East Meets West

[hatman]

Eastern meditation: If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Western science: If a cat dies in a box, and no one is there to see it, is it really dead?

Personally, I've always been inclined to say, "Yes. Duh." But it's interesting how the two chose to express what is essentially the same general idea.

And, on thoughts of zombie cats (the brilliant solution from one of the early strips at rlfcomic.com ), I bid you a happy Halloween and a good night.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Comments

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

lol! Well done! Always knew there was a reason I liked you.

(I've told you my chicken & egg answer, right?)

P.S. Didn't I see you say something about absolutely needing to go to bed RIGHT NOW? Is this just a delayed comment notification (that's been happening a lot lately)?

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

"Over... think?" What is this strange thing of which you speak?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I've had people laugh at my answer, but I'm not sure it's actually funny. It wasn't meant to be, really. My conclusion is that it's actually a question of Creationism vs Darwinism.

To a creationist, it's simple. God created the chicken on the fifth day, with the other land animals. Therefore, the chicken came first. Done.

From an evolutionary standpoint, it can be just as simple. Modern birds evolved from dinosaurs. Dinosaurs laid eggs long before there were chickens. Therefore, the egg came first. Done.

But some might argue that the question is specifically about a chicken egg. No matter your precise definition of the requirements to be a chicken, at some point in time, you'll find a creature one step removed from that. We'll call it the proto-chicken. The proto-chicken's mutant offspring is the first chicken. That creature assuredly hatched from an egg. Not just an egg, but an egg from which a chicken hatched. A chicken egg. Therefore, the egg came first. Done.

So, if you're a Creationist, you'll say the chicken came first. If you're a Darwinist (and you give it a bit of thought), you'll say the egg came first.

This seemed more interesting and relevant last night, when I was much more tired.

Anyway, glad to know the delayed notification issue isn't just me. Hopefully, LJ will get things back together soon. The one for your comment here came in an hour late, which is much better than the several days it took for one of your other recent comments.