Gorilla Filmmaking

"Talking nonsense is man's only privilege that distinguishes him from all other organisms." -Fyodor Dostoevsky

By now you've probably heard something about the BBC Chimp movie. "The world's first film shot entirely by chimpanzees is to be broadcast by the BBC as part of a natural history documentary."

Up until now we've only seen what these primates can do with paint, which is kinda impressive (especially Micheal's portrait of his dog Apple).

Anyways, the prospect of their transition into motion pictures is an exciting one... except....

There's something of a gray area, and I can't help but wonder if this counts as them shooting it.
According to the film's producer, Ms Herrelko, "The apes are unlikely to have actively tried to film any particular subject, or understand that by carrying Chimpcam around, they were making a film."

This is where I hear myself saying, "Okay, so they 'technically' shot it, since they were the ones 'operating' the camera." But what do I mean by technically?

I don't mean to get into an argument about semantics here, but when someone uses the word "technically" it translates into, "My pattern recognition software mostly agrees with what you're saying, but somewhere, on some level, it doesn't, however, the impact this section has on the overall conclusion I've automatically drawn is negligible to the parts that tell me otherwise."

Anyways, aside from it being a Television first, it offers an interesting hypothetical situation.
Imagine what it would be like being these apes as they are presented with a movie that they had no idea they shot (actually chances are they'll just fling poo at the screen, which may or may not be a criticism on the film itself).

Timeline of the Inevitable

Recently I've been compiling a list of the different ways Humanity will be destroyed assuming we don't develop the technology to escape Earth.
The list is divided into two columns.
The first column contains all the ways in which we could theoretically be destroyed in plausible, but unlikely ways, like for example an alien attack.
The second column lists all the ways in which we will be destroyed inevitably somewhere down the line due to the reality of the laws of Universe we currently exist in.

This is why I'm a hit at parties folks.

Anyways, sometimes the items destroying us will land into both columns, asteroids for instance.
This has given me reason to rework the list (that and the theoretical list is notably larger in size due to late night contributions that really don't belong on there, i.e. Godzilla).

While reworking the list, and looking over literature covering the last five mass extinctions of the dominant species of the past, I was reminded that the Moon exists.
The Moon is solid, unlike the Earth which we all know has a solid inner core surrounded by a liquid outer core.

The thought of the liquid outer core cooling and solidifying enough to meet the mantle hadn't occurred to me, but now that it has, it's on the list.

However, there's a problem.
The complete cooling of the Earth's liquid core wouldn't happen until after the Sun evolved into a Red Giant, which would engulf our planet. With that in mind, does the cooling of the core actually pose a threat?

Keep in mind that these are events that are bound to happen no matter what. They are on the timeline of the inevitable.

Help!

Imagine walking somewhere. The weather is generally acceptable and you're not in a hurry to get there, so your stride slowly changes into something more of a saunter.
Suddenly something across the street catches your attention.
It's a person.
For a moment the two of you make eye contact.
They appear to be in your age range, possibly younger but not by much. Despite showing no clear signs of illness or peril, you are somehow able to tell this person is in some sort of danger.
However, with no clear-cut indication as to whether or not this person needs your help you continue on to your destination.
The next day, after consulting your daily news source, you learn that the person you passed by the previous night was found dead less than half a kilometer from where you spotted them.
Details on the cause of death have been withheld.

Would you tell anybody that you saw this person the same night they died?
If you did, would you tell them about your sensing danger?

Clone Thought Experiment: The Dilemma

This is supplementary material to the question posed in Clone Thought Experiment.

We'll presume our situation to be exactly the way it was in the previous thought experiment, except this time, as you and your clone are being lead into the room, you are instead seated next to each other.
Sitting on the other side of the table is a tall, thin, and serious looking man in his 50's.

He explains that overnight there was a power surge that deleted all of the facilities documentation and files.
Every security camera tape had been erased and in the darkness there was much confusion.

His point being, the facility has lost track of which room you were placed in and which room the clone was placed in.

How can you go about telling yourselves apart?

Clone Thought Experiment

PREFACE
For the sake of this thought experiment, we will use the marvels of Science Fiction to create a Clone that is an exact duplicate of you right now, with all your same features and memories.


One evening you enter a cloning facility.
Upon entering you are greeted by an orderly and escorted to a plain room with a single bed.
You lie down on the bed and fall asleep.
The following morning you are awoken by the same orderly and lead into a white room.
Centered in the white room is a square table with two chairs.
Each chair has in front of it one sheet of paper and one sharpened number two pencil.
Across the room you notice another orderly, looking exactly like your orderly, simultaneously guide your clone into the room and towards the table.
You and your clone are then seated at the table and left alone.
A disembodied voice instructs you and your clone to draw a picture.


Will you and your clone draw the same picture?