Interesting piece by Thomas Moynihan
▫️ on the evolution of our views on how species originate, evolve, disappear;
▫️ which made me realize that finding dinosaurs cool is not an invariant;
▫️ part of which nicely echoes assembly theory (see quote below).

“But then there are historical things. In order to possibly exist, they require specific events in the past to have happened. You will never encounter them beyond the region within which this history, with all its piecemeal stages, has unfolded. The more complex and sophisticated something is, the more history — that is, the more steps required for its assembly — it tends to require in order to emerge. For this reason, things that depend upon histories tend to be remarkable, even unique. Unlike kangaroos, cities or satellites, hydrogen atoms aren’t the product of long-winding histories. This is why hydrogen is cosmically abundant, but kangaroos aren’t.”

— Thomas Moynihan, Don’t Denigrate the Dinosaurs, in Noema Magazine

🔗 https://www.noemamag.com/dont-denigrate-the-dinosaurs/

🦖 #HistoryOScience #AssemblyTheory #Evolution #Extinction #Dinosaurs #ClimateCrisis

Interesting piece by Thomas Moynihan
▫️ on the evolution of our views on how species originate, evolve, disappear;
▫️ in which I realized that finding dinosaurs cool is not an invariant;
▫️ part of which nicely echoes assembly theory (see quote below).

“But then there are historical things. In order to possibly exist, they require specific events in the past to have happened. You will never encounter them beyond the region within which this history, with all its piecemeal stages, has unfolded. The more complex and sophisticated something is, the more history — that is, the more steps required for its assembly — it tends to require in order to emerge. For this reason, things that depend upon histories tend to be remarkable, even unique. Unlike kangaroos, cities or satellites, hydrogen atoms aren’t the product of long-winding histories. This is why hydrogen is cosmically abundant, but kangaroos aren’t.”

— Thomas Moynihan, Don’t Denigrate the Dinosaurs, in Noema Magazine

🔗 https://www.noemamag.com/dont-denigrate-the-dinosaurs/

🦖 #HistoryOScience #AssemblyTheory #Evolution #Extinction #Dinosaurs #ClimateCrisis