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Darwin's Voyage Done Over, Live
thrill12 writes "Almost 178 years ago, Charles Darwin set sail in the HMS Beagle, to do the now famous explorations that formed the basis for Darwin's On The Origin Of Species. Now, a group of British and Dutch scientists, journalists and artists set sail again to redo the voyage of the Beagle. This time, they are taking modern equipment with them and they have live connections through Twitter, Youtube, Facebook and Flickr. As they re-explore, and (re)discover, we can join that 8-month-long trip, live over the internet."
"Almost 178 years ago, this piece of news was released to the world. Now, Slashdot reports."
By now the finches will have evolved to feed on natural historians, and other assorted crew.
Whoever thinks this should be tagged waste of time is just silly. Hell, if I were single and had the opportunity this would be a really interesting experience. If the media attention helps to remind people even a little of the fragility of the ecological balance on the planet all the better, and surely not a waste of time.
(Disclaimer: I don't believe that an "ecological balance" equals no changes, but we can't honestly claim not to be raping the planet in several aspects at the moment. IMHO anyway...)
.: Max Romantschuk
Let's see a live re-creation of RMS Titanic's maiden voyage. Now that would be good television.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
The last time there was a truly made-for-the-classroom movie, it was called The Voyage of the Mimi. It not only brought the crisis of dwindling humpback whale populations to elementary school students, it provided survival education lessons on avoiding contaminated foods, creating drinkable water, and building shelter. I'd not be so quick to dismiss edutainment, especially when it is in the pursuit of re-enacting one of the most important non-hard scientific studies of all time.
As an added bonus, you never know which child actor will grow up to become one of Hollywood's most popular and gifted actors.
This does sound like a cool project and I'll keep an eye on it, but I worry about the consequences of lauding Darwin and his work too much. Creationists, IDers and other crackpots often attack evolution by attacking errors or omissions that Darwin made, ignoring almost two centuries of refinements and advancements since his work. They also love to strawman scientists and other people who accept the evidence for evolution by referring to them as "Darwinists", implying that it's a simple case of "faith in God" vs. "faith in Darwin", rather than a matter of evidence.
Darwin certainly deserves to be remembered and respected for the amazing groundwork and insights he gave us. But I think there's a danger of looking too fixated on one personality and his centuries-old pronouncements at the expense of modern and more solid results. It sucks that we have to consider stuff like this, but like it or not there is an ideological battle going on. Because IDers and creationists are basing their arguments on emotion and strawmen, we have to consider what attacks we're exposing ourselves to, even (or especially) if they're unfair and totally illogical.
It does look like the ship will be packed with modern research equipment; hopefully the media they put out will heavily emphasise the modern data supporting evolution and acknowledging where Darwin's work has been improved upon, emphasising the success of the scientific method over the hero-worship.
wake me up when they do an intergalactic voyage with an FTL drive to see the evolution of life across the universe... darn, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to sleep a long time :)
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
And so the first of many blessed pilgrims set out to become one niche closer to He Who Was Fittest, Darwin. By standing in His very foot prints, they too wouldst experience what was experienced through his highly evolved sensory organs. In their specialized grasping limbs, they wouldst wield the implements by which scrolls of eldritch knowledge would be wrought. As men they did die, but proven to be fit themselves, they too shall survive yet; not through their mortal vessels, but through story and song they outlive the ages.
Anyone know how they're doing live video at sea?
Dupe - similar story on Slashdot 178 years ago
Maybe we could get a grant to recreate the Mayflower and the Titanic in one go. Stuff a ship full of fundementalists and sink it in the Atlantic.
Actually they did. and quite exentsive with that. But as its a Dutch/Belgium cooperation, the site is mostly in Dutch. http://beagle.vpro.nl/ But there is a section in English (and in Spanish and in Portuges) http://beagle.vpro.nl/#/page/item/12/english/
By now the finches will have evolved to feed on natural historians, and other assorted crew.
"If you watch closely the lower left corner of the picture, you'll be able to see an impressive specimen of Dr. Johansson's newly discovered Devoratrix Historiator; or, as the team liked to call them, a 'skullfucker'"
"On the next picture you can see a closer image, slightly darkened by some of Dr. Johansson's blood and brain pieces on the camera."
Looks like a great project, however the website has got to be one of the most horrid and difficult to use things Ive seen in a web browser. Ever. Add that apparently they have been drinking from the MS Silverlight koolaid machine, and despite my interest in the project, I can say it will not be a site I will waste my time visiting anymore.
Anyone who is interested in this topic should watch the BBC documentary "Galápagos: The Islands That Changed the World". It is fascinating and beautifully shot. You can buy it on DVD or BD, or rent it from Netflix.
If anyone's interested, Charles Darwin's book The Voyage of the Beagle is available from Gutenberg, free in both senses of the word.