Another Animal Species Extinct

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/giant-chin ... t-species/

It's a shame because this one's been around for 150 million years.

The Yangtze river has been over polluted and over-fished. It's famously where the Baiji freshwater dolphin became extinct (the first dolphin species to go extinct).

I first learned about the Baiji after reading a book by the British biologist Gerald Durrell who attended a WWF sponsored event in China back in the 1980s to celebrate the conservation of the Baiji. A Chinese banquet was organised for Durrell and he was horrified when the main dish they served him turned out to be dolphin meat. Apparently conservation in the minds of his Chinese hosts mean't you keep the dolphin numbers safe so locals can sustainably eat "flipper".

I'm a carnivore but I have standards on where my meat comes from. No veal, No dolphin, etc.

The Japanese and Norwegians invoke traditional fishing rights to eat "Shamu" and "flipper"

No more suffering for that particular species.

Well, elephants and rhinos used to roam freely in China. Where are they today?

Several decades ago, I went hiking with some friends. One of them was a paleontologist. As we reached the top of the mountain, he was explaining to us the rodent fossils that we saw on the ground. I mean, he could recognize the fossils and the species where they came from. I was very impressed that those fossils have been sitting there for millions of years, undisturbed by humans. I asked him, where those species were now, and he told us they have long been extinct. He then added, in a matter-of-fact tone: "The destiny of all species is extinction."

That was enough to send shivers down my spine. It was a lecture that I will never forget. We are all just passing actors, in the big scheme of things. We are here to pass on the baton. No more than that. Once you realize that, then you don't feel so bad.

And lions used to roam around all the way up into Europe....can you guess why their range is so much smaller now?

Prior to human beings ecosystems develop equilibrium, over time, where both the density and profile of different species exist in harmony within each specific biome.

When external events trigger distruption of a biome (volcano, earthquake, fire or comet) mass extinction has happened but the ecosystems recover over time and go back to equilibrium.

Human beings are like a virus on planet earth (indeed our behaviour has been described that way by biologists) and we are responsible for the 6th great mass extinction on earth. The worlds ecosystems are therefore in flux and will not reach equilibrium till humans either i) go extinct ii) leave earth or iii) create sustainable biomes where atmosphere, soil and water are kept constant (the latter is not going to happen for many centuries).

Ultimately, if you believe the science of an expanding red sun eventually engulfing the earth,
And if you believe in "the science" in regard to an expanding universe leaving it frigid and lifeless.




Richards Dawkins': "The Selfish Gene" concept.

Coming from a position of unvarnished truth,
A concept that there is no intrinsic meaning to life,
(Some may say Nihilism,)
It saddens me to see the pointless suffering in the world.

As I have said previously: Where there is complex life, there is profound suffering.

From this philosophical position:
It isn't hard to interpret this life system as being a pain generator.
Pointless, blind and completely indifferent to the unfortunate sentient life which has "carelessly" spawned here.

Sentient life should have considered the implication of an evolutionary life system which incorporates pain receptors as part of the natural selection process.
Sentient and self-aware creatures even more so.

What idiocy to voluntarily allow themselves to be spawned into such a system.
"HOW DARE THEY!"

Personally speaking:
I see an extinct species and I see peace from this retched self-serving life system.
I see extinction as being a haven away from life's nonsense.
A well-deserved respite from the atrocious situation in which we see ourselves.

I don't see extinction as a sadness.
I see the continuation of suffering insufferable.
Hence my decision to bury my head in the sand to alleviate the personal emotional pain,
And "tread water" until my eventual, inevitable demise.

<Marvin the depressive robot>
"'Life',
Don't talk to me about 'Life'.
I have the brain the size of a planet,
But does anyone listen to me?
Noooo.
Oh, life is so depressing. <sigh> "


https://youtu.be/1jLIRJwfZhg

That's where things get interesting. What is meant by suffering? What's the meaning of "good" and "evil"?

I happen to have another friend that has long solved this puzzle. He solved it in his 20s, so that's about 30 years ago. As it turns out, as long as there is reproduction and the concept of generations, "good" and "evil" (which includes suffering) are necessary consequences. They are directly related to what makes tribes (or species) survive, in the long run (meaning "projectable" time horizon, given the tribe's experience limitation in time and space.) Therefore, the concepts of "good" and "evil" are results of evolution. Now, the thing is, there is a time horizon (and spatial limitation size as well) involved in the concept of "good" and "evil." So, when there is social unrest, it may appeal to some people to go out and do looting. To them, that's "good." But what happens is those people are simply looking into the immediate short term. When you have a group of people forming what we call a country (which means larger scope in space), and looking into arranging behaviors (laws) for decades or hundreds of years, then what's "good" or "bad" acquires a totally different dimension, and looting becomes part of evil or bad. When you involve all humans and looking at the very long-term, we arrive at what we call "universal values."

This is all directly related to Alex Wissner-Gross' "Equation of Intelligence." http://michaelscharf.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-new-equation-for-intelligence-f-t-s.html.

F = T ∇ Sτ

where a time scale τ (tau) is introduced. That is, what we value, needs a time scale for the horizon. We cannot do anything beyond what we know. We cannot deal with the "unknown unknown." We can only project for the "known unknown."

Given all that, then life is not precisely "meaningless." Given our past experience, given what we know, there is a direction to guide us where to go. And I understood that point already, when I was in high school. (Before Wissner-Gross' equation.)

That's the power of math. Ha ha.

But the T (time?) variable in the Alex-Wissner-Gross equation pertains to good/bad concept in human society pertaining to time between (what you call) "looting" before reaching a social consensus as universal values across an entire population. These concepts don't apply to species fecundity reproduction and survival which is based on gene flow and natural selection.

Gosh, you are stuck at individual level. Evolution has never been about the survival/reproduction of an individual. It has always been about the survival of a species. I mean, we went through WWI, WWII, etc. where millions of people died. It's not about the survival of individuals. It's about the survival of the tribe. You are missing the most basic understanding of evolution. You have to get to the cooperative games as exemplified by the blond girl scene in "A Beautiful Mind."



A disorderly society doesn't do well in the long run. I mean, gangster groups pop up all the time, again and again in history. But they don't survive for too long. Look at the situation of ISIS, too.

Ahhh I see what you mean. So the individual ambition/group disorder (looting) is a form of disruptor (like a comet/volcano) that ultimately leads to universal values, initially driven by tribalism? (I think chimps and some mammals do this as well) but leading to stable populations.

A rather odd tangent.

They estimate that a billion Australian animals have perished in the bushfires.
Some species will be pushed towards extinction, some say.
The small solace I have is the realisation that after this initial natural atrocity,
The amount of suffering in those areas will be enormously reduced for the foreseeable future, simply due to the sparse fauna.

Where there is no life,
There is no pain.
Simples.

Oblivion,
Thou art my luver.

China has no turtles left, they devoured them all supposing they promote longevity.