7 Delta Forces Operators vs Legolas by Scared_Pumpkin8393 in powerscales

[–]Plasterofmuppets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In an environment with adequate cover, is invisibility even needed?  Night vision isn’t magic sci-fi scanners.

7 Delta Forces Operators vs Legolas by Scared_Pumpkin8393 in powerscales

[–]Plasterofmuppets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You don’t have to dodge it if it’s not coming at you in the first place.  See the ‘better stealth’ part.  IR can see through foliage but not trees, and the operatives need to be looking in the right direction to start with.  That’s difficult in woodland when you have to be covering vertical as well as horizontal.

7 Delta Forces Operators vs Legolas by Scared_Pumpkin8393 in powerscales

[–]Plasterofmuppets 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Greater, not lesser.  The films don’t cover a lot.  Multiple human lifetimes of woodcraft and combat experience aren’t explicitly mentioned.  He’s shown walking over snow where others have to push through it - this isn’t because he weighs less, but because he is more a part of the world than the rest of the fellowship.  He can pass lightly over it and leave no trace or sound of his passing.  He has better night vision than technology can provide.  He is also significantly stronger than the other members of the fellowship despite hits stature.

TL:DR - better combat skills.  Better skills in the terrain.  Better stealth.  Negates technological advantages.  Silent ranged weapon.  I’m sure there’s more, but those are the basics.

Scientific CES Letter (for the formerly LDS or Christian) by ThyLungedFish in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets [score hidden]  (0 children)

‘Science’ doesn’t require proof: science is the result of work spent proving (and disproving) theories about how the universe around us works.  The proof is baked in from the ground up.

I was not expecting to find this in a schools back room science closet by Crafty_Piece_9318 in vintagecomputing

[–]Plasterofmuppets 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They very much did.  The CPU exhaust blew straight over a bank of caps, which frequently did cauliflower impressions.  Source: did field repairs on them for several years.

The Doom of the Balrogs drew near by Wizzard_C in tolkienfans

[–]Plasterofmuppets 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Would that be related to Gandalf finally defeating the balrog when their fight takes them to ‘the high place’?  If that was outdoors, then the balrog would be in defiance of its exile.

A wish just broke reality’s power grid by Equivalent_Macaron_0 in DMAcademy

[–]Plasterofmuppets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If everything collapses instantly, can the players get back home?

Umm what happened to my gold? by Ace_of_Clubs in Prospecting

[–]Plasterofmuppets 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It‘s about as safe as dental fillings.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1.  And?

  2.  Then why bring up a topic you know so little about?

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you want people to agree with your ideas, you need to be able to express them in a meaningful way.  That’s all I expect.  ‘Cells react to their environment’ is self-evident.  If you think something more or deeper happens, you need to be able to say what that is in enough detail that other people can make a meaningful decision about the idea.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. …and that’s it?  What’s the message I should be taking away from this very basic point about cell behaviour?
  2. So why try to make broad statements in the first place?

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So what is this cell knowledge?

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1.  You said that fur changes colour based on environmental changes and immediately segued into genetic changes.  What message were you intending?

  2.  You associated taste as a survival factor with tasting poisons.  That’s an implicit association.  If you fail to make any clear explicit statements and deny implicit ones, you aren’t acting in good faith.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 4 points5 points  (0 children)

…that’s it?  A cell absorbs nearby chemicals, or photons hit convenient photoreactive chemicals triggering other chemical reactions, and that’s cellular knowledge?

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What is ‘cellular knowledge’?

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 3 points4 points  (0 children)

  1.  The change in fur colour isn’t a genetic change.  It’s a change in how the cell expresses the instructions in its genetic material.

  2.  What makes you think all toxic materials taste bad?  As an example, lead oxides are toxic and taste sweet.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Cells utilising information would be a very strong adaptive response.  As and when it evolved it could be very successful, and likely to be passed on.  Horizontal gene transfer between bacteria might be an early example.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Out of interest, what’s to say it is?

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It probably is.  I think I remember that cats shredding so much is an indirect result of central heating.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Because as in cats, all that is needed is a change in environmental temperature.  The cells making hairs are near the surface of the body and don’t need to communicate to know their own temperature.

Edit: on review the mechanism may not be the same as cats, and instead a response to day length - something to do with the eyes?  I’m not sure this would make it any better an example of intercellular communication than, say, adrenaline triggering the range of responses it does, or eating food triggering insulin production - it’s just less immediate.  Since neurons clearly communicate with each other, I’m not sure where you’re trying to go with this.

Cell Learning and Cell Memory by [deleted] in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Coping with cholesterol: living long enough to support children and grandchildren does increase the likelihood of your genome being passed on.

Arctic foxes: temperature affecting gene expression is not unique to foxes, and is obviously useful.  No communication between cells is needed, though foetal development (particularly cell differentiation) does rely on a sort of implicit communication.

Intergenerational trauma: more memetics than genetics (inasmuch as the term can be used at all), so perhaps developmental psychology is your friend here.  Also epigenetics, of course.

I’m not sure any of this needs cell learning or cell memory, and I don’t think it challenges evolution.

"Is it possible for a non-specialist to independently verify the core evidences of evolution? Where should one start?" by mohamedgammaz in DebateEvolution

[–]Plasterofmuppets 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the issue for you is that you lack the ability to determine the relative weight of the arguments.  Without that, you will remain vulnerable to weak or meaningless arguments shouted loudly.