fifnir

We went from not knowing how hereditary information is passed on to actually manipulating it in humans in the span of a few decades, don't be so pessimistic !

People can still claim their own real-estate ;)

There was this documentary about a first contact with an amazon tribe. I remember an interview with the (very young) leader of the tribe who was talking about how life was in the jungle and iirc he described it as very miserable, they wouldn't eat for days at a time, bugs everywhere ++

it's the documentary talked about here, I highly recommend it: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/01/amazon-tribe-m...

I'm not against value, I'm against the term "provide value" because (to me, and I'm probably a huge minority in HN) it is a term loaded with capitalist meanings.

We don't talk about providing value in academia, I assume they don't talk about providing value in philanthropic organizations or political movements. Whenever I hear the term it essentially means "to make money".

I appreciate that this is my personal interpretation of this though

I am currently doing some literature research for my phd thesis and all I have to say is : "fuck pdfs in the face"

They have stablished in other studies that the epigenetic marks can last for a few generations (at least in c.elegans) so the simplification is that the system works in 'lamarkian ways'.

This is not biologists trying to refute evolution, but rather a simplification to talk about these issues with a broader public

Yeah,

I'm gonna need a better source than what you sent to consider this "facts".

So choosing to believe that a person 900 years ago actually talked to animals (and incidentally had nothing better to say to them besides how god is great) is now "knowing the truth" that there are molecular systems that would be interpreted as communication between plants?

I agree, but I'm not too sure about that, but I also don't know enough chemistry to convincingly argue for the opposite..

Are there many varieties of self-replicating molecules? (which I understand is needed to start life) Maaaaybe there's only so many ways that this can get started and RNA is the "only" way to do it. In a similar way that we have a hard time imagining non-carbon life since no other element behaves in the ways that carbon does

That's like saying that milk is free because if you visit a farm the farmer will let you milk a glass out of his cows

> We will decide it is alive but not understand fully what that means.

I don't understand fully what this comment means.

If alien life has DNA (chemistry) like ours, we learn that life as we know it either started somewhere and spread or was re-invented.

If it doesn't, but is obviously alive (move on its own will, hunts, i dont know) we learn that life can exist with different chemistries.

If it's not obviously alive but we determine anyway, whichever way we do that, we've learned of a new aspect of life.

what does "what that means" mean ? ? ?

> perhaps the ability to query the other for specific information would be a good litmus test for it?

Do you know of Alex the grey parrot? It seems to be the only animal that we have recorded actually asking questions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_(parrot)

Ants also have wars: https://www.quora.com/Do-ants-ever-go-to-war https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160130-animals-i...

Life feeds on life. No animal would hesitate for a second to eat you, if it could without risk. Even herbivores, have you seen cows/deer/horses eat little chicks? Life then replicates without limits until all resources are consumed and it cannot be supported anymore.

We are in fact, (we can't know for sure but I think it's very reasonable to assume) the only species capable of seeing this and MAYBE,hopefully control ourselves before we do the same thing.

We are pieces of shit, but at the same time we're the only animal with potential to escape the bad parts of our nature

In the north you get paid more but I think your buying power is pretty much the same. From a quick google, a postdoc can expect something like 2500per month in sweeden, but how much do you need to spend on rent and food etc there?

In any case, I did move some 7 years ago, but the whole thing is depressing, you know?

I can give my work to some capitalist megaCorp and get paid nicely, or to the public and get paid shit...

Academia:

Oh you have a degree, a masters, a PHD, knowledge in super-niche molecular technology techniques, speak 3 languages and can code in a couple more...

Best I can do is 1200 per month

>It's not being given away. How are the roads, police, schools, defense budgets funded?

Domino's streets, McDonalds Police, Facebook Schools, Nestle Fire department,

The army is the only taxes they are okay paying

because they think their money goes towards punishing poor people instead of helping them

Well have fun paying off your student debt and ridiculous health insurance

I don't know how to make my own words, can you elaborate please?

I really dislike when people make arguments along the lines of "it works, why are you complaining".

It's not about convenience it's about how some of us things should be. Which is that (at the very least scientific) knowledge should be free and open and accessible and we don't see why a private company should be making huge profits (and even worse influence the direction of science) while they are offering almost nothing in return.

It would be great if it worked, but it forgets the link to the article and redirects you to the home page in plain text instead which is completely useless...

Yes it is: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/whos-downloading-pira...

People tried to sell just as much back then. But they were only about 2billion so the average person didnt have to wade through a swamp of thirsty advertising 24/7. Maybe the whole thing is unsustainable, maybe we can control ourselves, maybe we are better that bacteria in a closed system that multiply untill they kill themselves

"But that's the last 2 generations did things, I can't possibly imagine any other way for life to work"

Do the words "provide value" make anyone else puke in their mouth a little bit?

Sites are not marketing, they are the shop itsself in most cases.

Hm, this reminded me of the "A placebo can work even when you know it’s a placebo" case: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-kn...

We take a pill that we know will do nothing, and our body reacts anyway

We take a picture that we know will do nothing, and our body reacts anyway

What I see here is that our ""logic"" gives no feedback to the ""subconscious"" mechanisms that get formed, such as : "I take a pill, I get better", "I take a picture, I will see this again"

Isn't MD for..like.. medical doctors ?

If he's an MD but without a medical degree (which I guess is the case), then what's the difference betweeen MD, PHD or 'professor' ??

'Based on this map that i found in the tomb, I pose the theory, that the holy grail was burried on the spot marked with x' 'Let us test your theory by digging there' 'We found it! Yeah! Science bitch!'

Seriously how is history not a scientific field for you?

Ask him how much he pays for health/car/home insurance as well :D

did anyone vote for more taxes on themselves to cover the cost?