[HN Gopher] Amazonian moths that drink the tears of sleeping birds
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       Amazonian moths that drink the tears of sleeping birds
        
       Author : dsr12
       Score  : 47 points
       Date   : 2021-07-31 07:04 UTC (15 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nationalgeographic.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nationalgeographic.com)
        
       | goldenkey wrote:
       | Nature is abhorrent. Once we have enough sophistication to leave
       | this planet, the only ethical action is to crater it. The amount
       | of wild animal suffering is staggering and reaches many orders of
       | magnitude. Moreso if you include ocean biomass, much of the deep
       | sea we haven't even studied. Particularly painful sources of
       | suffering include parasites and disease.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_animal_suffering
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinatalism
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | bromuro wrote:
         | To me, nature has his own meaning of suffering and the value of
         | life is intended at whole (think to the ants). Humans are
         | somewhat off this mechanisms, maybe because they can choose to
         | inflict pain. This is the misery of humankind i like to think
         | about, but nature - it is just like it is with no bad or good.
        
           | shreyshnaccount wrote:
           | humans inflict pain for money, mostly. nature does so to be
           | sustainable. I don't believe that any sentient life can exist
           | and thrive without pain. that's part of the beauty of nature.
           | things die. new things come up. it's absolutely bonkers to me
           | how someone could think otherwise. good and bad is a human
           | construct to classify human behavior. nothing would exist if
           | there's no death.
        
             | goldenkey wrote:
             | No where in my comment did I associate death with moral
             | badness. Nor did I say that pain in itself is something
             | worthy of eradication.
             | 
             | Suffering can be due to physical pain but not always.
             | Sometimes it is due to lack of freedom. Parasites,
             | bacteria, and viruses generally cause both pain and
             | disability.
             | 
             | Nature is romanticized but like OP states, it is metal and
             | cruel. When we can eradicate suffering through destroying
             | the planet, it is our moral imperative to do so.
             | 
             | So far you have provided no counter arguments to this,
             | instead you have misinterpreted my words and delegated to
             | utterly worthless moral relativism.
        
           | goldenkey wrote:
           | Slowly being disabled in excruciating pain due to a parasite
           | is a bad experience. This can be universally agreed upon. I'd
           | love to hear why this is neither good nor bad without you
           | importing an external dependency like moral relativism or
           | cute idioms like "circle of life."
        
         | celim307 wrote:
         | Feels pretty arrogant to assume that's the only ethical action.
         | Who are we to be judge jury and executioner, even more than we
         | are already?
        
           | goldenkey wrote:
           | The only alternative is to eradicate illness and disease in
           | all of the Earth's biomass, which consists largely of sea
           | creatures. We likely won't have the technology to do so for
           | millennia, if ever.
           | 
           | Life is not a gemstone if it is pockmarked with suffering. It
           | is our duty to eradicate suffering by all means necessary.
           | This is why the most progressive countries in the world have
           | legalized euthanasia. Because life is not the goal, happiness
           | is. Death is not an enemy, suffering is.
           | 
           | Feels pretty whimsical to assume that one needs some kind of
           | "right" to do what's right. What gives anyone the right to do
           | anything?
           | 
           | It's a duty as a living being to help those in need. The
           | cornerstone of all science and religion is eliminating
           | suffering.
           | 
           | The logical entailment of such an imperative is to destroy
           | the Earth swiftly after we have moved on. A swift end and
           | none of the creatures on it will suffer, and the ones
           | suffering will suffer no more..
        
       | suifbwish wrote:
       | I thought Eric Cartman was the only creature that drinks tears
        
       | aerovistae wrote:
       | Anyone have a link bypassing the paywall? Or better yet, an
       | explanation of where to find such links?
       | 
       | Also can we edit the title to specify there's a paywall? I don't
       | remember if we have a policy for that around here.
        
         | mormegil wrote:
         | https://archive.is/qaq3p
        
       | Magi604 wrote:
       | It's pretty brave of moths to do this since they are naturally
       | preyed upon by birds. Maybe birds don't mind this activity.
       | Perhaps there's some benefit to the birds too?
        
       | Symbiote wrote:
       | I didn't see a paywall, but there was a video that autoplayed
       | partway down the page.
       | 
       | (Interesting article though.)
        
       | Pulcinella wrote:
       | See also puddling:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud-puddling
        
       | hyperluz wrote:
       | Look at the photo with the bird sleeping: one moth drinking his
       | tears and three mosquitoes trying to suck his blood. Nature is
       | metal.
        
         | scrame wrote:
         | Not to mention the fact that birds apparently cry in their
         | sleep!
        
           | goldenkey wrote:
           | They don't. All animals with lacrimal glands cry in response
           | to irritation or physical contact of the eye though. These
           | tears are known as "reflex tears."
        
             | shreyshnaccount wrote:
             | thanks for clearing that up I was also confused at first
             | like OP but kinda convinced myself of what you said
        
         | chrisfinazzo wrote:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48H34ukFe8g
        
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       (page generated 2021-07-31 23:02 UTC)