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[poll] Are Humans Bacteria? - Page 2

Blogs > Hypnosis
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meeple
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
Canada10211 Posts
November 17 2009 17:29 GMT
#21
Straight from the matrix. I would look at growth patterns and the way we are killed off by our own waste to start.
Hypnosis
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States2061 Posts
November 17 2009 17:29 GMT
#22
On November 18 2009 02:26 samachking wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 18 2009 02:20 Hypnosis wrote:
On November 18 2009 02:11 samachking wrote:
OO?
You wrote a long paper not knowing whats the difference between a parasite and a bacteria?
You do realize that without bacteria we wouldnt exist and most bacteria are actually useful to the world oO

What are you majoring in or are you still in High School? I suggest changing bacteria to parasite immediately and actually search up the words on wikipedia.


I didn't think about the definition of bacteria and confused it with parasite. I'm a sophomore in college majoring in engineering. Also my idea was more of a figurative parallel than a scientific definition because the Earth, although it is "living" it is not biologically an organism in itself.

I was thinking though maybe I could bring up the idea that some humans are good bacteria while most are bad. For example "environmentalists" could be considered good for the earth and oil companies could be bad bacteria, this way I don't run into the problem of arguing that environmentalists are still parasites. I did consider the word parasites but bacteria seemed more fitting for some reason...


I added a bit on your topic by editing my post, the thing is, as an objective metaphor while including a-biotic systems within the definition of a parasite, every living thing( to my knowledge, there might be exceptions) is a parasite since they consume resources, although they give back resources in their own way, its still usually not a symbiotic relationship completely. A better way to do this paper is to think of the biosphere as a zero-sum game of parasitism and limited resources, and we humans at the top of the chain consume the most resources and hence are the greatest parasites to this world, thats a cool spin on it.

edit:English class, I suppose if the teacher isnt too picky just go with it, its a nice metaphor. If she is gay about it she probably has too much time on her hands.


I am going to re work my thesis and see what I can come up with. I guess there is a reason I couldn't find research on it because it makes no sense; that's what I get for half assing it haha.
Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind
UGC4
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Peru532 Posts
November 17 2009 17:37 GMT
#23
yep virus or pathogens are more like it. not really parasite or bacteria. but gosh boy. why do u want an entire paper to be a metaphor? why dont u just argue that humans have gone way beyond the fight of extinction vs. survival, and moved on to a destructive quest for higher quality of life. include the metaphor in the paper, but dont make the entire paper a metaphor thats just...yea
#1 Movie fan~ he's got so much skill it oozes out of his skin in the form of acne. ~family comes first~
Hypnosis
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States2061 Posts
November 17 2009 17:47 GMT
#24
I dug myself into a hole then because I have it all worked around that thesis and it's due tommorow! FUCK. I will rewrite it and post the thesis to see if it is legit.
Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind
HwangjaeTerran
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Finland5967 Posts
November 17 2009 17:58 GMT
#25
mmm. You see bacteria can also do good things...
We are just the dominant species although we probably will destroy Earth eventually.
https://steamcommunity.com/id/*tlusernamehere*/
Amarxist
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States371 Posts
November 17 2009 18:05 GMT
#26
Even bacteria have their purpose, we're just fucking shit up. Lets live it up.
☺ ☻
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32049 Posts
November 17 2009 18:09 GMT
#27
Your teacher isn't going to look favorably on an online, anonymous poll.... and you probably want to stay away from a really abstract analogy that's just a total bite off of the matrix.
PROFESSIONAL GAMER - SEND ME OFFERS TO JOIN YOUR TEAM - USA USA USA
Try
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States1293 Posts
November 17 2009 18:16 GMT
#28
The Earth is not alive LOL.

It's like saying dung beetles are "shit parasites"
Try
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States1293 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-11-17 18:20:10
November 17 2009 18:18 GMT
#29
On November 18 2009 03:05 Amarxist wrote:
Even bacteria have their purpose, we're just fucking shit up. Lets live it up.

What purpose?

We "fuck shit up" because we need resources to survive.

Edit: I just noticed your name. Marxism is retarded. From each his capability to each his needs my ass.
Hypnosis
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States2061 Posts
November 17 2009 18:24 GMT
#30
On November 18 2009 03:09 Hawk wrote:
Your teacher isn't going to look favorably on an online, anonymous poll.... and you probably want to stay away from a really abstract analogy that's just a total bite off of the matrix.


its ok my teacher likes me alot so ill probably get a B or A no matter what but only if i put a little more effort in. And this is a survey it doesnt matter where i got it.
Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind
KaasZerg
Profile Joined November 2005
Netherlands927 Posts
November 17 2009 18:51 GMT
#31
First define ''good or bad for the planet''.

As a species we have a negative effect on biodiversity. We introduce flora and fauna to evironments outside their natural range where they run rampant. Some subspiecies are created by us as pets and livestock. These only add to the problem. We destroy biotopes. We even endanger ourselves by destabilizing the whole planetwide ecosystem as a whole. A parasite destroying its host?

Overshoot
Caller
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Poland8075 Posts
November 17 2009 18:58 GMT
#32
I think that this topic is too inherently biased to be able to write a fair paper about. Writing about something that you yourself are taking part in means you have an inherent bias, whether it is in favor of your side or against it.

I doubt you can consider humans as polluters any more than cyanobacteria. Consider how 3.4bya, when life first began, most organisms were anaerobic. They hated oxygen, and lucky for them there was very little oxygen around. Yet in 2.7bya, cyanobacteria came about and were able to undergo photosynthesis. This benefited them: they have a massive source of energy available to them, and all that happens is that they produce some oxygen instead. Of course, oxygen is toxic to a massive amount of the organisms at the time, and the resulting mass oxygenation event resulted in the mass deaths of unknown numbers of anaerobes. That is definitely a source of pollution, but nobody seems to give a flying fuck that humans are doing the same thing (as a natural process), except that unlike cyanobacteria we actually are trying to do something to mediate our effect. Yet we have this mentality to compare ourselves to a pox on the earth, when in fact we should compare ourselves to algae. They have reduced biodiversity as much as we have, changed the atmosphere as much as we have, and yet we're not on a manhunt to destroy all the cyanobacteria. Go figure.
Watch me fail at Paradox: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=397564
Hypnosis
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States2061 Posts
November 17 2009 20:00 GMT
#33
On November 18 2009 03:58 Caller wrote:
I think that this topic is too inherently biased to be able to write a fair paper about. Writing about something that you yourself are taking part in means you have an inherent bias, whether it is in favor of your side or against it.

I doubt you can consider humans as polluters any more than cyanobacteria. Consider how 3.4bya, when life first began, most organisms were anaerobic. They hated oxygen, and lucky for them there was very little oxygen around. Yet in 2.7bya, cyanobacteria came about and were able to undergo photosynthesis. This benefited them: they have a massive source of energy available to them, and all that happens is that they produce some oxygen instead. Of course, oxygen is toxic to a massive amount of the organisms at the time, and the resulting mass oxygenation event resulted in the mass deaths of unknown numbers of anaerobes. That is definitely a source of pollution, but nobody seems to give a flying fuck that humans are doing the same thing (as a natural process), except that unlike cyanobacteria we actually are trying to do something to mediate our effect. Yet we have this mentality to compare ourselves to a pox on the earth, when in fact we should compare ourselves to algae. They have reduced biodiversity as much as we have, changed the atmosphere as much as we have, and yet we're not on a manhunt to destroy all the cyanobacteria. Go figure.



Yea there is an obvious bias too because I am a human and only see things from a human perspective. You can say that about anything pretty much. The thing about this paper is that it is meant to get me thinking and looking up information on some specific topic which I am doing so i am not too worried about it.

That is a good idea though, I could have a massive counter argument to my initial thesis that totally disproves it and points out the flaws then work backwards from there and flip the entire thing around. Thanks
Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind
Foucault
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Sweden2826 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-11-17 20:34:54
November 17 2009 20:34 GMT
#34
Isn't this more about semantic definitions than anything else
I know that deep inside of you there's a humongous set of testicles just waiting to pop out. Let 'em pop bro. //////////////////// AKA JensOfSweden // Lee Yoon Yeol forever.
Meta
Profile Blog Joined June 2003
United States6225 Posts
November 17 2009 21:31 GMT
#35
I've heard multiple theories along these lines and I think there are a lot of flaws and assumptions you make. First of all, we can't be a parasite/bacteria "to the earth" because the earth isn't a living organism. If the counter-argument for that is along the lines of: "humans act parasitically towards the living entities in the environment around them," then I postulate that every animal acts that way, by eating the plants or other animals for sustenance. To the argument that we're "harming nature" in what we do, I would respond that we are a part of nature, we came from nature, and everything we do, therefore, is natural.

The by-products and pollutants that we're spewing from our machines and technologies aren't so much a plague to life on earth so much as it is a plague to ourselves. By changing the environment that we evolved to thrive in we're stabbing ourselves in the foot. Of course, there are many other animals that we're also stabbing in the foot with our actions, but our habits are not going to wipe out life. At worst, the rapid climate shift would wipe out a majority of the species, and those that it didn't wipe out will likely thrive and evolve in the new world. Whether or not we're going to be a part of that is yet to be seen.

Furthermore, the very definition of "parasite" or "bacteria" excludes the human race. We made up those terms to define micro-organisms. The observed similarities between what we do and what those organisms do are no more significant than the observation that we fuck the same way monkeys fuck, we eat fish like bears eat fish, we live in shelters we create just like the pygmy boar of India lives in it's own shelter, etc.
good vibes only
Hypnosis
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States2061 Posts
December 27 2009 19:58 GMT
#36
Thanks for all the input disproving my point guys! I ended up reworking it and getting an A-. Ive lost all faith in university english classes...
Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-27 20:06:06
December 27 2009 20:04 GMT
#37
To be fair, you're taking an entry level English course But I agree, they're pretty much B.S.

+ Show Spoiler [Didn't read whole thread] +
I am trying to prove that Humans are actually a bacterial infection upon the Earth and all we do is harm it and its inhabitants. Almost everything we do pollutes the ozone: We burn fossil fuels, cut down trees (it releases CO2 at a much more rapid rate than normal), contaminate water with our chemicals and we build cities that ruin the natural land (LOL LOS ANGELES).

What does ANY of that have to do with bacteria?

I was thinking though maybe I could bring up the idea that some humans are good bacteria while most are bad. For example "environmentalists" could be considered good for the earth and oil companies could be bad bacteria, this way I don't run into the problem of arguing that environmentalists are still parasites. I did consider the word parasites but bacteria seemed more fitting for some reason...

This just sounds very convoluted...

I think you're looking at bacteria and parasites as inherently bad, which is just wrong.
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
darkmetal505
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
United States639 Posts
December 27 2009 20:14 GMT
#38
Biologically speaking we aren't bacteria (or parasites for that matter):

- We have membrane enclosed nuclei/organelles
- We don't have peptidoglycan in our cell walls
- A bunch of other stuff

[image loading]
Hypnosis
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States2061 Posts
December 27 2009 20:17 GMT
#39
i know don;t worry
Science without religion is lame, Religion without science is blind
Slaughter
Profile Blog Joined November 2003
United States20254 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-27 20:25:15
December 27 2009 20:23 GMT
#40
In the words of Agent Smith, we are a virus! :D In all seriousness I agree that bacteria is probably not the best term to use. You could say we have a parasitic symbiotic relationship with the planet. But then you would to assume that the planet is a "living" organism, which is isn't. The planet itself is merely rock which all living things live and depend on. Its true that we are messing it up real bad though. But I always recall the words of Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park where he talks about how its a joke all this "save the planet" stuff because the planet has and will survive worse then us and we really are just trying to save ourselves because we probably kill ourselves and the planet will just stay here chilling until life forms again. We don't have the capability to really hurt the planet, just our living conditions on it (and it will repair itself in the long run anyway after we are gone).
Never Knows Best.
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