Moontanman

Umm, we killed them all?

the idea that many of these animals were pushed over the edge at least by humans is the point in we should bring them back. As you point out it would be enormously expensive and be quite a bother if nothing else. The idea of mega fauna walking around in your back yards is bound to be unpopular after a few human deaths by mega fauna... the spreading of current dangerous fauna into areas where they have been absent for centuries has already caused quite a bit of problems...

In the US the police would probably taze you to death...

supposedlythe ecosystem suffers from not having these animals in it, I think that is highly debatable...

I agree, such a move would be an all or nothing move, if you can't provide the habitat and numbers needed at least eventually it seems a bit cruel although different species of elephants to heard together and neanderthals were probably human enough to pass in a crowd if they were dressed as human although they would be powerfully built men with arms as big as a humans leg muscles. Ground sloths would probably be a bit less cranky and there is evidence they were kept penned up by early man in SA. Things like cave lions and or sabertooth cats probably will never be gene sequenced since we simply don't have the DNA on these species. But some of these "rewilders" suggest transplanting African animals to fill in the gaps in the ecosystem or maybe even Siberian tigers. I think that is fool hardy as best due to transmitted diseases if nothing else... but it would be interesting to see how kodiak bears compete with siberian tigers...

It's still not working for me...

I think we should but be prepared to deal with mega fauna if you release them back into their natural habitats. Can you imagine Colombian mammoths roaming the mid west? Woolly rhinos? Giant ground sloths, better be prepared to have a a few human deaths associated with them... I think neanderthals would be the most interesting... The best ones are forever out of our reach, glyptodonts, and a few others but we are responsible for the extinction of some of these unique gene pools, i don't think refilling a few of them is completely crazy, mammoths might fit in Alaska, give the grizzlies and bigfoot something to fear... There are other animals slowly becoming extinct we should concentrate on saving as well, it's a complex issue for sure... Hmmm mammoth steaks...

Other universes if you dig the multi universe hypothesis... I see, I had to ask and i am still not getting updates....

Can the universe be thought of as an expanding surface of a 4D sphere? If so could it be rotating and so be the cause of phenomena like pinwheel galaxies that resemble things on the surface of a rotating 3D sphere like a hurricane? Just a random idea, sorry if it's stupid...

To be honest we went to high school together, I liked her a lot and when we got back in touch and i found out she was studying for her PhD I was thrilled for her. Maybe It's me with the soft head...

Sadly, as it turns out her PhD is from a "Christian school" of some kind I suspect is just a diploma mill, she cut off communication before i could find out for sure I do know her pastor is part of her teaching staff, I lost her when she asked me straight up if i believed in Jesus or if i thought he was a myth, dumb ass me had to be honest... You are correct, not having the time right now to go back and reread everything I've written about this the correct statement should have been Reality vs Young Earth Creationism but I think that can be inferred from the conversations so far considering evolution is the deal breaker for this person....

Unfortunately my friend asserts the bible as literally true, "each and every word" I pointed out the evil bits after she showed me her true colors and of course "things were different then" can pretty much excuse anything... Already have them here, very annoying, I always use the drive through these days... She thinks it was made during the flood, I covered a lot of ground in a very velvet gloved manner and got back "God still loves you and we will be praying he will change your hardened heart", it took me several days just to convince her my stance wasn't predicated by anger at god....

I think this has idea of believing in evolution equals atheism has been represented falsely. In fact I have never heard this assertion from a scientist. From Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, to Aron Ra the constant assertion is exactly the opposite. On the TV show the Atheist Experience the constant theme is that evolution does not equal atheism. The constant equation of atheism with evolution is in fact a creationist meme, started by the creation movement and the numbers show it to be wrong. Most people who accept evolution are christian and there are many more non christian creationists that accept creation although they believe in other gods or pantheons of gods. Evolution=atheism is a creationist meme, asserted by the creation movement as a satanic conspiracy to prey on the fears of people who don't understand science much like the evolution is only a theory meme it's nothing but bald faced lies used by the purveyors of creationism to bilk believers out of money. It's no accident that the main promoters of creationism are millionaires living a lavish life style off the tithes of their followers...

I have been talking to an old friend of mine who is working on her PHD, , I would say she is a rather intelligent person, reasonably down to earth with no obvious crazy showing through. This particular conversation started with the Ken Ham Bill Nye debate, she watched it live and i was surprised she had an interest in the debate. She was sure Ken Ham won the debate and I of course was sure Bill Nye gave the best account of the night. I asked her why she thought Bill had lost and he answer took me by surprise, she is a creationist and is sure anyone who accepts evolution is being fooled. She said evolution is a lie and made up by scientists I pointed out that evolution is the the best explanation for biodiversity and it is extremely well supported by evidence. She started quoting the usual creationist prattle about the pigs tooth and piltdown man and so forth. I was trying to handle this with kid gloves because she is a friend and i didn't want to come across as insulting. She told me that evolution is a lie made up by the devil and that fossils are all fake yada yada yada but the most stunning thing she said is that scientists meet every few years to make up new lies to support evolution. What is being taught in churches? If fundamentalism can entrap the mind of an intelligent adult what effects is it having on children? When I pointed out that to accept evolution is not the same as atheism she was adamant that science is atheistic and that no Christian could possibly accept evolution and that science is a conspiracy. Now remember this is coming from one who is close to getting a PHD. I tried my best to assure her that evolution and atheism are different things and that many if not most Christians accept evolution as the best explanation of biodiversity. I asked her if the story of Noah's ark was true and she unequivocally said yes it was, that every word in the bible was true and accurate. I pointed out genetics and how it supports evolution but she stuck with the scientific conspiracy idea and quoted that evolution was just a theory. when I pointed out what a theory was in science she dismissed my explanation completely claiming there were no fossils, they were made up or faked. I was stunned, this woman is very intelligent, to talk to her you would never guess she would believe this stuff, Ken Ham is one of her heroes. I finally asked what field she was working on her PHD in and she said... Christian counseling... my mind was blown, no amount of talk could convince her there was any evidence supporting evolution and that things like Noah's ark were real. Our society is in trouble if this is spreading and i think it is spreading through people like Ken Ham and others. How do you deal with people like this? She will have a PHD and will be in a very influential position at some point, her personality is very personable and i have no doubt she will be a very convincing Christian councilor. she was convinced that if i just opened my heart to Jesus that i would see the light and is organizing a prayer chain for me. How can intelligent people be fooled so easily? This is very disturbing to me, how can such people be countered?

I can't prove it's not photo shop but gators do climb, their behaviors are more complex that we used to give them credit for. Some zoos have begun to train their gators to do things like roll over to be examined and a few other behaviors. I used to have a group of wild lizards in my yard that would take food from my hand and turtles as well... Oh yeah, turtles can climb quite well too...

Are you seriously asserting that horror movies portray how real people react to real danger?

I gotta get out of this place!

I think there is a limit to what a child can watch depending on the maturity of the child, blood and gore IMHO should be limited, I was always more concerned with blood and gore than nudity. It depends on the child but I didn't let my boys watch horror flicks until the were teenagers and then i limited them depending on how bad the movie was. It's process and difficult to really quantify...

I have no idea what you are talking about, a link to some information is needed...

I guess you could take a heart from an animal, lets say a Horse, then remove everything but the collagen fibers (I think that how it is done in current experiments to grow a heart) then replace the muscles with stems cells from a human and have a Horse heart that is composed of human tissue. I'm not sure why a horse heart would be better than a human heart I would think it would be too big at the very least.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_heart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulatory_system_of_the_horse

Anti space time is an interesting concept, at the big bang two expansions, one into + space time and another into - space time, mirror images of each other. In each the flow of time would seem + since they expand away from each other in opposite time directions.... Maybe? Maybe not?

No... someone who really really really doesn't believe in god... lol