this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? (mander.xyz)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There's no way you actually read that.

It's literally a blog post of one person's opinion which concludes without a definitive statement, that it's not settled if they're trees or not, and then links to a page "for further reading" that categorizes them under trees.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I did and I agree with the author. You do not have to agree with us. It's a form vs function argument. There is not a "right absolute" answer, it's about how you approach the question.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

then we agree that it's incorrect to definitively say that a "palm tree" is not a tree.

rigidly defending the boundaries of a biological category that's not a monophylitic group is an exercise in futility. or maybe in linguistics, because if it's not monophyletic it's not "real" in an evolutionary sense and the question is in the cultural realm and somewhat subjective. It's like the discussions about whether a certain food is a fruit/vegetable/etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I see it as a paradox. :) I don't like calling them trees. I just call them palms.