The Rules of Combat 22/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in Uncategorized.add a comment
OK, I have decided to clarify the rules of combat just in case this all takes off. What I have to say could upset a lot of people and I would like the rules to be clear right from the start:
1) I’m not here to discuss puppies and kittens over a warm mug of camomile tea. I’m here to show everybody that morality does not define reality, and that modern natural history is a pathetic reflection of its former self. Nothing is sacred and nobody should expect things to be any other way.
2) People who say stupid things deserve to be critcised.
3) If I say stupid things I deserve to be criticised. Indeed, failure to criticise me for saying stupid things will be taken as either spineless reticence or complicit stupidity. In fact, I may specifically chuck in a few stupid things just to see if anybody is brave enough to criticise me. This is science and science is about ruthless criticism. If you can’t accept that, don’t get involved.
4) What goes in a debate stays in a debate. Whatever anybody says in the heat of battle should not, under any circumstances, be taken personally. At the end of it all we should all be able to go for a laugh and a beer.
5) Do not trust the press to report things accurately. If you do, you are an idiot and I will treat you as such.
Sir David Attenborough 19/11/2009
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Thus far, only one man appears to be able to cope with the possibility that conservation may not be natural history. He may not agree at the end, but that man is, and was always going to be, Sir David Attenborough.
If only everybody else would consider reading the book, at the very least.
I am nobody and thus I am easy to dismiss. Thank you Sir David.
conservation arrogance – a snippet from On The Destiny Of #Species. 13/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in THE DESTINY OF SPECIES, conservation madness.Tags: conservation, evolution, matthew watkinson, natural history, natural selection, species, struggle for life, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES
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“These aren’t just interesting curiosities from history though; these are catastrophic events that would make humans in general, and the ‘stewards’ in particular, cry like little girls. They are genuine survival triumphs that reveal nature in all its resilient glory, and conservation in all its sniveling arrogance, and there are thousands, perhaps millions more. Some bigger, some smaller, but all challenging, and every single one has been ignored by the ‘stewards’.”
This is an extract from On The Destiny Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Elimination of Unfavoured Races in the Struggle for Life. To pre-order this book please click here » (ETA: 24/11/1859 + 150 years).
Flying fish – a snippet of wisdom from On The Origin Of #Species by Charles #Darwin. 13/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in In the Words of Charles Darwin:, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.Tags: CHARLES DARWIN, evolution, flying fish, natural history, natural selection, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
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“Thus, to return to our imaginary illustration of the flying-fish, it does not seem probable that fishes capable of true flight would have been developed under many subordinate forms, for taking prey of many kinds in many ways, on the land and in the water, until their organs of flight had come to a high stage of perfection, so as to have given them a decided advantage over other animals in the battle for life. Hence the chance of discovering species with transitional grades of structure in a fossil condition will always be less, from their having existed in lesser numbers, than in the case of species with fully developed structures.”
This is an extract from On The Origin Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin (first published 24/11/1859). To order On the Origin of Species from Amazon.co.uk please click here »
Summary – a snippet from On The Destiny Of #Species. 12/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in DEATH vs. EXTINCTION, Sustainability, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES, conservation madness.Tags: conservation, evolution, matthew watkinson, natural history, natural selection, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES
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“I shouldn’t have to spend too long on that however, because you probably already know how guilty you feel and, having read the proceeding chapters, you should hopefully know why you don’t need to anymore. Life isn’t defined by the last individual of each species, a warm Earth isn’t a dead Earth, unsustainability isn’t a biological crime, nature isn’t about harmony, and so on. These are subjective beliefs, not objective observations, and they have nothing to do with the fundamental reality of life on Earth.”
This is an extract from On The Destiny Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Elimination of Unfavoured Races in the Struggle for Life. To pre-order this book please click here » (ETA: 24/11/1859 + 150 years).
evolution of mammary glands – a snippet of wisdom from On The Origin Of #Species by Charles #Darwin. 12/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in In the Words of Charles Darwin:, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.Tags: CHARLES DARWIN, evolution, natural history, natural selection, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
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“Now with the early progenitors of mammals, almost before they deserved to be thus designated, is it not at least possible that the young might have been similarly nourished? And in this case, the individuals which secreted a fluid, in some degree or manner the most nutritious, so as to partake of the nature of milk, would in the long run have reared a larger number of well-nourished offspring, than would the individuals which secreted a poorer fluid; and thus the cutaneous glands, which are the homologues of the mammary glands, would have been improved or rendered more effective.”
This is an extract from On The Origin Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin (first published 24/11/1859). To order On the Origin of Species from Amazon.co.uk please click here »
Similarly unsustainable – a snippet from On The Destiny Of #Species. 11/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in Sustainability, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES.Tags: matthew watkinson, natural history, population growth, struggle for life, Sustainability, sustainable, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES, unsustainability, unsustainable
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“And every other species I have previously mentioned in this book is exactly the same. As is every other species that has ever existed. They’re all trying to expand as much as possible and they’re all, without exception, and at the risk of over repeating myself, intrinsically unsustainable.”
This is an extract from On The Destiny Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Elimination of Unfavoured Races in the Struggle for Life. To pre-order this book please click here » (ETA: 24/11/1859 + 150 years).
subjective comparisons – a snippet from On The Destiny Of #Species. 11/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in THE DESTINY OF SPECIES, differently different.Tags: matthew watkinson, natural history, objective, paedomorphilia, subjective, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES
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“No, it’s not, and swimming deep isn’t objectively better than climbing high either. Mountaineering just is and so is deep sea diving. They’re different and comparisons between them are subjective. ‘Bulldogs are better than healthy dogs’ is another example. If it was declaring that Bulldogs are better because they’re unhealthier than healthy dogs it would have an objective reference point and a legitimate claim, but it’s not. Instead it’s telling us about the subjective value of grotesque life-threatening deformity to that particular health-hating-paedomorphile.”
This is an extract from On The Destiny Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Elimination of Unfavoured Races in the Struggle for Life. To pre-order this book please click here » (ETA: 24/11/1859 + 150 years).
Insect camouflage – a snippet of wisdom from On The Origin Of #Species by Charles #Darwin. 11/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in In the Words of Charles Darwin:, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.Tags: CHARLES DARWIN, evolution, insects, natural history, natural selection, THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
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“Insects often resemble for the sake of protection various objects, such as green or decayed leaves, dead twigs, bits of lichen, flowers, spines, excrement of birds, and living insects; but to this latter point I shall hereafter recur. The resemblance is often wonderfully close, and is not confined to colour, but extends to form, and even to the manner in which the insects hold themselves.”
This is an extract from On The Origin Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin (first published 24/11/1859). To order On the Origin of Species from Amazon.co.uk please click here »
CO2 & plant growth – a snippet from On The Destiny Of #Species. 10/11/2009
Posted by fishsnorkel in THE DESTINY OF SPECIES, conservation madness, global warming.Tags: carbon dioxide, climate change, co2, global warming, matthew watkinson, natural history, Scott Denning, THE DESTINY OF SPECIES
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“Scott Denning, Ph.D., a physicist from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and active member of the North American Carbon Program, remains typically confused:
“Stuff is growing faster than it’s dying [because of increased CO2 levels], which is weird.’
But that’s typical of people who can’t see the plant fuel for the carbon dioxide.”
This is an extract from On The Destiny Of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Elimination of Unfavoured Races in the Struggle for Life. To pre-order this book please click here » (ETA: 24/11/1859 + 150 years).
