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@vcorlaix in ur box, challengin ur philosophy

@stufromoz Sad memories of Simirlarly photoshpped Piper (Recently deceased cat friend, cantI cant find right how). ALSO this is equally important - a new animal just appeared out of nowhere. A muscovy duck. Clearly tame. He just struts around the place. Last light of daylight he was going to sleep at the top bit of the driveway. (Not bothered by loud 11YO nicece's game of "Christmas Tennis")

@vcorlaix The probability of any bit of matter or antimatter or any other thing in the universe being a duck approaches zero. Ducks are irreplaceably rare.

@vcorlaix@mastodon.social But wait, what about the atoms that make up the duck? Are they a duck or not a duck?

@ada @vcorlaix The atoms and their arrangement into the form of a duck make it a duck.

The materials to build something are not on their own the thing.

@vcorlaix Wellll, as someone with a degree in philosophy...it's not that simple. See, "duck" is an imprecise term. When you say "duck," do you mean just domesticated ducks? If so, you're dealing with two species, Anas platyrhynchos and Cairina moschata. The taxon that includes both these species of duck is the family Anatidae, which includes geese and swans, which are not ducks. In short, we must define "duck" before this statement makes logical sense.

(Someone stop me before I quote Plato....)

@danlharp
So if I understand well, before tearing the fabric of the universe, one must know if we are discussing if we face a potential african duck or an european duck.
Or, am I misquoting another philosophical movie?

@vcorlaix That's it exactly. Then we get into questions of what is meant by a species, and is species merely a human construct with no real meaning, which would have implications for the universe, if the universe is either a duck, or not a duck.

@danlharp so, the subsequent question is as follows : was the universe created by the Big Kwack?

@vcorlaix For Anglophone philosophers, yes. However, Francophone philosophers (including such luminaries as Derrida, Sartre, and Foucault) have argued that the universe began with Le Canard Cancane. Note that the name of the dance called the Can Can was derived from the verb "cancaner." Therefore, Francophone philosophy tends to see the universe as a dance, while Anglophones see the universe as a barnyard.

@danlharp Le Canard Cancane sounds like a cabaret’s name (which makes sense in a way… such places are ofter the end and beginning of some universes).
Anyway, I really like the idea of some seeing the universe as a (cosmic) dance. I also like the concept of the universe as a barnyard.
And I don’t think both points of view are incompatible.
I can dance in a barnyard.

@vcorlaix Is it a duck? Discuss.

@ed @vcorlaix Definitely a duck. It looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.