Constants and variables 15
One basic bit of logic serves to explode most "endangered species" myths.

If polar bears were bothered by variations in Arctic climate, they wouldn't be here now. The Arctic has melted and frozen many times during their long occupancy. They're still here.

If elephants were bothered by deforestation, they wouldn't be here. The desert-forest boundary in Africa is always moving back and forth. Elephants have managed to compensate.

Habitat is effectively a constant, because these animals have feedback loops. (i.e. because they're ALIVE.)

In fact polar bears are increasing now, and elephants are truly endangered. What's the variable? Hunting. Humans are not hunting polar bears, and humans are ferociously over-hunting elephants.

Uncontrolled use by humans is ALWAYS the variable. When normal constraints are gone, humans will often pursue a mammal or fish or bird into complete extinction.

In this context, normal constraints = Food. Real value. When a tribe understands that its survival depends on one animal, the tribe will take pains to hunt and trap the animal cautiously.

Total extinctions happen when the animal has no food value. It may then be seen as a pest, or it may acquire an unreal "luxury" value for its pelt or tusks or fins.

Right now the real extinction threats are caused entirely by Chinese men attempting to stiffen their dicks. Rhino horn, shark fin, elephant tusks. Phallic medicines.

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The same logic applies to human types. Right now we're seeing an extinction of several religious and ethnic subtypes in the parts of the world where we have spread chaos and disorder. The neocon argument (which I unfortunately bought for too long) claimed that Islam was unfriendly to Christians and Jews, so we needed to defend those groups from Islam.

Simple logic again: We've been bringing chaos to that part of the world since 1990. We were pretending to defend those minorities against Islam. If Islam had been bothering those minorities, they WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THERE in 1990. But in fact those minorities WERE THERE, and had been living there during the 1300 years that Islam has dominated that area. 1300 years is plenty of time to eliminate an ethnic group if that's your goal.

Normal constraints again. Real value again. In this context, the constraints were designed by Mohammed, aka the Prophet of Real Value. The dhimmi arrangement (which I had eloquently railed against when I was locked into neocon groupthink) turns out to be the constraint that keeps religious minorities alive.

Christians and other non-Muslims are required to pay a tax to the government, and required to practice their particular customs in a subdued fashion. The tax makes Christians valuable to the government, and the quietness makes them relatively invisible to a majority that sometimes grows resentful.

Did it work? Yes, for 1300 years. Now it has stopped in Arab countries where we replaced Muslim governments by our "democratic" dictators, or by our contractors like Taliban and ISIS.

Labels: Constants and Variables, Natural law = Sharia law

  ¶ 1:41 AM