Yeah they are so incredible!

One of the biggest hindrances for their species is the lack of social learning. The mother starves and dies protecting the eggs, so all octopuses have to learn for themselves over their short lifespans.

And that is a testament to their cunning intellect and problem-solving capability. They learn so much and so quickly.

I’ve wondered what would happen in an experiment where a mother octopus was hooked up to machines to deliver nutrients to prevent her from starving to death while guarding her eggs. What kind of social dynamic would then follow once they hatched? Would she teach her young?

I totally agree with your criticism about the headline, but declaring octopuses have consciousness isn’t a stretch at all in my opinion.

I highly recommend reading my blog post on animal cognition, culture, and personhood.

I have ads turned off and do not benefit in any way from my blog. I feel confident that my write-up should persuade open-minded individuals to give other animals the benefit of the doubt regarding possessing consciousness.

I have doubts about insect consciousness is any sort of relatable sense to humans, but many other animals absolutely possess consciousness similar to humans.

Yeah, like Italians, the Irish weren’t considered White. Whiteness was a concept invented to justify slavery and human exploitation in the New World. It’s interesting to see how different races have become accepted as ‘White’ over time.

A book I highly recommend is White Fragility by Diangelo.

So formidable… Earlier detection of a severely outdated aircraft that’s being phased out…

Elephants are incredible animals. They have complex communication and even communicate through seismic vibrations through the ground via their feet, and they can even recognize the elephant sending the seismic message. Additionally, they have cultural practices, including funeral rituals.

For citations for these claims and more information, here is a blog post of mine (I have ads turned off and don’t benefit from my blog in any way).

I’m going in hoping it will be decent, but the little I’ve seen of trailers (which I avoid) felt kind of like a toned down, tamer Fallout than the gritty games…

It made me feel like it won’t be any heavier than a Star Wars film, which will be utterly disappointing for a Fallout adaption.

I had mixed feelings on The Last of Us show, but at least they kept it adult and gritty. I so hope this Fallout series isn’t some daytime PG-13 silly bullshit.

Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!

I haven’t posted anything new in a while because grad school is keeping me busy. But I’m sure I’ll post more in the future.

My German Shepherd knows the names of about 10 different toys. I can tell him “go get the cactus/pineapple/red bone/donut/basketball/blue ball (his favorite)/etc.” and he’ll even drop what’s in his mouth to get the right toy.

I can ask him: “Where is [person]/[toy]?” and he’ll run all over the house, upstairs and downstairs, to find them. He loves hide and seek.

People underestimate the intelligence of dogs and animals in general.

Edit: Here’s a writeup on animal intelligence, cognition, and culture. (I have ads turned off and do not benefit in any way from my blog.)

Edit 2: My current dog hasn’t mastered the open-ended question yet, but my previous GSD understood the question “What do you want?” I train them by asking it, and then presenting them with options I name (e.g., to play, go out, a walk, treat, water, etc.).

Sometimes I’d ask, and my dog would lead me to an empty water bowl. Sometimes he would go grab a toy. Other times he was bored and indecisive, and would test things like going up to his treats. Sometimes I would say “No… you don’t need them…” And he’d do a little amused wag before leading me to something else. I really miss him…

But it would blow people’s minds to see that he was capable of comprehending that question and understood so many options. Dogs are smart as hell and we literally coevolved with them and domesticated them from wolves. They understand human body language far better than any other species, including great apes. Dogs are incredible.

I was really unhappy with that change in the last update as well…

I couldn’t find a setting to change it back to the actual numbers, but I think that should absolutely be an option in settings.

As you said, the numbers provide a lot more information regarding engagement/views/how controversial a comment/post is.

Some people may feel it’s frivolous, but I’m considering a new app if it remains a percentage.

“Once a year near Diwali, the villagers make farm animals like cows or goats walk over these stones to gain the protection of the deity.”

I’m sorry, but religion is so asinine…

And I’m sure some people would scoff at this quote with hypocrisy while simultaneously believing in their own make believe story.

What an utterly stupid statement… She’s refusing to contribute to committing genocide, but that’s not enough for you. You think she should kill herself too…

If everyone refused to contribute to the genocide, then there wouldn’t be one either. There’s no reason young people resisting conscription should be making futile self-sacrifices. She’s already sacrificing her freedom in refusing to participate in a genocide, and spreading awareness and dissidence.

I felt that way for the first season of Fallout76. I worked my ass off grinding away after work, and it felt like a 2nd full time job. I was so relieved when the season ended.

Then the second season dropped shortly after… I started grinding for a few days, and then I just was so burned out and bitter that I stopped playing entirely.

I didn’t want to just casually play when there were some later tier items I really wanted, especially for my camp. But I didn’t want to grind for it either. So I bitterly said fuck you Bethesda and stopped playing FO76 entirely.

Fuck season bullshit that makes you grind like a full-time job. It’s different when you unlock the content just by playing the game normally. A great example of that is DRG.

I was shamed by vegans a while back for advocating for lab-grown meat. I love the taste of meat, but I don’t like animal suffering. I can’t wait for this to be perfected.

From lab to slab, baby!

The entire article is 3 sentences?.. So devoid of information.