EdEarl

I didn't vote because I believe brain capability and size aren't strongly correlated, and your question (social vs climactic) may be incomplete. For example, I think brain size and birth canal size are related. Neurons vary in size considerably within a person and among species, and neuron count varies widely among species. Fairy wasps, which are about the size of a large amoeba have about 7,400 neurons (compared to a medicinal leech with 10,000). Most fairy wasp neurons have no nucleus. An elephant has about 2.6x1011 and a human has about 8.6x1010. I know it is a poor comparison, but it illustrates there is more involved with overall capability of a species than brain size. Fossil evidence will not show whether neuron size and synapse count have changed over time. It seems possible neurons shrunk over eons, increasing the total number of neurons, which may have had greater significance than cranial volume. There are too many things to consider, and I am not an expert in the field. I'll vote if you also poll chimpanzees, for I can do no better.

Reducing population by moving people to Mars isn't feasible anytime soon. Elon Musk intends to build a rocket capable of carrying 100-200 people per trip at less than $200,000, and estimates it will take 40 or more years to increase the population of Mars to 1M, partly because the trips must be scheduled when the Earth-Mars trip is shortest or about every 2 years.

AFAIK every living thing can sense other things in the environment, including single cells. Organisms input and output sustenance and energy. The consumption of input and production of output over time are activities that can be sensed by other organisms, and may be remembered by organisms in various ways. We remember with our brains, and our body single cells remember some things via epigenetic and genetic changes in DNA. We fight of a viral infection, our body remembers and we become immune. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of addictive phenotypes has been noted to occur in preclinical studies. Stress Affects the Balance of Bacteria in the Gut and Immune Response. And many more. We don't say that bacteria are conscious, merely that they are sense their environment. That is a kind of awareness. Honey bees and other insects sense their environment in more complex ways than bacteria, but in less complex ways than humans. Animals typically sense and remember more than insects. Thus, a continuum of awareness exists from least aware (i.e., cells) through most aware (probably humans). I believe consciousness is the result of a brain-body being aware of itself, and that awareness can be limited or expansive, and many animals have limited consciousness. The purpose of consciousness is survival. An animal that is aware it is injured and that it can heal with time can hole up and improve its chances to survive; whereas, an animal that is injured but continues everyday activities is less likely to survive.

Nature is not a person with a brain that has wants. You, I and all of humanity are part of nature, and things people do are part of nature; thus, medicine is part of nature. Your suggestion to deny people medicine and let them die would be a crime against humanity, no better than collecting Jews in concentration camps and gassing them. In fact, there are already cases in which parents were found guilty for refusing medical treatment and subsequent death of their child.

You haven't done much research into errors made by scientists. It should be easy to find 50, a bit harder to find 500, but if you really work at it you should be able to find more than 5000. Here are some. The elements were thought to be earth, air, fire, and water. The Earth was thought to be the center of the Universe. The Universe was thought to be the Milky Way Galaxy. Galaxies were once called nebula. The continents were thought to be fixed for all time. Scientists searched for a method to make gold by mixing various chemicals. Light was thought to travel in aether. Airplanes were thought to be able to travel only slower than sound. and many more.

I have no answer for your hypothetical.

I answered the question in the spirit, Doctors take an oath that no one else does; thus, your doctor scenario is not the same as astronomers and government deciding whether to tell people it's all over. However, I doubt that any end-of-Earth scenario could be kept a secret. Although, a gamma ray burst is less likely than other scenarios to leak out.

Regardless of the stated reason for the doctor visit, a doctor is expected to tell a person about an illness. That doctor may not know how to heal the person or keep them alive, but that doesn't mean there is no doctor anywhere who can help. I've heard of cardiac cases whose first doctor told them they would die within months, but another doctor healed the person. No doctor is omniscient, and must consider the possibility that another doctor can help. For a doctor to withhold such information is unethical.

The doctor-cancer scenario is different. The patient made a decision to see the doctor, and wants to be healed. If the doctor cannot heal a person, IMO he is ethically bound to say so. If the person asks how long, the doctor is again ethically bound to tell the patient.

If the comet couldn't be seen, was dark colored rubble instead of ice, then it would probably be best to not tell people; I'd prefer not to know and hope to die in my sleep.

The size of Halley's Comet and the Chicxulub comet were about the same size. Halley's Comet can usually be seen for several weeks during its closest approach to the Sun. Chicxulub wasn't large enough to kill Earth, so this hypothetical comet must be much larger and more visible than Halley's Comet. It would be impossible to keep it a secret. If by planet-killing you mean large enough to kill most of humanity, then another Chicxulub is big enough. However, some people would probably survive in underground shelters. Since people might have a chance to protect themselves underground, I think it would be unethical to try to keep this impact a secret. If you really mean a planet killer, there is no way to keep it a secret; I think everyone could see it even during the day as it approached Earth.

What do you mean by sexless? My understanding is XX is female and XY is male after an egg is fertilized by a sperm. Also, do you equate gender and sex, or are they different in your mind? If they are different, how do you define those differences. 2) is not clear. A penis and vagina look different to me. Why do you think they are not very different? 3) isn't clear because you haven't clarified your idea of sexless, and in my opinion there is no such thing as sexless. There are similarities between the sexes, including two nipples, two legs, two arms, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and many other things. In addition to your statements being unclear, they seem to be inconsistent with accepted science. But, I'm not an expert.

Certainty is a ghost.

The question focused on our emotional attitude to fire ants, rather than being philosophical.

They are annoying and impossible to eliminate, they bite and sting, but are they really causing mayhem?

Yes, dead trees and house framing, including my house. They seem to be part of recycling dead wood. Many people use termite control services to prevent damage.

Prior to the fire ant invasion, we had other kinds of ants, including carpenter ants, which ate holes in the house. Since the fire ants arrived, I've not seen any carpenter ants in more than a decade, and few others species of ant as well. Anyone else notice changes from fire ants that may be beneficial? While the lack of carpenter ants prevents damage to my house, the decay rate of fallen trees and branches is slower, I suspect, which may slow CO2 being released into the atmosphere and lessen global warming.

salt RO filter or evaporation, sand filter paper

I was watching a youtube, "Science of SLAC | Batteries for the Future: What's Possible?" when the speaker showed a frame with the following: Nissan Leaf has batteries with 24kWh drives 84 miles using 4kg lithium, which is enough for 10 billion Leafs. The Tesla S model has 85 kWh drives 265 miles using 14kg lithium, which is enough for 3 billion Teslas. There are about 1 billion cars in the world.

An example of quantum activity affecting one's life is a radioactive isotope one ingests or inhales that gets into the blood stream and an atom decays emitting energy and particles (the quantum butterfly) that causes a neuron to fire that in turn causes a cascade of other neurons to fire. We are bombarded every day with low level radiation that sometimes causes cancer and other physiological changes and our thoughts. Most of the time we make changes based on our environment and experience, but sometime thoughts occur for random reasons.

RE #8 Can a photon polarized to reflect, instead tunnel through the barrier? And, how do apparently random quantum events affect macroscopic causality? Is it possible the butterfly effect scales down to an analogous "quantum effect; thus, making some events truly random?" If quantum effects do not affect causality because they are statistically predictable, then how does a butterfly cause a hurricane? Wouldn't the group of butterflies mask the effects of one.

A species of jellyfish gets younger.

Your liver doesn't grow older, and if damaged will heal itself, and it uses food to do so. No, you would not output the food you ate; it is not possible.

Nice one. There are several automation house builders. There is at least one duplicate, the youtube; in any case, people with money believe automation is an idea whose time has come. Giant 3D Printer Branch Technology to begin construction of 3D printed house this July, 2016 3D house printer can crank out a thousand square feet per day 3d house printer Buy a 3D House Printer for €12,000

Not relevant AFAIK. My dog sometimes perks its ears up, but often they are flopped, also reminds me of orca in captivity with flopped dorsal. I read that wild orca don't have flopped dorsal. IDK if the reasons for flopped ears/dorsal are similar or different; it seems related to state of mind. Cocker spaniel and other breeds ears are permanently flopped, different reason.