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Weeping whales: Stillborn humpback whale grieving documented

243 points · 192 comments · wglb

  1. georgemcbay · · focus · HN ↗
    Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal.

    Sure, we've got them beat on language and planning, but we're currently in the process of being passed up on both those fronts by multi-dimensional arrays of floating point numbers sitting inside of sand. So, like, how special is that then, really?

    1. JumpCrisscross · · focus · HN ↗
      > Blows my mind that so many people just have this hardened internalized idea that we're somehow significantly different than any other animal

      There are hard-asses on both ends. We are different from other animals. To me, that results in us having more moral agency for our actions. It also means recognising that we share this world with other beings, including billions of people, a tool-wielding sapience categorically distinct within the ecosystem.

      1. phoghed · · focus · HN ↗
        > We are different from other animals

        Most animals are different from most others, we're just different enough to feel that we're somehow special.

        1. s1artibartfast · · focus · HN ↗
          What do you think 'special' means in that sentence? What differences would make something special?
          1. phoghed · · focus · HN ↗
            Obviously God made us in his image and gave us all this to rule over, no way we arose from the same primordial soup as the bugs and rats. We’ve got souls, they don’t.
            1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

              [deleted]

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