Sabertooth vs Carver
A nice comparison of the old inorganic bigotry about life versus the new FACTUAL approach focusing on PURPOSE.

Two headlines at Eurekalert:



The 'case against consciousness' violates a basic rule of philosophy. You simply can't say that anyone or anything else is conscious or unconscious. The only partly valid external measure is REM sleep indicating dreams.

As usual in Savannah Sabertooth "evolutionary" shit, the article focuses on energy expenditure:

"The biggest danger of anthropomorphizing plants in research is that it undermines the objectivity of the researcher," Taiz says. "What we've seen is that plants and animals evolved very different life strategies. The brain is very expensive organ, and there's absolutely no advantage to the plant to have a highly developed nervous system."

You don't need philosophy to OBSERVE that life doesn't give a fuck about energy efficiency. Most OBSERVABLE behaviors of living creatures are PRECISELY CONTRARY to energy efficiency. Energy isn't the point. Creating ORDER inside the boundaries of the organism is the point, and life constantly wastes HUGE amounts of energy to create ORDER and PURPOSE.

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The article on homing behavior by stem cells doesn't start with any assumptions. These researchers simply OBSERVED what living cells ACTUALLY DO.

"We know that some bacterial cells contain properties that enable them to detect and 'home' to diseased tissue. For example, the oral bacteria found in our mouths can occasionally cause strep throat. If it enters the blood stream it can 'home' to damaged tissue in the heart causing infective endocarditis. Our aim was to replicate the homing ability of bacteria cells and apply it to stem cells."

Unsurprisingly, the bacteria are SEEKING A GOAL. They are working toward a PURPOSE. You don't need philosophy or anthropomorphizing to OBSERVE this. It's right there on the surface if you just LOOK ABOUT YOU and TAKE HOLD OF THE THINGS THAT ARE HERE and TALK TO THEM and LET THEM TALK TO YOU.

In simple terms, the first researchers are observing nothing but their own bigotries and delusions. The second researchers are observing reality.

LIFE IS PURPOSE.

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Semi-relevant: This moment among the old dogs at the Senior Dogs Gathering Room illustrates order defending order. Lolli starts tearing up a pillow. The other dogs yell at her to stop, and then try to tell the humans about it. "Teacher! Teacher! Lolli is tearing things up again!" There's no energy efficiency in either of these actions. Tearing up a pillow is wasted effort, and snitching on the culprit is wasted effort. If you focus on energy you can't tell the difference. If you focus on order you know what's happening.

Labels: Carver

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