I decided to move some discussion from this post up to the top level here. Specifically, Watoosh wrote: "Well, if violence is defined as initiation of force (which, of course, presupposes certain property rights), then I think Rockwell is correct..." Well, if we define cats as elephants, then many people keep elephants in their house. More seriously, firstly, violence is not usually defined that way. It's defined as, you know, violence, so that, say, someone may respond violently or non-violently to someone who aggresses against them. Otherwise, it would make no sense to say, for instance, "He punched me, but I did not stoop to violence in response." And, secondly, the libertarian usage of "initiation of force" is very offbeat. If I wander onto someone's meadow, most people would not say I had "initiated force" -- I mean, sure, I used "force" against the earth to push off walking, but that's not force directed against...
Giving plants mobility is just part of the process of getting a small tool to Titan.
ReplyDeleteI dunno Gene, this sounds very "meme-ish" to me... :) Shoot, I can't remember how it goes, something like, "A human is a library's way of building another library" or something.
ReplyDeleteI forgot Kurt was there first.
ReplyDeleteGene, while we help propagate plants deliberately, plants long ago developed ways to use insects and animals to propagate themselves - as parts of the fertilization and seed propagation processes. That`s why plants have fruits, for example.
ReplyDeleteYou might also be aware that certain ants (leaf cutters) raise various types of fungi - which does involve carrying the fungus around whenever a new nest in established.
So far, my thesis is cool -- I was referring to the grown plants, not seeds, and fungi ain't plants!
ReplyDeleteIf your thesis is narrowed from offering plant mobility to the uprooting and replanting of mature plants, then it bears up remarkably well.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem is that very few people actually do any transplanting of mature plants, leaving them sadly without any meaning for their lives.