine would be the organic being that it was a copy of, in a far more meaningful way than Henrietta's cancer cells are "her".
Democratic Socialism. What is it really?
MonkeySpank says...His analogies are hyperbolic. And the United States is not a democracy? WTF? I wanna punch this turd in the face!
Man Schools New York State Trooper On The Law !
MonkeySpank says...This video should be about the sergeant because he's the hero here.
Who Is Stephen Colbert?
MonkeySpank says...I never thought I'd say this, but I am not sure I like these new Colbert segments :'(
To Scale: The Solar System
MonkeySpank says...Most of us have came to this conclusion when we realized I couldn't spot the other planets when we looked up in the sky at night. Only a troglodyte would assume that the popular solar system depictions are up to scale. The one thing that stuck with me as a child is when I was told that there are billions of suns in our sky. We just call them stars. That blew my mind.
Cool video nonetheless.
100 Years of Lingerie in 3 Minutes
MonkeySpank says...50s
How Wolves Changed Yellowstone National Park
MonkeySpank says...I asked myself the same question. A little hyperbolic, don't you think?
in 19 yrs this happened?
Sagemind
(Member Profile)
MonkeySpank says...So eloquently stated!
Thanks for sharing Sagemind, and sorry for the very very... very late response.
lol,
Ya, I'm a crazy star wars fan and collector.
I'm feigning mock disassociation.
I have to agree though, there was nothing special about those Slave Leia clips - I saw those clips many years ago, even have them on an old "behind the scenes" VHS tape I have.
I think people cling to clips like those just for nostalgia's sake.
Growing up with Star Wars, I've been collecting SW stuff ever since. It's an ingrained part of my life. I'm not freaky crazy about it. You'd never know from meeting me but my friends know about the 500 or more Star Wars figures I have still in packages - (oh, and so much more - to my wife's dismay and constant face-palming)
It's not like religion for me or anything just a fun pastime/hobby
In reply to this comment by MonkeySpank:
I honestly can't tell if this was sarcasm or not...
In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Ya, why are you guys all obsessed with Star Wars - Geez...
>> ^MonkeySpank:
Why is this footage important? Maybe I missed out on that whole Startwars thing. Seen the movies; I still don't get the obsession.
True Facts About The Mantis
MonkeySpank says...Yes yes, but can it kick MY ass?
How to open a can without a can opener
MonkeySpank says...FYI, practical can openers were invented 50 years after the creation of metal cans.