Daniel Dvorkin @medigoth@qoto.org

“You’re thinking ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Now to tell you the truth, I’ve forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being the only way to know for sure is to open the cylinder, you’ve gotta ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya … physicist?”

“Come and take it, #SCHRÖDINGER.”

@freeschool right, I was talking about the concept of deep time, as described in the Wiki article. The reason for running them together as one word is simply that there's no way to tag phrases as far as I know.

The origin of the post was a conversation I was having elsenet about why modern #humans show evidence of #maternal #inheritance from #Neanderthals via #mitochondrial #DNA, but no evidence of #paternal inheritance via the Y #chromosome.

Their explanation was basically "our ancestors killed all the men and took all the women." Which is possible, of course: there are certainly plenty of examples of that in recorded human #history. But I have hard time believing it's the *only* thing that happened between two species (or subspecies: the line is fuzzy) that interacted with each over over tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of years.

Another and IMO more likely explanation is that #hybrid #fertility is sex-linked. e.g. the rare #fertile #mules are always female. If the same applied in this case, that would explain why the #Neanderthal Y chromosome disappeared in mixed #human populations.

There are definitely applications to modern behavior. 🙂 But really, I'd mainly just like people to get away from always assuming the bloodiest possible explanation for observed #biological phenomena, whether in humans or any other animal.

About the assumptions we make in #DeepTime.

It is a mistake to think of #nature as warm and cuddly. Many, perhaps most, #violent encounters between #humans and #wildlife are the result of the former treating the latter as #Disney characters.

One reason “#birds are #dinosaurs” made immediate sense to me was a vivid childhood memory: when I was about ten, I thought some #goslings were cute and wanted to pet them. #Mother #Goose had other ideas. Yeah, don’t do that.

It is equally a mistake to assume nature is All #Killing, All The Time. Fighting takes a lot of energy, and wild animals—including our own distant ancestors—are in constant peril of #starvation. Even a minor #injury can lead to #infection and #death.

Violence is a tool of survival, to be sure, whether in #predation, self-defense, or squabbles over #territory and #mating. Unnecessary violence is a quick road to #extinction. Most animals would rather do something else, when they can.

So before you fall back on “red in tooth and claw” as a default, look for other explanations. They’re usually more interesting anyway.

@sinabhfuil Herbert may very well have felt that it was a ripoff, but there’s no actual reason to believe it. It’s not like either Herbert or Lucas invented the idea of space opera! And the development of the idea that eventually became Star Wars is pretty well-documented. If Lucas ripped off anyone in the early stages, it was Edgar Rice Burroughs: https://medium.com/@Oozer3993/everything-known-about-the-journal-of-the-whills-outline-d8db1f1410ea

@sinabhfuil It’s not. I don’t know where the article writer got that idea, but there’s no reason to believe it.

For once, a story about a new kind of #spacecraft #propulsion that’s not vaporware depending on hypothetical #physics breakthroughs! Unsurprisingly, that also means it’s a lot less exciting than the stuff that gets hyped as being able to take us to the #stars. Evolutionary, not revolutionary. But still pretty neat.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a60654632/next-generation-ion-thruster-nasa/

Nice overview. TL;DR: feathers are awesome. :)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-feathers-are-one-of-evolutions-cleverest-inventions

#birds #feathers #dinosaurs

It’s so cute when #creationists try to sound sciencey. Like little kids misusing big words to try to impress the grown-ups.

I just coined “#Xycophancy” to describe the thought processes of #Musk stans and I’m very proud of myself.

@fatsam Rainbows, apparently. I mean, I kind of get it. Leprechauns can be vicious bastards.

@JamesBazan Uff-da. But you’re not wrong.

Their entire worldview is antebellum, so this tracks. 😐

@JamesBazan Their entire worldview is antebellum, so this tracks. 😐

@cda 😆

“You think you have it bad? Lemme tell ya …”

Stop. Nothing good comes after that.

Behold, a … I got nothin’.

Holy shit, the #House passed a solid #Ukraine aid bill. Miracles can happen.

Of course they could have passed the #Senate version weeks ago [1] but this is, fortunately, a case where “better late than never” really does apply. Ukraine has suffered terribly due to the pointless delay, but I have a reasonable expectation the Senate will pass it quickly, #Biden will sign it immediately, and the aid will be on its way in short order. If nothing else, this should put a serious dent in #Russian plans for a late spring / summer #offensive.

I have no idea what’s going on in #Johnson’s head [2]. If he wants to be yet another #Putin / #Trump tool [3] like so much of the #Republican Party clearly does, he could have kept delaying practically forever. If he wants to do what’s best for the country, for any value of “best,” he should have done that already. Ukraine will benefit from this aid, absolutely. The benefit would have been considerably greater if Ukrainian cities hadn’t suffered under Russian #missile strikes without adequate air defenses and Ukrainian soldiers had enough #artillery shells to break up Russian formations at the front.

Oh yeah: please do not turn this into a discussion about Israel and Palestine. That conversation is going on elsewhere, all over the entire internet. Plenty of forums to say your piece. My post isn’t one of them. I’m talking about Ukraine here, and that’s all.

[1] Months? I’ve lost track.

[2] Huh-huh, huh-huh.

[3] These lines just write themselves.

In light of this, the current “#HellChicken” a.k.a. #Anzu should be promoted to Hell Turkey, while the as-yet-unnamed small variety should be Hell Cornish Game Hen.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/newly-identified-hell-chicken-species-helps-explain-time-of-the-dinosaurs

@freemo Yeah. And I think there are a whole lot more anti-scientists than, uh, scientismists. Like, on the order of a thousand times or more. I see a lot of false equivalence on the issue from people who IMO ought to know better.