[2013-Jan-25] Chimps

Blame Quintushalls for this.

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ReasonablyDoubtful
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[2013-Jan-25] Chimps

Post by ReasonablyDoubtful »

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2867#comic

This comic brought to you by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, AKA the Become a Vegetarian, You Stupid Jerk Committee.

Clearly, plants aren't conscious because they only communicate via chemicals, not sound.
Time to piss off people with logic and facts!

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Peon
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by Peon »

ReasonablyDoubtful wrote:Clearly, plants aren't conscious because they only communicate via chemicals, not sound.
Are you sure? There aren't any plants at all which respond to vibrations in their environment?
Ask the next question.

tapps

Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by tapps »

I used to come to SMBC because it was a smart, irreverent webcomic. Slowly, slowly, slowly it has become preachier than even viruscomix. If I was not already in the habit of reading SMBC I would never have started.

And what the fuck is this? I have to know the author's wife's name to post? If he one of those people who gets used to little kids on the internet riding his dick and goes nuts and tries to pontificate on the nature of being every 5 damn seconds?

a guy passing by

Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by a guy passing by »

This one was lame. Who thinks syntax is a necessary condition for consciousness? A lot of people think (or used to think) chimps' inability to use syntax shows they don't have LANGUAGE, but that's not the same as not having consciousness. And who separates self-awareness from consciousness? If something is self-aware in the sense of having a first-person perspective and distinguishing itself from other things in its environment within that perspective, then it is conscious in at least a minimal sense.

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Mark v1.0
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by Mark v1.0 »

Peon wrote:
ReasonablyDoubtful wrote:Clearly, plants aren't conscious because they only communicate via chemicals, not sound.
Are you sure? There aren't any plants at all which respond to vibrations in their environment?
I think he was joking about the "clearly". What is a natural sound? Only thing I can think of is a strong river or waterfall that makes sound naturally and constantly.

"Twenty years ago just uttering the words behavior and plants in the same sentence would have resulted in scientific excommunication!” Cahill insists. “And that’s because for a long time, I think, we were hung up on the fact that plants are sessile, they don’t move, or at least we don’t see them move. And because of who we are, I think we’ve always equated behavior, even intelligence, with movement.”
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episod ... viour.html

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Mark v1.0
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by Mark v1.0 »

ReasonablyDoubtful wrote: AKA the Become a Vegetarian
A happy life and a quick death is what I ask for in what I eat, and of myself.

Pigs are not having a happy life confined in stalls and a cement floor 24/7. I still got to eat though.
http://www.helpthepigs.ca/

ReasonablyDoubtful
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by ReasonablyDoubtful »

Mark v1.0 wrote:
ReasonablyDoubtful wrote: AKA the Become a Vegetarian
A happy life and a quick death is what I ask for in what I eat, and of myself.

Pigs are not having a happy life confined in stalls and a cement floor 24/7. I still got to eat though.
http://www.helpthepigs.ca/
You could always buy from farms that pasture feed their pigs or cows or chickens or whatever else you eat. In spite of what militant vegans and vegetarians will tell you, there is meat out there that doesn't come from factory farmed animals.
Time to piss off people with logic and facts!

ReasonablyDoubtful
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by ReasonablyDoubtful »

Mark v1.0 wrote:
Peon wrote:
ReasonablyDoubtful wrote:Clearly, plants aren't conscious because they only communicate via chemicals, not sound.
Are you sure? There aren't any plants at all which respond to vibrations in their environment?
I think he was joking about the "clearly". What is a natural sound? Only thing I can think of is a strong river or waterfall that makes sound naturally and constantly.

"Twenty years ago just uttering the words behavior and plants in the same sentence would have resulted in scientific excommunication!” Cahill insists. “And that’s because for a long time, I think, we were hung up on the fact that plants are sessile, they don’t move, or at least we don’t see them move. And because of who we are, I think we’ve always equated behavior, even intelligence, with movement.”
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episod ... viour.html
I was being sarcastic, actually. And I should point out that that link isn't working right now.

An interesting documentary about plant intelligence, if you prefer those to actual scientific papers on subjects, is Revenge of the Plants. Good luck finding it, though.
Time to piss off people with logic and facts!

abowden
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by abowden »

I don't think Zac is vegetarian, i think this applies to animals with a somewhat measurable intelligence that emotions and thought. I also thinks he eats some of those animals, and isn't trying to say don't eat meat, just trying to say that were not as special as we think we are.

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nobody
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by nobody »

Zach is a vegetarian

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GUTCHUCKER
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by GUTCHUCKER »

Some people don't eat meat because they can't process it or don't like the taste.
Datanazush wrote:I ship Mohammed and Jehova.

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nobody
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by nobody »

and do you think Zach, the man who chooses to grow his hair and then cut it and give it to charity, is one of those who didn't make an ethical choice?

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Peon
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by Peon »

How is becoming a vegetarian making an ethical choice? Plants are just as alive as animals. We must consume dead life to survive and there are no ethics involved in choosing which type of life we wish to destroy for our continued survival.
Ask the next question.

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Kimra
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Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by Kimra »

Fruitarianism the real ethical choice.
King Prawn

noone

Re: 2013-01-25 Chimps

Post by noone »

Peon wrote:How is becoming a vegetarian making an ethical choice? Plants are just as alive as animals.
Vegetarians make their choice based on sentience, or the capacity that animals have to 'experience' pain. Plants, on the other hand, are not sentient.

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