Dear Frederick, it's my first piece I read from you and: I lost count of the number of times where I switched from just laughing out loud about your excellent and educated humour to nodding and then to "what the heck, this is brilliant"! again.
Your writing is incredibly edutaining ;) Even though your arguments migth indeed not convince any ideological believers...for the ones that try to find answers and soothing in natural science and evolution to navigate our crazy modern world, this is just gold!
And I never even thought about how much different "sex in water" vs. "sex on land" is (I mean, scientifically speaking 🤣).
Thanks for the note! You cheered up my morning… I'm glad I brought you a laugh. Yes, the water versus land difference is a big deal, not only for animals but for plants, too. Remember, they started out in the water and had to adapt to dry land... and some of them produce free-swimming sperm like animals do. Who would have guessed that? I'm glad you added the caveat "scientifically speaking" at the end of your comment... that made me chuckle for a couple of reasons!. My best, Frederick
I am very glad for having caused a good-Monday-morning-burst!
Just to make this water-to-land thing more complicated: ...and some of them eventually went from being terrestrial to becoming aquatic again (marine mammals) 🤫😅
I enjoyed the logic and biological tidbits in this. My only hesitation is at the idea that we shouldn't engage with people who have an illogical argument. We must keep talking to each other; any other response is to abandon hope. The "you obviously don't understand/leave it to the experts" stance never works and only increases the mistrust (think of COVID). So keep arguing, starting with the erroneous premise!
You make a very good point… Fundamentally, I agree with you. However, at some point, the unrelenting back and forth seems pointless to me. I do, however, respect and admire those who can persist in the fray. Thanks very much for the comment! My best, Frederick
I love your essays, Frederick! Like most people, I was not aware of the fruit fly thing. Is fruit fly sperm still the mobile gamete that penetrates the immobile female gamete? How does it work with the size difference? Boy, I wish I could be a student in your class or a (non fruit) fly on the wall when you teach.
Thank you very much. That was very kind of you. You would always be welcome in my classes either on the wall or, preferably, in a comfy chair. Yes, the whole fruit fly gamete thing works the same way. It's theorized that the extremely long tail on these sperm is a result of sperm competition… The ones that happened to have the longest tails were more successful at reaching their goal. Of course, as in all evolutionary scenarios, long tails did not develop because they made the sperm more successful (there's no teleology). Mutations that lead to long tails were maintained (and increased in frequency) in the population because those sperm were more successful.
What a cool essay! I love learning this weird stuff about us animals. I never thought about the sex in water vs land thing, but it's obvious once you point it out.
An eternal game that musicians (and others) play is "wouldn't this be a great band name?" My new favorite is: "Face Mounted Free Flying Phallus of Love." Could be a book title too...
And thank you for the epilogue, I could not agree more. I'm on Team Reason AND Team Compassion. ❤️
As always, it's great to hear from you. Well, I love your music… But I'm not sure that "… Free Flying Phallus of Love" would work for your style..... However, if you went heavy metal, it'd be a winner (LOL). And, it's always nice to hear that someone else is on the "Reason and Compassion" team. To tell you the truth, I don't know why our team is not the most popular (or popularized). I think it actually represents the majority opinion… But we don't seem to garner the most attention.
I agree, heavy metal would be more appropriate for that band name than folky me!
It's a good question, why our team doesn't get the bandwidth or the attention. I think the extremes are favored by the algorithms--and not just the social media algorithms. Moderation and nuance are not as inspiring or comfortable as dogmatic broad strokes that are simple to understand. Do you think it might be the way we are wired biologically/psychologically, to seek simpler and seemingly clearer frames of reality? To find tribes with clear rules to belong to?
I think you're correct… Simple seems to be the default position. Although, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about why that is. I'm beginning to question the degree to which people are able to process complex (sometimes seemingly contradictory) information. I'm not sure we are as adept at that as we think we are.
Yet another very interesting and informative article! I appreciate how you emphasize the importance of being understanding and compassionate to all people. This acceptance of others however doesn't mean we should abandon reality. I believe the last paragraph needs to be a public service announcement: "However, being open, kind, and accepting does not necessitate abandoning reason, turning our backs on biology, or unhinging ourselves from reality. Nor does it require us to entertain the arguments of those who do."
Thank you very much for this quote… How true it is. I just finished reading one of Sowell's books… His commitment to reason and reasonableness is inspiring. Thank you, again!
Dear Frederick, it's my first piece I read from you and: I lost count of the number of times where I switched from just laughing out loud about your excellent and educated humour to nodding and then to "what the heck, this is brilliant"! again.
Your writing is incredibly edutaining ;) Even though your arguments migth indeed not convince any ideological believers...for the ones that try to find answers and soothing in natural science and evolution to navigate our crazy modern world, this is just gold!
And I never even thought about how much different "sex in water" vs. "sex on land" is (I mean, scientifically speaking 🤣).
Thanks for the note! You cheered up my morning… I'm glad I brought you a laugh. Yes, the water versus land difference is a big deal, not only for animals but for plants, too. Remember, they started out in the water and had to adapt to dry land... and some of them produce free-swimming sperm like animals do. Who would have guessed that? I'm glad you added the caveat "scientifically speaking" at the end of your comment... that made me chuckle for a couple of reasons!. My best, Frederick
I am very glad for having caused a good-Monday-morning-burst!
Just to make this water-to-land thing more complicated: ...and some of them eventually went from being terrestrial to becoming aquatic again (marine mammals) 🤫😅
Enjoy your morning coffee!
I enjoyed the logic and biological tidbits in this. My only hesitation is at the idea that we shouldn't engage with people who have an illogical argument. We must keep talking to each other; any other response is to abandon hope. The "you obviously don't understand/leave it to the experts" stance never works and only increases the mistrust (think of COVID). So keep arguing, starting with the erroneous premise!
You make a very good point… Fundamentally, I agree with you. However, at some point, the unrelenting back and forth seems pointless to me. I do, however, respect and admire those who can persist in the fray. Thanks very much for the comment! My best, Frederick
Excellent post.
Thank you very much!
Your articles are rare but welcomed events. You write beautifully. Thank you.
Thank you, that is very kind!
I think you're the kindest most compassionate person in the universe.
Thank you very much… That was a wonderful thing to say… You made my morning!
I love your essays, Frederick! Like most people, I was not aware of the fruit fly thing. Is fruit fly sperm still the mobile gamete that penetrates the immobile female gamete? How does it work with the size difference? Boy, I wish I could be a student in your class or a (non fruit) fly on the wall when you teach.
Thank you very much. That was very kind of you. You would always be welcome in my classes either on the wall or, preferably, in a comfy chair. Yes, the whole fruit fly gamete thing works the same way. It's theorized that the extremely long tail on these sperm is a result of sperm competition… The ones that happened to have the longest tails were more successful at reaching their goal. Of course, as in all evolutionary scenarios, long tails did not develop because they made the sperm more successful (there's no teleology). Mutations that lead to long tails were maintained (and increased in frequency) in the population because those sperm were more successful.
What a cool essay! I love learning this weird stuff about us animals. I never thought about the sex in water vs land thing, but it's obvious once you point it out.
An eternal game that musicians (and others) play is "wouldn't this be a great band name?" My new favorite is: "Face Mounted Free Flying Phallus of Love." Could be a book title too...
And thank you for the epilogue, I could not agree more. I'm on Team Reason AND Team Compassion. ❤️
As always, it's great to hear from you. Well, I love your music… But I'm not sure that "… Free Flying Phallus of Love" would work for your style..... However, if you went heavy metal, it'd be a winner (LOL). And, it's always nice to hear that someone else is on the "Reason and Compassion" team. To tell you the truth, I don't know why our team is not the most popular (or popularized). I think it actually represents the majority opinion… But we don't seem to garner the most attention.
I agree, heavy metal would be more appropriate for that band name than folky me!
It's a good question, why our team doesn't get the bandwidth or the attention. I think the extremes are favored by the algorithms--and not just the social media algorithms. Moderation and nuance are not as inspiring or comfortable as dogmatic broad strokes that are simple to understand. Do you think it might be the way we are wired biologically/psychologically, to seek simpler and seemingly clearer frames of reality? To find tribes with clear rules to belong to?
I think you're correct… Simple seems to be the default position. Although, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about why that is. I'm beginning to question the degree to which people are able to process complex (sometimes seemingly contradictory) information. I'm not sure we are as adept at that as we think we are.
Thanks! Even if the motivation of this piece was largely polemical, it inadvertently taught me a bunch of interesting biology tidbits.
Thank you… And I'm glad you found the tidbits interesting… I do too. There's always some fascinating weird fact to learn about biology.
Yet another very interesting and informative article! I appreciate how you emphasize the importance of being understanding and compassionate to all people. This acceptance of others however doesn't mean we should abandon reality. I believe the last paragraph needs to be a public service announcement: "However, being open, kind, and accepting does not necessitate abandoning reason, turning our backs on biology, or unhinging ourselves from reality. Nor does it require us to entertain the arguments of those who do."
Thank you very much for your kind and supportive comment… I sincerely appreciate it!
Thomas Sowell — 'When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.'
Thank you very much for this quote… How true it is. I just finished reading one of Sowell's books… His commitment to reason and reasonableness is inspiring. Thank you, again!