Sunday, August 05, 2012
Where does this come from?
There's a deeply stupid assumption underlying articles like these, all taken from today's Science Daily. (Not picking on Science Daily; it's just that the common thread shows up in one place this morning.)
Crayfish Species Proves to Be the Ultimate Survivor
Giant Moa Had Climate Change Figured out
Extinction Risk Factors for New Zealand Birds Today Differ from Those of the Past
The common stupid-factor is a complete inability to account for adaptation. This often connects with the other stupid-factor: Global Warming Is Real And Satanic; but the failure to understand flexibility is deeper and longer-lasting.
"Scientists" can't figure out how birds will adapt to a supposed 2-degree increase in global average temperature. First, of course, there's no such thing as a global average; the bird's own local world may well be getting cooler or staying the same. Second and more important, birds somehow manage to adapt to a constant 40-degree daily variation and a 40-degree seasonal variation.Right here in my yard, the California Quail are feeding every day, "ultimate survivors" in a total annual range from -20F to 100F. The quail already tolerate a ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DEGREE RANGE. And you idiots think they won't tolerate TWO FUCKING DEGREES?
Quail-o-meter™
Where does this unspeakable dumbness originate? Is it from the total absence of negative feedback in the conceptual world of the "scientist"? Is it a total failure to distinguish living from non-living things? Every object is just an undifferentiated passive particle? Or living in a world of pure numbers and computation, never putting your eyes or hands on actual THINGS? Or more charitably, is it an unconscious projection of their own urban softness? I can't live outside in -20F, so birds can't either?
Damned if I know.
Crayfish Species Proves to Be the Ultimate Survivor
Giant Moa Had Climate Change Figured out
Extinction Risk Factors for New Zealand Birds Today Differ from Those of the Past
The common stupid-factor is a complete inability to account for adaptation. This often connects with the other stupid-factor: Global Warming Is Real And Satanic; but the failure to understand flexibility is deeper and longer-lasting.
"Scientists" can't figure out how birds will adapt to a supposed 2-degree increase in global average temperature. First, of course, there's no such thing as a global average; the bird's own local world may well be getting cooler or staying the same. Second and more important, birds somehow manage to adapt to a constant 40-degree daily variation and a 40-degree seasonal variation.Right here in my yard, the California Quail are feeding every day, "ultimate survivors" in a total annual range from -20F to 100F. The quail already tolerate a ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DEGREE RANGE. And you idiots think they won't tolerate TWO FUCKING DEGREES?
Quail-o-meter™
Where does this unspeakable dumbness originate? Is it from the total absence of negative feedback in the conceptual world of the "scientist"? Is it a total failure to distinguish living from non-living things? Every object is just an undifferentiated passive particle? Or living in a world of pure numbers and computation, never putting your eyes or hands on actual THINGS? Or more charitably, is it an unconscious projection of their own urban softness? I can't live outside in -20F, so birds can't either?
Damned if I know.
Labels: Blinded by Stats, Carbon Cult, Experiential education
¶ 3:39 AM
