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/sci/ - Science & Math

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Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:26:56 2011 No.2760330 [Reply] [Original]

If humans disappeared right now, how long until the next sentient species dominated the planet and who would it be?

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:27:56 2011 No.2760336 Dolphin-people.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:27:56 2011 No.2760334 cuttlefish

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:28:56 2011 No.2760339 anne coulters and glenn becks

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:28:56 2011 No.2760340 >>2760330 squid in a couple hundred million years look good for it.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:28:56 2011 No.2760337 probably orangutans, in over9000thousand years

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:29:56 2011 No.2760341 pnegrows

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:30:56 2011 No.2760342 >>2760340 >Squid Oh God We Must Now Sacrifice Ourselves For The Immortal Master Race

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:31:56 2011 No.2760347 >Have to be able to live almost everywhere on the globe to dominate the planet >Have to be able to dominate other local species Hum... man-bear-pig

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:33:56 2011 No.2760358 Ants. Chimps. Dolphins. Octopi. Crows. Take your pick.

CNS !MT.CNS.YRY Wed Mar 23 16:35:56 2011 No.2760366

You presume sentience will be selected for. It's not all that certain this is the trait that will lead to increased fitness. Also, humans aren't the dominant species on the planet. We have the ability to shape our environment, sure. But in terms of absolute numbers, biomass and resilience we are outmatched by many other organisms (like insects and bacteria). It's anthropocentric to think we are a the top of the evolutionary ladder because of our intelligence. There isn't even a ladder.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:38:56 2011 No.2760371 >Implying any species will take our place now that all easily reachable sources of metals and fuel have been used.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:42:56 2011 No.2760388 >>2760366 Sentience allows the development of technology, which is a much more agile means of adaption than genetic mutations and extinction events.

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:43:56 2011 No.2760389

>>2760366

No other species on the planet is a threat to our survival as a species.
Probably not even every other animal combined waging war on humanity would be a threat to the survival of our species.
More importantly if we decided tomorrow that there was a species we didn't like we could kill them all easily.
That makes us pretty dominant.

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:44:56 2011 No.2760396

>>2760366
>implying that sheer biomass and resilience is all that defines species superiority
>implying that insects and bacteria are as capable as humans in terms of technology, science, and culture
>implying that humans don't possess the tools to end most life on Earth

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:46:56 2011 No.2760401 >>2760389 Good luck killing off literally any specie of insects or bacterium. They WILL survive.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:48:56 2011 No.2760412 >>2760401 >mfw gladys knight frequents /sci/

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:49:56 2011 No.2760416 >implying it's highly likely there will even be another sentient species to evolve

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:49:56 2011 No.2760421 >>2760401 >Implying that bacteria and insects can do the same to humans

CNS !MT.CNS.YRY Wed Mar 23 16:50:56 2011 No.2760427

>>2760388
Sure, but it takes a lot to get to that point. You need reciprocal altruism, language and the physical means to do so (opposing thumbs help).
>>2760389
>No other species on the planet is a threat to our survival as a species.
>Probably not even every other animal combined waging war on humanity would be a threat to the survival of our species.
So how come we still have AIDS and cholera?
>>2760396
>implying that sheer biomass and resilience is all that defines species superiority
I'm not implying that, I'm merely stating these are factors to take into consideration.
>>implying that insects and bacteria are as capable as humans in terms of technology, science, and culture
That's anthropocentric again.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:51:56 2011 No.2760430 >>2760416 implying its not almost inevitable given enough time

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:53:56 2011 No.2760447 >>2760430 how do you know that? we can only make a hugely rough guess saying life will even form

>>	‮ suomynonA‪‪‪‮‪‪‬‬‬‬‬ Wed Mar 23 16:55:56 2011 No.2760458 File: 13 KB, 278x247, 1299691927969.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >Interesting thread >turns into and ''implying'' thread >disappoint >mfw

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:55:56 2011 No.2760457

>>2760427
>So how come we still have AIDS and cholera?
How come humans haven't been killed off yet?
>I'm not implying that, I'm merely stating these are factors to take into consideration.
Then you need to take technology, science, and culture into consideration too. No other living thing has ever changed Earth so much in such a short period of time as humans.

>That's anthropocentric again.
We'll, you're being bacteriocentric and insectocentric. You're basing species superiority on the strongest attributes of bacteria and insects.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:58:56 2011 No.2760471 >>2760389 You couldn't kill bacteria even if you wanted to because they have probably spread quite far in space.

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 16:58:56 2011 No.2760474

Well, at this moment we are lacking comparative data to even determine whether sentience is a sustainable state of life and how likely or unlikely it is for sentience to evolve on a life bearing planet, how long it lasts on average and what circumstances are required or supportive of the evolution of sentience.

Sucks to have only one source for data.

CNS !MT.CNS.YRY Wed Mar 23 17:00:56 2011 No.2760486

>>2760457
>How come humans haven't been killed off yet?
You're missing the point here. We are clearly still competing with other species, and the battle isn't over yet. It's silly to declare victory before we've won.
>Then you need to take technology, science, and culture into consideration too. No other living thing has ever changed Earth so much in such a short period of time as humans.
Didn't I already say we had the ability to shape our environment?
>We'll, you're being bacteriocentric and insectocentric. You're basing species superiority on the strongest attributes of bacteria and insects.
No, I gave other attributes to use as a metric for evolutionary success. Bacteria and insects simply excel at those.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 17:00:56 2011 No.2760487 >>2760458 When was it interesting? It started out pretty badly then went straight to implying. Nothing of value was lost.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 17:02:56 2011 No.2760496 >>2760421 You're joking, right? All of our bodies are full of bacteria. If they alone turned against us, we would have no hope.

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 17:03:56 2011 No.2760506

Marsupials, without a doubt. They have all that right pieces in place already, are highly genetically adaptable, and have a propensity for filling every available niche within a few generations. Marsupials are going to DOMINATE in ~200 million years when the next Super-continent forms.

I'm assuming you mean "Land Based" or "technological" sentient species, since Cetaceans are already sentient (and possibly sapient).

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 17:05:56 2011 No.2760512 >>2760371 All of that metal will still be there unless we ship every last bit of it into space, bro. If anything, we've made it EASIER.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 17:13:56 2011 No.2760551 Crows.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 17:18:56 2011 No.2760574 >>2760389 yeah because we don't get suck herp derp

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 20:32:56 2011 No.2761201

>>2760496
Bacteria is a group term, moron. Millions of types.

Human is one specific species.

I don't see walruses and owls banding together to take down one specific species. Same goes for bacteria, different bacteria species won't band together to take us down.

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 20:47:56 2011 No.2761308

to put things in perspective, at least to the people who think humans are indestructible because we have been here for so long

neanderthals survived for about 5x longer than modern homo sapiens have survived

we are susceptible to poisons, diseases, parasites, famine, war

science and technology have no more survival value than the mating practices of a spoon worm

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 20:51:56 2011 No.2761325 a few million, apes

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 20:52:56 2011 No.2761332 them really smart parrots that live 150 years

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 21:06:56 2011 No.2761408 The dolphins will reconquest the seas within a few dozens of years.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 21:12:56 2011 No.2761439 I remember hearing somewhere that Baboons would have a better chance than Chimps due to numbers.

Anonymous Wed Mar 23 21:24:56 2011 No.2761496

ITT: Retards think animals just magically become intelligent.

Animals won't develop intelligence unless it would be supremely beneficial. Since they have physical qualities to keep them alive (unlike humans), there's no reason for them to become intelligent.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 21:26:56 2011 No.2761506 >>2760330 apes again i'd say chimps are 2nd smartest already (bonobo's too) so they've got the best shot

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 21:27:56 2011 No.2761511 Cephalods, idfk when.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 21:47:56 2011 No.2761623 File: 71 KB, 900x320, ultraman_01.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2760342 >Mfw we are the land dwelling old ones of their tales, and that someday we shall descend when the stars are right

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 22:51:56 2011 No.2761961 >>2760330 You are assuming that sentience is the ultimate destination for a species, and that only one species on a planet can reach that pinnacle. If we died off, there is nothing that says another species must become sentient and take our place.

>>	Anonymous Wed Mar 23 23:01:56 2011 No.2762007 We've had 5 major changes in dominant species over the course of the known planetary history; only 1 has had sentient life. Earth would probably just return to a Permian-like state with more mammals until another disaster replaced the order again.

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