-Demosthenes-

Hate to nit pick, but venus fly traps get their energy from photosynthisis. All of its "food" is sugar from spliting water with evergy from the sun, they are autotrophs. The insects they "consume" are only for nitrogen, because it's not in the marsh soil that they live in. But the first cells were autotrophs weren't they? So all carnivoirs would have evolved from autotrouphs!

The point is that no one would want a program like that, they would rather have money, that is accepted world wide, than some point thing that may give you some vacation or something. How do you get rid of individualism? Well you ration everything out, everyone has the same thing, everyone has the same chances. You wanted everyone to eat in a mess hall? You are restricting WAY too much freedom and expression.

What the he!! makes you think that people will work for "points" when they could work for MONEY! And you dispute the first part of my equation communism=totalitarianism. How are you going to enforce this communist government? No comunist goernment has EVER worked without a totalitarialist government to MAKE the people do what they are suppose to. And I think we've esstablished that totalitarianism= Not Happy. Um, how do you expect people to accept this? You could get poorer classes to accept, but richer (and more powerful) and even most middle class citizens would not sacrifice ALL possibilities for advancement for a rationed house, vehicle, clothing, and ect. You also get rid of all individualism. Everyone is the same. People respond to that well, especially young people, and super especially people with the heritage of the Revolutionary War.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/7593620/ Is this Congress controling our industry too much, or is it just the government trying to imporve our lives?? They want to get rid of Anolog TV to make the digital market bigger so they can compete with other markets? So the government owns the channels if thtis law is passed? Who should be invoved with this "deal"?

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10302 I kinda suggested it a while ago, but I didn't put it in the sticky, oops

Reminds me of Family guy Well anyway, wouldn't all animals need emotions? Isn't that how animals know when to do stuff?? I know hunger isn't an emotion, but when an animal eats doesn't it provoke an emotional response? I believe there are other situations as well. Maybe its just neurotransmitters or endorphins??

She's really helped progress in science!

Don't expect mustang to come back to the forums...now they know where the files went...

I actually haven't found very many good forums. I can't find anything for history/social science, they all suck. Admiral pushed for an Anthropology/Paleontology section, and tried to start a couple threads, but it didn't seem very successful. I think it would be a good idea, but that's for the suggestion section: http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?p=155060#post155060

How do you expect people to work for "common good"?? If you give people what they need, then why would they work?? You can't have a democratic republic; you have to have a totalitarialist government. You'd have to take away everyone's freedom, and there are a lot of people that are kind of use to this freedom, it might upset some people! One of Demo's equations (patent pending) Communism=Totalitarianism=No Freedom=Not Happy

Dude, avoid the circles. Look: Who's going to develop alternative energy sources when no one needs them yet?

What kind of government do we need for something like that? Totalitarianism. What happens when that kind of government is set up? I assure you, bad stuff.

How are they wasting their potential? Why can't they use their potential in their own countries? Its not like the only people who can use their intellectual skills live in the western industrialized countries.

I knew someone who quite smoking by eating candy, he has diabeties now , and no more candy.

Entirely possibly, with the proper selective pressures. Of course where would these pressures come from?? Evolution isn't stearing everything towards inteligence, most of the time there are more important things being selected for. If the ones that survive and reproduce aren't necissarily the smartest, they are the fastest or most efficient, then there is little hope. I don't see any pressure towards becoming endodermic or becoming intelligence to the point that it is comparable by human standards.

Assuming the sounds they make are used for communication (any comfirmation?) Is it more important than being able to fligh fast or how well it can attract a mate? I don't see it being stongly selected for.

I'd like to point out that having children is not bad, only teenage pregnancies. Having a lot of children doesn't necissarily mean they will be on welfare, I know many families with more than 5 kids that are not on welfare and live very well.

I've actually heard of this...I don't think that its quite possible yet(20 or 40 years?), and there is the problem of getting it to earth and the refining (quote from Douglas' article), and it is still a non-renewable resource. Of course you could use that energy to get to the moon and to refine it, but it does bring the amount of energy you end up with down.

The fact is that there are some really rotten people out there. You can suck it up, and try to stop it form happening ever again, or you can take revenge. When you think about you can't be sure which one is right. Who says revenge is wrong? But there is no mistaking that chopping people up is revenge.

I can see the reasoning for an octopus, but can a cold blooded crustacean sustain a brain our size? And the bird, do you believe that the parrot would develop higher cognitive skills because they can mimic human speech? If not please tell me. Other species can mimic noise, although a parrot can remember certain phrases and words, and when to say them, which is very remarkably, but how do these things benefit the parrot? He can't talk to other parrots, and it does the parrot no good in the wild, so they are just as likely to die as the ones who can't mimic as well. There just isn't any pressure exerted on the parrots mimicry that would carry it the higher cognitive abilities.

These animals only understand concrete concepts, and it's a stretch at that. How would this benefit the bird? I don't see communication like that being strongly selected, there are far more important things that are selected for.

But what selective pressures are there on those species? It is far more important for a bird or dolphan to be fast and strong rather than smart. Although smarter ones will survive, it would be far less than other evolutionary pressures. The trick is to get conditions in which intelligence is strongly selected agaisnt other characteristics.

It would have to have the metabolism of a mammal and warm blooded (I believe), and what I think is the key is manipulating appendages. I discussed this with sayo once. I think that manipulating appendages (like primate hands) would give them the potential to use tools. And from there it is smooth sailing, which ever members of the species is the "smartest" and can use the tools better will live. I think that that is the key, but maybe not. If that's right it would only take time under these conditions.

I need to clear this up. Evolution does disprove the Bible in the literal popular interpretation, but not in many other interpretations including when it is seen as partially or otherwise symbolic. It does disprove my interpretation of the Bible. Furthermore, the basics of evolution conflict with little or no religious concepts when fully understood, evolution being merely the change of alleles in a population over time.