Comment on Anon has a proposal for you
Glowstick@lemmy.world 6 hours agoYou would never take it in a straight fight, but there’s a very good reason why humans absolutely dominate every animal on earth - our intelligence. The original post is too light on details, but in basically every scenario there almost certainly is some possible way to win that could be figured out.
the Tyrannosaurus rex measured up to 43 feet long, stood about 12 to 13 feet tall at the hip, and weighed roughly 4 to 9 metric tons. Its skull alone could weigh up to 600 pounds, and it had a bite force estimated at 35,000 to 57,000 newtons.
BUT!
our intelligence
I could take it in a fight.
Convo about what animals we could fight in a 1 v 1 fight came up, and a buddy chimed in with some solid piece of wisdom on the matter:
“If you think you’re gonna lose, then you’re gonna lose. Thinking you can win doesn’t guarantee a win, but its impossible to win if you don’t think you can.”
Now imagine the animal is exhausted, injured and asleep, and you’re in for a 500 million USD reward.
I said a straight fight. Meaning just body fighting against body plus a short knife. There’s tons of other ways to kill an animal. Poison collected from plants or other animals, starvation, dehydration, traps, pits, fashioning arrows, spears, causing infections, and on and on
there’s a very good reason why humans absolutely dominate every animal on earth - our intelligence
Gonna have to slight disagree on this one. I’ve always found out ability to organize and communicate in generalist situations to be far more valuable than individual intelligence (though that’s also nothing to shrug at compared to other animals).
Naw, part of me is wondering if you’d be more likely to succeed in a 1-on-1 with the knife or a 3-on-1 unarmed. I still can’t think of a good strategy, but I feel like wed stand a better chance that just any one of us out there.
“organize and communicate in generalist situations”
So, intelligence? Humans didn’t develop big brains to for playing chess and doing theoretical physics.
Eh, yes?
Feels like a different flavor of “intelligence” since one is problem solving focused (“how do a beat an unbearable for with minimal gear”) while the other is waiting for “triggers” and having “responses” ready (“I’m at my spot and need to wait for guy #2 to run past to drop the anvil”) and then not freezing if one of the triggers is slightly off.
So anyway, in general, both probably count as intelligence, but in this specific case, I think its worth differentiating one from the other. The best organizer/team player is not gonna stand out when working alone, while the most intelligent problem solver may not be able to work on a team.
Sure, but the thing is, humans dominate every known animal in both. The way primitive humans (probably) lived, they needed to be both competent at individual problem solving and group coordination.
But fair, it’s quite telling that this “human vs. t-rex” problem isn’t present as a group effort, but as “one vs. one”. Many modern humans have deluded themselves into thinking that the greatest people work alone.
You mean sacrifice 2 so one can escape right?
Lol, not the intention.
I’m thinking of trying to start some kind of rope making operation in the hut (VERY wild card assumption that the resources for this would be available). If you and your two buddies could make enough rope to hog tie the Rex, then successfully did the thing while it slept, maybe you could also build some level of choker for it to suffocate the beast?
Idk, but I know that’d be a lot of rope. Gotta get multiple people on the task.
why humans absolutely dominate every animal on earth - our intelligence.
We like to think that about ourselves, but in my opinion, that’s not the whole truth. After all, there are other intelligent life forms as well (though it’s certainly debatable whether they’re just as intelligent, “differently” intelligent, or simply less intelligent). The key reason why we, in combination with our intelligence, dominate the planet is, in my opinion, cooperation within social groups beyond the (extended) family. Religions, states, laws… all mental constructs we use to ensure that we can cooperate within massive groups. As far as I know, no one else does this.
In our scenario here, this crucial component is missing: While a human is (quite likely) more intelligent than the T-Rex, he is, after all, just one individual, and his true strength lies in the community. If we were to place 50 people together in this setting, I believe there would be significantly less doubt about the outcome.
Most animals that are considered smart are social, too. Your view of intelligence is too narrow.
I had similar thinking, but limited the group to 3 (some hopeleslly low number).
Also our ability to run long distances. I have no idea on the speed of a T-Rex, but it may be possible to have it chase you long enough to wear it out.
Due to the mass of T Rex (4-6 tons) it would theoretically top out at 10-15mph, the same run speed of a trained marathon runner putting some effort in. An athlete could outrun a T Rex briefly, and the exertion would probably dissuade it from chasing for long.
T Rex predated upon slow, large herbivores. I think a hit & run tactic would eventually wear it down.
That works on things that run away. It could just eat you if it can beat you in a sprint.
iocase@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
Punji sticks. Mw use poop and sharpness. Give big lizard tiny microbe. Big infection. Me eat meat and watch it slowly die painful horrible death weak from no food or water.