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I was going to say this is one of the saddest things I've ever read. Approximately 150,000 people died yesterday. In fact, another dozen or so probably died w

I was going to say this is one of the saddest things I've ever read. Approximately 150,000 people died yesterday. In fact, another dozen or so probably died while you were reading that sentence. If you were in a room with all the people dying at any given moment, you wouldn't even have time to meet their gaze to say "goodbye" fast enough to keep up. That's a dozen thinking, breathing people, each with their own hopes and fears, memories and regrets. Many with friends and family who loved them deeply; children who'll never again see their mother's smile, wives who'll never again embrace their husband. Scores of people now grieving, and all kinds of friendships ended as each life fades into the night. But, yeah. Shame about that tree, eh? I don't mean this as a criticism of you personally; I had the same reaction to the destruction of the tree. It's just an interesting testament to the irrationality of the human emotional response that we feel sad for an unusual tree, but feel little for the immense magnitude of human loss that occurs constantly.

RevRal 17y ago
It's just an interesting testament to the irrationality of the human emotional response that we feel sad for an unusual tree, but feel little for the immense magnitude of human loss that occurs constantly. Brings back memories of people getting upset about the dogs being killed in Wolfenstein 3D, but not the humans.
iamwil 17y ago
Perhaps none as unique as that tree.
- Robin_Message 17y ago
  The funny thing is, it is humans that made the tree special. We measured the distance to it, we compared that distance to other trees, we invented photography and the internet so it could be looked at, we talk about it.
  - Semiapies 17y ago
    Exactly. To the tree and the rest of the universe...it was just a tree.
- Eliezer 17y ago
  Congratulations. You attach the lowest value to human life that I've heard assigned in all of 2010 so far. Just to be clear, would you like to state a value in utilons for the tree and a value for each of the 150,000 lives lost in a day? Also, how unique does a human brain with 20 trillion synapses have to be before it is at least as unique as an unusually isolated tree? Very unique, apparently, if not one out of 150,000 people qualifies. That's more people than live in all of the city of Santa Clara. But then if everyone in Santa Clara died tomorrow, why, probably not a single one of them ever had a thought, a feeling, an unwritten poem, that was as worth preserving as a tree. I'm sorry if I sound a little sharp here, but I wouldn't trade 150,000 trees for one human being. I am honestly horrified that at least nine other people voted you up. This is a dangerous planet. Human beings should stick together.
  - iamwil 17y ago
    Well, it was the last of a group of trees that grew there in the middle of a desert. It held meaning to those that passed it by in a trek across a desert to a point of superstition. It may have breathed the same air with animals that are no longer with us. I think that's pretty unique. It's not that I don't think ~150,000 people dying is sad in its own way, I don't know that any random one of them are in the same unique position as being the last of something. Perhaps, sometimes, we get someone that dies who's the last speaker of a dying language, or the last in a lineage of a tribe. I'd say that's sad, in the way the last tree dying is sad. Take any random 150,000 people dying, it too is sad, but not in the same way. Of course, it's easier for us to sympathize with humans than it is with trees, because we too are human. It's also easier for us to think that human endeavors are also more important than non-human ones.
  - danparsonson 17y ago
    Well, not all of us elevate humanity above the other life on this planet; indeed, some of the important problems we humans face today are a direct result of the kind of attitude that one human being is worth at least 150,000 trees - that is, that we feel freely able to take as much other life as we deem necessary for our survival. This planet is indeed dangerous, but consider how much of that danger is caused by us and threatens both humans and other species. One of the things we could do to help change that would be to learn to see equivalent beauty and value in other life beyond our own.
megaduck 17y ago
One tragedy does not make another tragedy less painful or profound. The world is full of infinite joys and sorrows, and we can only focus on one at a time. That's the blessing and curse of being human. So, tonight some of us grieve for a tree. You may grieve for other things if you choose, but that doesn't diminish our loss.
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RevRal 17y ago

It's just an interesting testament to the irrationality of the human emotional response that we feel sad for an unusual tree, but feel little for the immense magnitude of human loss that occurs constantly. Brings back memories of people getting upset about the dogs being killed in Wolfenstein 3D, but not the humans.

iamwil 17y ago

Perhaps none as unique as that tree.

Robin_Message 17y ago
The funny thing is, it is humans that made the tree special. We measured the distance to it, we compared that distance to other trees, we invented photography and the internet so it could be looked at, we talk about it.
- Semiapies 17y ago
  Exactly. To the tree and the rest of the universe...it was just a tree.
Eliezer 17y ago
Congratulations. You attach the lowest value to human life that I've heard assigned in all of 2010 so far. Just to be clear, would you like to state a value in utilons for the tree and a value for each of the 150,000 lives lost in a day? Also, how unique does a human brain with 20 trillion synapses have to be before it is at least as unique as an unusually isolated tree? Very unique, apparently, if not one out of 150,000 people qualifies. That's more people than live in all of the city of Santa Clara. But then if everyone in Santa Clara died tomorrow, why, probably not a single one of them ever had a thought, a feeling, an unwritten poem, that was as worth preserving as a tree. I'm sorry if I sound a little sharp here, but I wouldn't trade 150,000 trees for one human being. I am honestly horrified that at least nine other people voted you up. This is a dangerous planet. Human beings should stick together.
- iamwil 17y ago
  Well, it was the last of a group of trees that grew there in the middle of a desert. It held meaning to those that passed it by in a trek across a desert to a point of superstition. It may have breathed the same air with animals that are no longer with us. I think that's pretty unique. It's not that I don't think ~150,000 people dying is sad in its own way, I don't know that any random one of them are in the same unique position as being the last of something. Perhaps, sometimes, we get someone that dies who's the last speaker of a dying language, or the last in a lineage of a tribe. I'd say that's sad, in the way the last tree dying is sad. Take any random 150,000 people dying, it too is sad, but not in the same way. Of course, it's easier for us to sympathize with humans than it is with trees, because we too are human. It's also easier for us to think that human endeavors are also more important than non-human ones.
- danparsonson 17y ago
  Well, not all of us elevate humanity above the other life on this planet; indeed, some of the important problems we humans face today are a direct result of the kind of attitude that one human being is worth at least 150,000 trees - that is, that we feel freely able to take as much other life as we deem necessary for our survival. This planet is indeed dangerous, but consider how much of that danger is caused by us and threatens both humans and other species. One of the things we could do to help change that would be to learn to see equivalent beauty and value in other life beyond our own.

megaduck 17y ago

One tragedy does not make another tragedy less painful or profound. The world is full of infinite joys and sorrows, and we can only focus on one at a time. That's the blessing and curse of being human. So, tonight some of us grieve for a tree. You may grieve for other things if you choose, but that doesn't diminish our loss.

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