Mary Fisher wrote:
How do you know what they seem to think?
By reading on the subject. My curiosity seems to know few bounds.
One of these days, I must try it in a large square full of pigeons.
Oh, what a big man you'll be then!
I am interested how far the effect will propagate. Curiosity again. Must
but a box of crow scarers as part of the experiment. 11th commandment
applies.
So you're playing it indefinitely? Does that make you stupid, with a little
capacity for learning?
More live the fact I have favorite films and places. Just because I have
eaten a particular dish seems not to be a reason to repeat the excersise.
Can you navigate back to your house if let loose hundreds of miles away with
no previous experience?
Of course you can't. Does that make you stupid?
Of course I *can*. North is easily found and folowed by a number of
methods. There is this thing called the sun, which reliably shows and
tracking the shadow of a stick gives it away. Assuming my watch is with
me, this can also be used to find North and indeed which hemisphere I am
in . It also helps with latitude. A magnetic compass is useful, assuming
the capsule is balanced for the correct latitudes, although within a
couple of thousand miles of the magnetic poles it is unreliable. The old
polar explorers used sextants for navigation. At night, of course, you
can use a star fix to navigate. These days, I have become lazy and own a
GPS unit. Start walking and an arrow points to your selected
destination. Should I wish to visit my brother's old address, it is at
40 46' 43.0"N 73 59' 18.2"W It is a bit of a swim.
To say that any other creature is stupid because it doesn't behave like you
is irrational.
There seems to a fairly strong case for evidence-based reasoning, as
opposed to knee-jerk decision-making. If the opposite is true all the
human effort since the Renaissance appears to have been for nought and
it looks like mud huts all round, with people asking about exactly the
best quantiy of water to soil is best for mud bricks.
John Schmitt
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