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The Skeptics Guide #1003 - Sep 28 2024 (Ad Free) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-28 16:24:35
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Guest Rogue: Andrea Jones Roy; What's the Word: Pitch; News Items: Crystal Genome Storage, How Reliable are Political Forecasts, Myopia Epidemic, Biotwang Explained; Who's That Noisy; Science or Fiction

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Comments

Christer Jansson

Maybe we should rename science? How about "The Art of Unbaffling"?

Chris Holder

I know I am going to cope grief for this, but you know what a group of crows is called? A flock, the same as one of pigeons, sparrows, gulls, or any other type of bird. Similarly, a bunch of lions is a herd, just as it is for most other bloody mammals; the whole idea of thinking specific mammals, birds, etc, must have their own unique designation is ridiculous.

Jim Sky
>>150799132

I see your point, but why can't we simplify more by just calling a bunch or any type of animals a "bunch"? Why have a different word for birds and beasts?

Chris Holder
>>150799132

We could, and there is nothing stopping this; making a distinction in collective nouns between birds, mammals and insects is obviously a lot easier than the potentially dozens of distinctions that need to be made if we actually pay attention to this absurdity of using a different collective term for such a large number of different animals, birds, insects, etc.

Jason O'Neal

I immediately thought "a curiosity of scientists"

Matt

I've listened to this and still can't find the paper on polling that was discussed. Is there a link I'm missing or was the author mentioned and I didn't hear? The pdf filename is mentioned and a quote, but searching for those hasn't helped.

Edward M Graff

The discussion about crystal storage of the human genome reminded me of a British movie from 1967: "Quatermass and the Pit" (released in America as "5 Million Years to Earth"). In it, a crew digging a tunnel finds an ancient Martian spaceship. The ship is embedded with the characteristics of the Martians who built it, especially their violence toward subgroups in their civilization. Many humans are influenced by this, and the last third of the movie is about cooler heads trying to prevail. So, if an alien race found our genome, assuming they found other artifacts first, would they want to recreate a human?