this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
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Science Memes

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Beetle Bros (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 47 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Isn't it one in every four different animals that are beetles? I'd imagine if you picked four random animals they'd mainly be nematodes. Or if it's by mass they'd be humans and cows!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What about plankton? Aren't they animals?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Marine plankton include bacteria, archaea, algae, protozoa, microscopic fungi, and drifting or floating animals that inhabit the saltwater of oceans and the brackish waters of estuaries

Apparently they're all sorts!

[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Pedantry is always important! I would argue that ants would be selected over humans by both mass and population

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Ah, I was thinking of this xkcd but it's land mammals only!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I'm considering the hovertext and I consider the pounds of bacteria in me to be Me. How are we dividing this out?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You'll have to have a referendum, consulting each bacterium and asking if they identify as part of the collective known as "you" or as an independent organism

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I am no anarcho-syndicalist commune a watery bint lobbed a scimitar at me

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Do the bacteria in you consider you to be one of them (so to speak), or are you just a cruise ship?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I do have a few swimming pools

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I did some low-effort Googling and now I’m seeing that maybe some sea critters like krill have the highest non-bacteria biomass.

Either way, none of these are beetles!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

The world truly belongs to bacteria, and we're just along for the ride.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

But biomass shouldn't be relevant here, right? Individual numbers determine how many friends you might potentially have.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Keep arguing folks, i'm learning so much that i never knew i needed to learn. Quickly turning into my favourite community here <3

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

The takeaway message: to maximize your number of potential friends, focus on making invertebrate friends and don't bother with the few billion humans ;)