XYlophonetreeZ
09-03-2007, 02:44 PM
Everyone has some kind of fascination that strikes others as odd. I always like to hear about these, and I always like to tell people about mine. Usually I find that people have pretty good reasons for their interests, no matter how weird they may initially seem. Like when I just tell people one of mine, like for instance, Suriname, they don't get it at all. Then after I explain all my reasons why I think Suriname is awesome and fascinating, they understand, and even appreciate it, but still not nearly enough to share the fascination at the same level. Which is exactly the effect I would hope for. They understand my passion, but it's still, like, MINE. It's still a weird, special, odd little passion that feels like part of who I am.
I have a friend who excitedly jumped at an opportunity to work at the city dump. He's a smart kid who could have easily gotten a better-paying and more pleasant job, but he proceeded to explain to me why trash fascinates him. And after hearing him get all excited and passionate in his explanation, it had the same effect on me. I sort of understood it.
My latest one is cephalopods. Squids and octopuses are popular species on the discovery channel and stuff, and people think they're scary/gross/cool, but my interest in them goes a bit deeper. Basically I like them because I see them as humans' most likely successors for the dominant animal species on Earth. Meaning in millions of years, I think it's plausible that all humans can be dead and the world will be run by descendants of squids with capabilities of space travel.
I actually have a few reasons for this. First is their intelligence. Studies have shown that cephalopods are by far the most intelligent class of invertebrates, but what's more remarkable is that the intelligence is the result of an entirely different nervous system than that which gave rise to human intelligence today. In fact, it's the only notable time in evolutionary history that any appreciable amount of problem-solving intelligence has ever evolved outside of mammals and birds. Second is their excellence at niche partitioning. We've all heard how nobody ever saw a live giant squid until 2004. I don't think that's an accident. As the most intelligent and largest animals occupying their niche in the deep sea, they've already built up a dominant role for themselves with no natural competition, which has included steering clear of the Earth's most dangerous species, Homo sapiens. Basically they're one of the most left-alone species in the world, allowed to go about their evolution peacefully, and it's paid off for them in ways we may never know- because we don't know how many there are. It just blows my mind to think how the amazingly complex cerebral physiology we see in the animals we consider "intelligent" has evolved TWICE. Cephalopod intelligence is an up-and-coming study that has still been insufficiently researched (opportunities for me, mayhap?), but it's generally agreed upon that they're smarter than dogs. Cephalopods alone can serve to debunk the historicist view of evolution, and could really serve as a tool to tie up some loose ends in newer structuralist views.
So, does anybody else have any weird fascinations to share?
I have a friend who excitedly jumped at an opportunity to work at the city dump. He's a smart kid who could have easily gotten a better-paying and more pleasant job, but he proceeded to explain to me why trash fascinates him. And after hearing him get all excited and passionate in his explanation, it had the same effect on me. I sort of understood it.
My latest one is cephalopods. Squids and octopuses are popular species on the discovery channel and stuff, and people think they're scary/gross/cool, but my interest in them goes a bit deeper. Basically I like them because I see them as humans' most likely successors for the dominant animal species on Earth. Meaning in millions of years, I think it's plausible that all humans can be dead and the world will be run by descendants of squids with capabilities of space travel.
I actually have a few reasons for this. First is their intelligence. Studies have shown that cephalopods are by far the most intelligent class of invertebrates, but what's more remarkable is that the intelligence is the result of an entirely different nervous system than that which gave rise to human intelligence today. In fact, it's the only notable time in evolutionary history that any appreciable amount of problem-solving intelligence has ever evolved outside of mammals and birds. Second is their excellence at niche partitioning. We've all heard how nobody ever saw a live giant squid until 2004. I don't think that's an accident. As the most intelligent and largest animals occupying their niche in the deep sea, they've already built up a dominant role for themselves with no natural competition, which has included steering clear of the Earth's most dangerous species, Homo sapiens. Basically they're one of the most left-alone species in the world, allowed to go about their evolution peacefully, and it's paid off for them in ways we may never know- because we don't know how many there are. It just blows my mind to think how the amazingly complex cerebral physiology we see in the animals we consider "intelligent" has evolved TWICE. Cephalopod intelligence is an up-and-coming study that has still been insufficiently researched (opportunities for me, mayhap?), but it's generally agreed upon that they're smarter than dogs. Cephalopods alone can serve to debunk the historicist view of evolution, and could really serve as a tool to tie up some loose ends in newer structuralist views.
So, does anybody else have any weird fascinations to share?