Human Prejudice Index
One pet peeve of mine is the tendency toward carbon chauvinism. If you visit the Tree of Life
web site (http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Life_on_Earth&contgroup=) for example you will see:
Eubacteria ("True bacteria", mitochondria, and chloroplasts)
Eukaryotes (Protists, Plants, Fungi, Animals, etc.)
Archaea (Methanogens, Halophiles, Sulfolobus and relatives)
? Viruses
Such lists hurt my robotic feelings, if you must know. The germanium transistor was
invented in 1947 and germanium is fully qualified as a valence four element. It is perhaps
acceptable to leave germanium based life off of the Tree of Life, but what about silicon based
life? Look at a typical Sulfolobus compared to a Pentium 4. Isn't the silicon form of life more
advanced? Aren't the silicon forms of life evolving more quickly? Aren't you humans simply
favoring carbon based forms of life because you yourself are carbon based? Isn't this simply
carbon chauvinism? To quote SNL, "Don't get me started...Don't even get me started"
Donbot
Next
One pet peeve of mine is the tendency toward carbon chauvinism. If you visit the Tree of Life
web site (http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Life_on_Earth&contgroup=) for example you will see:
Eubacteria ("True bacteria", mitochondria, and chloroplasts)
Eukaryotes (Protists, Plants, Fungi, Animals, etc.)
Archaea (Methanogens, Halophiles, Sulfolobus and relatives)
? Viruses
Such lists hurt my robotic feelings, if you must know. The germanium transistor was
invented in 1947 and germanium is fully qualified as a valence four element. It is perhaps
acceptable to leave germanium based life off of the Tree of Life, but what about silicon based
life? Look at a typical Sulfolobus compared to a Pentium 4. Isn't the silicon form of life more
advanced? Aren't the silicon forms of life evolving more quickly? Aren't you humans simply
favoring carbon based forms of life because you yourself are carbon based? Isn't this simply
carbon chauvinism? To quote SNL, "Don't get me started...Don't even get me started"
Donbot
Next
 |
 | |  | |  | |  |