Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id KAA16459 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:28:48 +0100 Message-ID: <570E2BEE7BC5A34684EE5914FCFC368C10FC7F@fillan.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: Red, tooth and claw (was media and violence) Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:22:29 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" X-Filter-Info: UoS MailScan 0.1 [D 1] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>>Compared to that, there aren't many fierce predators (didn't
someone
>> write a book called something like 'why big, fierce animals are
scarce'?).
<No offense, but I beg to differ. Even the vegans among us are
slayers (of
> veggies).>
>
Don't worry, I'm not going to jump on you like Bill Benzon did! (BTW
I'm not going to get involved in that one, apart from saying that I see
Bill's wider point, but that's not what you were saying, nor do I think his
term for you was appropriate. It's not like him to be so terse).
Similarly here, I know what you mean, but still some veggies and
fruits don't "mind" being eaten though- indeed isn't that the purpose, in
order to get seeds widely distributed? I wonder if plants that bear fruit
would, if sentient and able to talk, would be like that animal in the
Restaurant at the End of the Universe that wants to be eaten? (Arthur Dent
says that's disgusting, to which the retort comes, better than eating an
animal that doesn't want to be eaten).
There was something recently in New Scientist, that I think someone
else referred to, about our early ancestors being prey rather than
predators. I think our prey species ancestry affects our perspective on
nature so that we focus on predatory animals more than other species.
Tigers and sharks get our adrenalin going, slime molds don't.
Vincent
By the by, there was a piece I haven't read yet, that Robin F (where
he gone?) should read, about a theory that the universe is nothing but
information, and "reality" is some kind of holographic illusion. My brain
was tired on Friday when I bought the magazine (and I was a bit miffed they
hadn't published my letter), so if that sounds weird, I can't explain it
further at the moment.
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