Originally shared by Denis Poussart The VERY BEST short essay I have read for a long time. Succeeds in bringing to the forefront the uniqueness on embodiment, which no machine will ever be able to achieve, and how it is highly connected to what we call "consciousness". Animal intelligence, human in particular, is able to navigate - usually well - in the huge complexity of the non-ergodic reality. This is so because the brain is not just a powerful computing box (like a computer with a millions GPU's), it is part of a bio-system which integrate hugely different sensing and acting components, seamlessly. And this system is futher enhanced by societal & cultural interactions, Although it is not stated here explicitly, it turns out that this extraordinary complex assembly of molecules, organized as an effective intertwine of prior (DNA encoded) networks and learned fusions and behaviours IS a simplified model of the world around us, close enough that it is generally able ...
Amazing. Surely this could be a hugely useful food source in hunger striken parts of the world?
ReplyDeleteLove this invention.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how this would go with vegans..
ReplyDeleteSean P. O. MacCath-Moran any thoughts?
Well... This idea is failing to solve a problem we don't have -- a problem that we're not having anywhere in the world.
ReplyDeleteWhat I mean by this is that these insects create protein the same way that humans, cows, cats, bees, and all other animals do; i.e. they ingest plant proteins (even if secondarily) and convert that in to their body proteins, doing so so at a net-loss of total protein. So eating bugs means one is filtering plant-protein through the bodies of sentient beings -- just like when eating cows, dogs, pigs, dolphins, etc.
You will note that this article (and livinfarms.com website it refers to) very carefully avoids discussions of the inputs to the system. There's a reason for this: once you do the math, it doesn't add up.
Given all that, and given that there's no ethically or logically consistent justification for ending the lives of sentient individuals for the sake of one's personal pleasure (e.g. to eat his or her body), I have a lot of trouble grokking what there is to talk about with this "growing bugs at home" idea -- other than that it's wrong-headed and nonsensical.
Fair enough?