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Inside The Worlds Most Unusual Fossil Site - The La Brea Tar Pits

Warden_of_the_Storm

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All swans are white, aren't they? :doh:

No, not all swans are white, AV. The Australian black swan shows that.

But, contrary to that, since no creatures from before the Pleistocene have been found at La Brea, then scientist can directly say that they have no found any creatures older than the Pleistocene were trapped and fossilized there, especially since dinosaurs and the like went extinct millions of years and the La Brea tar pits only formed around 40,000 years ago.
 
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AV1611VET

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No, not all swans are white, AV. The Australian black swan shows that.

But, contrary to that, since no creatures from before the Pleistocene have been found at La Brea, then scientist can directly say that they have no found any creatures older than the Pleistocene were trapped and fossilized there, especially since dinosaurs and the like went extinct millions of years and the La Brea tar pits only formed around 40,000 years ago.

Right.

And if they dig down deeper and find a pair of glasses, what will their drawing board say to that?
 
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Warden_of_the_Storm

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Right.

And if they dig down deeper and find a pair of glasses, what will their drawing board say to that?

That someone lost a surprisingly heavily pair of glasses to be able to sink deep into a tar pit.
 
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Shemjaza

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Um...define complex. Dogs and wolves are pack animals, and hunt as a team. Have seen dogs use misdirection and one serve as a decoy for the others to carry out a plan. That makes sense from the pack hunter aspect. Is that complex planning?

Have seen some dogs and cats display a sense of their aesthetics. This gets into anecdotes and won't bore you, but there seems to be patterns and things pleasing to them. Such as moving a dog toy only for the dog to move it back to that position. Why did it want it there? For what purpose? Something that made sense to it, or it wouldn't consistently put forth that effort.

As to morals, what is sophistication? Here's an anecdote: We had a dog injured from chasing a car. He knew he wasn't suppose to chase cars, but did. When we called the vet, the dog displayed shame. Another anecdote: Was hunting and had a rare chance to stalk a deer. Was within range when the dog with me flushed it, then turned around and looked at me like "Shoot!" Then he realized he was was between me and the deer (I had a shotgun). Without me saying a word, he lowered his head, tucked his tail between his legs, and slowly walked back to me. He walked that way all the way back to the house. He knew he's done wrong, and felt bad about it.

Is that a sophisticated moral idea? Don't know. Only know that it is and animals are fun to just watch, even without anthropomorphizing their actions.
All absolutely reasonable... but significantly less abstract than a human.

I have never seen any demonstration of any special human trait that isn't to a different degree in the animal kingdom.
 
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AV1611VET

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I have never seen any demonstration of any special human trait that isn't to a different degree in the animal kingdom.

Hmmm ... you might have something there!

1750885994798.jpeg


Not.
 
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Tuur

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I have never seen any demonstration of any special human trait that isn't to a different degree in the animal kingdom.
Let me know when cats post human videos on YouTube.
 
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Tuur

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On what's at the bottom of La Brea: In some places that's already known. Something from the Way Cool department is that when they expanded part of the museum, they found another deposit. So, they could either shut down the project for a decade or so while they excavate it, or they could remove it and excavate it at leisure. Basically they divided the whole thing up in great big crates, removed it, and it's being worked on.

That time span is so fascinating to me because there was a point where the seep wasn't there, then it was, and we have a good idea of when it became a trap by what got caught.
 
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Hans Blaster

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Let me know when cats post human videos on YouTube.
I thought they already were. Plus cats run all the bodegas in NYC and have the tuffest military. :)
 
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Hans Blaster

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On what's at the bottom of La Brea: In some places that's already known. Something from the Way Cool department is that when they expanded part of the museum, they found another deposit. So, they could either shut down the project for a decade or so while they excavate it, or they could remove it and excavate it at leisure. Basically they divided the whole thing up in great big crates, removed it, and it's being worked on.

That time span is so fascinating to me because there was a point where the seep wasn't there, then it was, and we have a good idea of when it became a trap by what got caught.
The video in the OP shows this at about 23 minutes in.
 
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Chesterton

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All absolutely reasonable... but significantly less abstract than a human.

I have never seen any demonstration of any special human trait that isn't to a different degree in the animal kingdom.
Really? You've never seen representative art? Never read literature?
 
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Tuur

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The video in the OP shows this at about 23 minutes in.
I didn't watch it because I used to practically drool over this stuff in the 1970s. Did see that they haven't found anymore human remains other than the La Brea Woman. Since the Indians were using the asphalt, they would have known to stay away except when collecting it. Possibly LA's first known murder victim. No, I don't buy the sacrificial victim theory some have advanced, because they've only found one.

In that vein, I see where they have a wall of dire wolves' skulls on display. Immediately imagined that wall surviving into the far future and archeologists excavating it concluding it was evidence of some sort of sacrifice.

It's a shame that the smaller remains were practically ignored until the the 1960s. So much information lost.

Offhand can't recall if there's a point where a specific species starts to show up and then drops out. Most of the species found are still with us. Not the megafauna, of course, but the smaller stuff.
 
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Hans Blaster

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Shemjaza

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Really? You've never seen representative art? Never read literature?
Different degree.

Animals pass information to one another and create associations between not directly related images or concepts.

Humans are significantly more intelligent and technological than any other living species... but it's all a degree of difference, not a fundamental difference.
 
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Chesterton

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Different degree.

Animals pass information to one another and create associations between not directly related images or concepts.

Humans are significantly more intelligent and technological than any other living species... but it's all a degree of difference, not a fundamental difference.
No, it's a difference in kind, not in degree. No animal makes representative art, and a dog bark may communicate something, but that's not literature.
 
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Shemjaza

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No, it's a difference in kind, not in degree. No animal makes representative art, and a dog bark may communicate something, but that's not literature.
Social animals play pretend and some social but territorial animals make markings to communicate territory or even personal size.

These are significantly less sophisticated than human levels of imagination, abstraction and communication. But it is an analogous principle.
 
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Chesterton

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Social animals play pretend and some social but territorial animals make markings to communicate territory or even personal size.

These are significantly less sophisticated than human levels of imagination, abstraction and communication. But it is an analogous principle.
No. If a man can make a picture of a monkey but a monkey can't make a picture of a man, that's a quantum leap. There are no degrees.
 
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