saw a guy die last night.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ermitonto

I disagree. If nobody ever died of a stupid choice, we would not be the most intelligent species on the planet. In order for intelligence to evolve, unintelligence needs to be filtered out somehow. Sorry if you think I'm insensitive just because I believe the species is more important than the individual, and that evolution through natural selection is a good thing even for humans.

---

I'm not helping the species survive because I'm gay. Why hasnt nature eliminated homosexuality. From an evolutionary standpoint, its not a desirable trait. Do you think I should die because I'm never going to have kids????? :(

Or suppose the guy who Amsterdam saw die was a social worker who helped hundreds of people get their life back on track. Is it more "fit" to be a smart driver or to help hundreds of others survive. How exactly did nature filter him out? We dont know anything about him, so you really cant say how natural selection was at work. Is nature filtering out Africans by killing them off through AIDS? You can then say that natural selection was at work when the white man killed millions of Native Americans. The colonists were more fit, right, they had better weapons and whatnot? Where do we stop?

Bringing up natural selection is dangerous territory, and it reminds me of "social darwinism" when people justified all sorts of injustices by evoking it.

I don't pretend to understand the scientific origins of homosexuality. If it is indeed a genetic trait and not behavioral, then the gene will be filtered out if it is useless. This wouldn't mean that homosexuals deserve to die; they just wouldn't reproduce and the gene would disappear due to a lower birth rate rather than a higher death rate. But the fact that homosexuals continue to show up in each generation is evidence that this is probably not the case. On the other hand, if it is genetic, it may turn out that having some homosexuals is good for the well-being of the species as a whole, for example by countering overpopulation or perhaps homosexuals are statistically more likely to help others survive than heterosexuals. I can't really say since nobody knows for sure whether it's purely genetic and what effect it has on the gene pool.

Also note that people dying does not always mean natural selection is going on. Most of the time death is purely incidental, dependent on the circumstances in which they happen. Genocide is a good example of this; in no other species on earth do we find one sub-species try to eliminate another sub-species of the same species through violence. Genocide is not the result of inferior genes, but rather by deliberate human actions. There's nothing in the genes of Africans or Native Americans that prevented them from building those weapons; they just didn't happen to invent them. It's just a matter of circumstance that the Africans and Native Americans happened to be less technologically advanced and some Europeans convinced themselves that taking land and killing people of other races was desirable. It's similarly just a matter of circumstance and economics, not genetics, that Africans can afford less of the technology we have that hinders the spread of AIDS, and they happen to live where the disease started. Just like it's entirely circumstantial that the dinosaurs died out. There was nothing genetically inferior about them -- they thrived and dominated the planet for hundreds of millions of years -- but an asteroid from outer space quickly got rid of all the dinosaurs that didn't later evolve into birds. A lot of genetic change is random, and natural selection doesn't care about these random changes so long as they aren't negative changes.

Granted, I can't say whether the guy's death was the result of his genes giving him lower intelligence, but still in order for our species to develop our intelligence further, people who do have a genetic predisposition for lower intelligence need to be statistically less likely to reproduce, and that will happen whether we want it to or not, since we are animals and all animals undergo natural selection. I'm not advocating any form of social Darwinism -- Darwin himself warned against the application of his theories to society -- but rather purely Darwinism in a purely biological sense. And I don't think we should try to do anything to meddle with the process as humans, since that would no longer be "natural" selection, and only Nature knows for sure what genes are better than others in the big picture.

I mostly feel sorry for the kidâ??s mother and fatherâ?¦maybe because Iâ??m a mother. Kids are idiots sometimes they just donâ??t realize how mortal they really are. One time when I was little I put liquid mercury in my mouth just to see what it felt like. I didnâ??t swallow it (I guess ive always been a spitterâ?¦.he he) but it could have killed me dead as shit. I saw a man die once (a stranger) and it effected me deeply. Itâ??s rarely a pretty site, people donâ??t usually drift off into la la land like they do on TV. TV doesnâ??t show people pissing and shiting their pants because they have lost control of their bowels. Sometimes people just donâ??t think death can happen to them. They think itâ??s one of those things that happen to other people like rape or murder.

Wow, lotta death on the Cannabis boards lately.

I agree with you likemclever, people get the wrong idea what it's like unless they see it. And younger people don't understand risks and consequences too well, a problem aggravated by the media.

I'd be willing to bet that the majority of us have done some dumb things that could have gotten us killed, and were lucky, so far. I know I have. Now I know better, mostly. Our development is based on trial and error, so making mistakes is part of the procedure.

I wrecked my first bike, doing something stupid, at the age of 19 or 20. I resolved, not to stop riding, but to stop doing stupid things.

Back to the original subject, a guy here saw something tragic, and it bummed him out. We can all relate to that, right?

42

Quote:

---

I was only stating he should grow up and not to take anything personal on the net, its not worth stressing over. I apologize for how i stated it tho...bad mood

---

np, I definitely know what thats like, i was sorta in a bad mood too, otherwise i prolly would have just ignored your post. :)

yeah i agree with ghost on this one thats fucked up man the dude died and it doesnt seem like u have any compassion at all he did a stupid thing and died come on

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by amsterdam

i was leaving a place called the Ghostbar in downtown Chicago last when i saw this guy showing off on his Ducati bike.he was doing wheelies and all the other crazy stuff.well anyway he took off doing like 120mph and ran a red light and side swiped a car.he most have flown 200 feet before he stopped.he had compoung fractures in his right leg(the bone was sticking out of his pants) and all the skin on his face was gone.his head was pretty much completely turned around backwards.it was the nastiest thing i had ever seen.soooooooooooooooooooooooo much blood.

what a night. :rolleyes:

---

he wasn't wearing a helmet? :eek: daft tosser had it coming to him then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sToNeDpEnGuIn420

No honeslty i dont feel bad about him dying. Hes a fucking dumbass. Yes if he was one of my good friends i would feel bad and sad, i would still consider him a dumbass tho. And that guy wasnt a good friend so why even see imagine if he was? You could saw that about everything in the world.... yeah

---

I agree. Now if the guy was going 130mph hit someone, and the pedestrian died, and the cyclist lived, then it would be different. But like someone said, he had it coming whether you want to denie it or not. It is a shame though(But thats it i ain't crying for the guy)

I would just like to point something out...actually a couple things.
since inteligence is not at all genetical as are other things that can become factors(alcoholism,etc)we do not need to filter out all the stupid people.
it is a waste of time to be sad over someone you dont know dying, there is enough greif coming from those who love them and it is your responsability to be happy, to help maybe let them move on yknow?

Also, i also do some stupid stuff to show off, and i know what the consequences will be. He knew sooner or later he might die from these kinds of stunts, but if he didnt it would make his life seem fuller. Some people are just like that. They know the risks, the possible outcomes, and think its worth it to take their chances.