Is God a paleontologist?

 

Credit: Prajina Khatiwada

So I just learned that Hindus worship fossil ammonites as divine incarnations. Corals, too! Amazing stuff, seriously. So I had a topic for tonight´s ChatGPT essay. Strangest so far? 

What is the shalagrama?

A Śālagrāma (or Śālagrām Śilā) is a very sacred object of worship in Vaishnavism. It is a type of fossilized ammonite stone found only in the Gandaki River (especially around Muktinath, Nepal).

Here’s the essence:

1. Physical Nature

• They are usually black, roundish stones with natural spiral markings.

• These spirals are the fossilized remains of ancient ammonites (marine creatures that lived millions of years ago).

• Devotees believe the natural markings represent Vishnu’s symbols like the chakra (discus), shankha (conch), gada (mace), and padma (lotus).

2. Religious Importance

• Śālagrāmas are considered non-anthropomorphic forms of Lord Vishnu.

• No consecration (prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā) is required — they are inherently divine.

• In many households, especially among Vaishnavas, worship of the Śālagrāma is considered equal to worshiping Vishnu in a temple.

3. Worship

• Traditionally kept with a Tulasi (holy basil) plant, since Tulasi is dear to Vishnu.

• Worship involves offering water, tulasi leaves, and simple prayers rather than elaborate rituals.

• It is believed to protect the household, grant prosperity, and purify sins.

4. Mythology

• According to the Padma Purāṇa, the Śālagrāma is the form of Lord Vishnu himself, who resides eternally in the Gandaki river.

• The spirals are said to be the mark of the Sudarshana Chakra.

• The river itself is associated with the goddess Tulasi, making the pairing especially auspicious.

5. Special Rules

• Only certain people (especially married men in the orthodox tradition) are advised to perform daily Śālagrāma pūjā.

• Women and renunciates may worship indirectly by offering flowers or water, but often do not handle the stone directly.

• It is considered a living deity, not just a symbol.

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So in short: the Śālagrāma is a sacred fossil stone worshiped as Vishnu himself, embodying the eternal presence of God in natural form.

Would you like me to also describe the different types of Śālagrāma (there are many varieties, each associated with a form of Vishnu, like Narasimha, Varaha, Lakshmi-Narayana, etc.)?

Yes, please.

Great! Let’s dive into the types of Śālagrāmas.

In Vaishnava tradition, different Śālagrāma stones are said to embody different forms (mūrtis) of Vishnu. The distinctions come from their shape, color, number of spiral marks, and openings (vāttas).

Here are some of the important ones:

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Main Types of Śālagrāma

1. Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa Śālagrāma

   • Golden or yellowish tint, with clear markings.

   • Brings wealth, prosperity, and harmony in the household.

2. Hayagrīva Śālagrāma

   • Long shape, resembling a horse’s head.

   • Grants knowledge, eloquence, and helps in studies.

3. Narasimha Śālagrāma

   • Fierce-looking, often with multiple openings or rough surface.

   • Destroys enemies, removes fear, and grants courage.

4. Varāha Śālagrāma

   • Has a raised portion like a snout.

   • Protects from calamities and uplifts devotees spiritually.

5. Vāmana Śālagrāma

   • Small, dwarf-like shape.

   • Grants humility, simplicity, and spiritual growth.

6. Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṁha Śālagrāma

   • Combination of gentle and fierce markings.

   • Removes fear while ensuring prosperity and grace.

7. Dāmodara Śālagrāma

   • Rope-like circular mark, symbolizing baby Krishna tied to the mortar.

   • Bestows devotion (bhakti) and childlike joy.

8. Matsya Śālagrāma

   • Fish-like shape.

   • Protects from dangers of water and travel.

9. Kūrma Śālagrāma

   • Tortoise-like, flat bottom, rounded top.

   • Gives stability, patience, and strength.

10. Ananta / Śeṣa Śālagrāma

• With multiple spiral markings.

• Symbolizes Vishnu resting on the cosmic serpent.

• Grants protection and liberation.

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General Beliefs

• Some Śālagrāmas are considered very powerful and auspicious but also difficult to worship (e.g. Narasimha type).

• Families often prefer Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa Śālagrāma, as it is believed to bring peace and abundance without fierce side-effects.

• The Padma Purāṇa and Skanda Purāṇa describe up to 25–30 types, but local traditions sometimes expand this to hundreds of variations.

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Interesting Point

Śālagrāma worship is seen as timeless and Vedic — it does not require temple consecration or priestly mediation. In fact, many householders in South India and Nepal keep one or more Śālagrāmas in their home shrine, usually alongside a Tulasi plant.

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Would you like me to also give you the list of benefits and risks traditionally associated with worshiping the different types (for example, why some are said to be “too intense” for ordinary householders)?

Yes, please.

Perfect, let’s go into the traditional benefits and cautions associated with the different types of Śālagrāma.

Many Purāṇas and manuals (like the Bṛhat-Saṁhitā, Padma Purāṇa, Skanda Purāṇa) describe that while all Śālagrāmas are auspicious, some carry gentle blessings and others are too intense for ordinary householders (gṛhasthas).

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🌸 Śālagrāmas That Are Considered “Safe” and Auspicious for Householders

These are recommended for family prosperity, harmony, and general worship:

• Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa – Brings wealth, health, and household harmony.

• Dāmodara – Grants devotion (bhakti) and childlike joy.

• Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṁha (gentle type) – Removes fear, brings prosperity and divine grace.

• Kūrma (tortoise-like) – Gives patience, stability, protection in difficulties.

• Matsya – Protects from water-related dangers, travel hazards.

• Ananta/Śeṣa – Ensures protection, family well-being, and spiritual progress.

• Vāmana – Promotes humility, good conduct, and balance in life.

👉 These are commonly found in South Indian homes, and they are said to bless without causing disruption.

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🔥 Śālagrāmas Considered Very Powerful / Intense

These are worshiped mainly by renunciates, ascetics, or in temples — not usually recommended for householders, since their energy is fierce and can “demand” more austerity from the devotee:

• Nṛsiṁha (fierce type) – Extremely protective, destroys enemies, but too fiery for ordinary home life.

• Sudarsana (chakra-like markings) – Gives immense energy and destroys evil, but may disrupt household harmony if not worshiped properly.

• Rāma / Paraśurāma types – Associated with strict dharma and battle; worship may lead to conflicts or karmic tests.

• Trivikrama / Vāmana with large features – Said to be too expansive, may disturb domestic peace.

• Hayagrīva – Bestows knowledge but demands high purity; misworship is said to lead to confusion or loss of memory.

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🌌 Why Some Are Considered “Risky”

• The belief is not that these stones are “bad,” but that their shakti is too intense for normal family life.

• If a householder without strong spiritual discipline keeps a fierce Śālagrāma, it is said that life circumstances may become difficult — like tests, conflicts, or austerities being imposed by the deity.

• Ascetics and temple priests, however, often welcome these fierce forms.

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🌿 General Belief

• A single Śālagrāma in the house is enough; some families keep many.

• Worship usually involves: bathing the stone, offering Tulasi leaves, chanting mantras like Om Namo Nārāyaṇāya.

• Unlike a consecrated idol (mūrti), the Śālagrāma is believed to be self-manifest (svayambhū) and inherently divine.

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👉 So, if someone wants a Śālagrāma at home, tradition suggests choosing a gentle, auspicious type (Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Dāmodara, Kūrma, Ananta) — while leaving the fierce Narasiṁha or Sudarśana stones to temples and renunciates.

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Would you like me to also explain how householders actually worship the Śālagrāma daily (the simple procedure and rules that are usually followed)?

What is a Dvaravati sila?

Good question — the Dvārāvatī Śilā (sometimes just called Dvārakā-śilā) is closely related to the Śālagrāma tradition but has its own unique identity.

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🌊 What It Is

• A Dvārāvatī Śilā is a naturally formed stone found in the Gomati River (in and around Dvārakā, Gujarat, the legendary city of Lord Kṛṣṇa).

• Just as Śālagrāmas come from the Gandaki River in Nepal and embody Viṣṇu, the Dvārāvatī Śilās are said to embody Kṛṣṇa in His Dvārakā aspect — the Lord as king, householder, and protector.

• They often have natural chakra-like markings (spirals, wheel impressions, or fossilized designs) on their surface.

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✨ Scriptural Status

• Mentioned in the Skanda Purāṇa and other texts as sacred stones, said to carry the presence of Lord Viṣṇu / Kṛṣṇa.

• Some Vaiṣṇava traditions (especially Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas) treat them as being equally worshipful as Śālagrāmas, while others regard them as slightly different, more “accessible” for householders.

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🌸 Believed Benefits

• Worship brings Kṛṣṇa’s grace, prosperity, and peace in household life.

• Said to be gentler than fierce Śālagrāmas, so more suitable for families.

• Specifically associated with protection, devotion (bhakti), and the blessings of Dvārakā-pati Kṛṣṇa.

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🔍 Difference from Śālagrāma

• Origin: Śālagrāma → Gandaki River (Nepal); Dvārāvatī Śilā → Gomati River (Dvārakā).

• Aspect: Śālagrāma → Viṣṇu in cosmic forms (Nārāyaṇa, Nṛsiṁha, Varāha, etc.); Dvārāvatī Śilā → Kṛṣṇa in His earthly royal aspect.

• Suitability: Śālagrāmas can be very intense (some types not advised for householders), whereas Dvārāvatī Śilās are generally seen as milder and auspicious for home worship.

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🌿 Worship

• Similar to Śālagrāma: bathing daily, offering Tulasi, flowers, incense, and chanting mantras (e.g., Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya).

• In some homes, Śālagrāma and Dvārāvatī Śilā are kept together and worshiped jointly, as symbolic of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa.

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So, to put it simply:
A Dvārāvatī Śilā is a sacred stone from Dvārakā’s Gomati River that embodies Kṛṣṇa, much like the Śālagrāma embodies Viṣṇu.

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Would you like me to also describe the different types of Dvārāvatī Śilās (based on their markings and colors), just like the Śālagrāma classifications?

Yes, please. Are these stones actually corals?

Excellent follow-up — you’re right to ask, because there is a fascinating natural explanation behind both Śālagrāmas and Dvārāvatī Śilās.

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🔹 Are Dvārāvatī Śilās actually corals?

Yes. Most Dvārāvatī Śilās are actually fossilized corals from the Gomati River near Dvārakā (Gujarat).

• The natural wheel-like patterns (chakra) seen on them are cross-sections of ancient corals.

• The texture is lighter and more porous than Śālagrāmas (which are ammonite fossils from Nepal’s Gandaki river).

• This fossilization links them to the ancient seabed — which fits perfectly with Dvārakā’s identity as a coastal city of Kṛṣṇa.

So:

• Śālagrāma = Ammonite fossils (marine creatures with spiral shells).

• Dvārāvatī Śilā = Fossil corals (with natural chakra-like structures).

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🔹 Types of Dvārāvatī Śilās

Texts like the Skanda Purāṇa and Gomati Māhātmya list 25 or 30+ types, depending on classification. Each type is identified by color, shape, and markings, and each is believed to bring a distinct blessing.

Some examples:

1. Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa Śilā – two wheel marks together → symbolizes divine couple, grants wealth and prosperity.

2. Sudhārśana Śilā – strong, clear chakra mark → represents Sudarśana Cakra, protection from enemies and evil forces.

3. Padma Śilā – lotus-like marking → fertility, family happiness.

4. Śaṅkha Śilā – conch-like design → auspiciousness, removal of sins.

5. Matsya Śilā – fish-like marking → protection from calamities, helps spiritual progress.

6. Nṛsiṁha Śilā – fierce markings or rough surface → grants courage, protection from fear.

7. Dāmodara Śilā – rope-like pattern → devotion, especially to child Kṛṣṇa.

8. Garuda Śilā – wing-like impressions → liberation, removal of obstacles.

Some Śilās are said to be very auspicious for householders (e.g., Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa, Padma), while a few with fierce markings (like Nṛsiṁha) are traditionally worshiped only by ascetics or in temples.

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🔹 Worship and Use

• Always worshiped with Tulasi leaves (since Tulasi is beloved of Viṣṇu/Kṛṣṇa).

• Placed on a small pedestal (pīṭha) or kept together with Śālagrāma.

• Daily offerings: water, sandal paste, flowers, lamp, incense, and chanting of mantras like Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya.

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So, in essence:
👉 Dvārāvatī Śilās are fossil corals from Gomati River, carrying chakra-like markings, worshiped as living embodiments of Lord Kṛṣṇa in His Dvārakā aspect.
👉 Each type is classified by its markings, with specific blessings tied to it.

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Would you like me to make a side-by-side comparison table of Śālagrāma vs. Dvārāvatī Śilā, showing their origin, substance, and spiritual focus?

Survivors

 

Credit: Guillaume Baviere 

So I just watched the second episode of "Sveriges hav" (The Seas of Sweden), and it seems most of it actually is about, you know, Sweden. The first episode was about the Shetland Islands?! The sequel has the subtitle "Östersjöns överlevare" (Survivors of the Baltic Sea). Gotland is featured, but a Danish island has also been sneaked in, and who knows what else. 

Not sure if anyone even survived this extravaganza of various animals munching on each other. Starfish attacking clams, herring gulls swooping down on eider ducklings, the Gotland subspecies of grass snake hunting for fish in the sea...but also seals generally basking in the sun, waiting for better times. You get the picture. There are also enormous populations of moon jellies in the Baltic Sea, apparently a problem since they eat too much (and hence presumably out-compete the fish eaten by humans). 

It seems Lake NATO is really a gigantic smorgasbord! May it survive for the benefit of future hungry generations, and so forth.

  

Reverse aging

 

A comb jelly
Credit: Steven G Johnson

A kind of weird experiment, would probably have been considered cruelty to animals had it not been a primitive/basal jellyfish-like organism, so the RSPCA and the ALF don´t give shit! Still, I suppose the ability to "reverse aging" is...interesting. What a pity it´s only cnidarians, comb jellies and the dog tapeworm (!) that has this unusual ability. 

This sea creature can age in reverse

The next link goes to a Wiki article about "Ming the Mollusk", a quahog clam and the oldest animal ever recorded. Or rather "the oldest individual (non-colonial) animal ever discovered whose age could be precisely determined". Yes, it was 507 years old when it was captured and killed (!) off the Icelandic coast. So this damn mollusc was older than our industrial civilization?!

Ming (clam)  

And if you absolutely want to read Wikipedia´s confusing list of the oldest organisms ever-ever-forever (many considerably more ancient than poor old Ming), you can find it here. I *think* the absolutely oldest living "things" ever were bacterial spores found in New Mexico which were revived after 250 million years. And then there´s the story about the scientist in California who sold "Amber Ale" produced with a 45 million year old revived yeast!

Somehow, I find that hard to believe. 

List of longest-living organisms

If evolution is true, why are there still humans?

 

An evolutionary impossibility?

Some lighter bedtime reading (my time) on the theme "we are not the crown of creation". Note the bizarre information about octopi! Note also the interview with Dougal Dixon, whose book "After Man" was one of my favorite bedtime readings when I was much younger...

Does evolution ever go backward? 

Why haven´t all primates evolved into humans?

When humans are gone

All planets and moons are ours...except Europa

 

A short article and a somewhat longer YouTube video, speculating that the octopus is an alien being, perhaps from Europa or Enceladus. In another video, Sheridan claims that Stanley Kubrick knew the truth about the Europa situation. Note also the obvious similarity with H P Lovecraft´s mythos. Sheridan actually wants to worship the octopi as sacred creatures. One reason is to scare the shit out of the Normies! Another is to get the attention of the octopuses and see how they react... 

Fact check: probably not true, since last I looked octopus DNA was of the same type as the DNA of all other organisms on planet Earth. So it´s a native. But yes, its intelligence is a fascinating example of "convergent evolution".  

Europa: Home planet of the octopus...and their cryogenic space ships?

The man-eating octopi

 

This week in weird - are there gigantic fresh-water octopi in man-made lakes in Oklahoma?! Probably not, LOL, but the folklore (or fakelore?) is interesting. 

Many suspect that this cryptid is completely fake, made up for a recent TV "documentary". However, the above YouTube channel managed to trace the story to a 1987 letter to the Fortean magazine INFO Journal. It was written by an American Indian, Russell Bates, and purports to retell a Native tradition about monstrous creatures in Oklahoma´s lakes, creatures never named but similar to...you guessed it, octopi. The YouTuber is too nice to say it, but of course the letter could have been a hoax. Bates was a script-writer associated with "Star Trek"! 

I also find it curious that one of the man-made lakes in which the dangerous octopus supposedly lives is named after another cryptid: Lake Thunderbird.

The video ends with some (perhaps real) cases of regular octopuses found in freshwater, including a seemingly sensational photo. But alas, it´s probably a known species. In other words: some idiot deliberately released an octopus into a river. And here we are, decades later, still talking about it...   

Speculation, speculation...

 

A lot of speculation in this one. Or rather in the list the content-creator is commenting, a list of the ten most likely cryptids to be discovered during the 21st century. 

The list sounds like wish-fulfillment. 

From the top of my head (which is considerable - both the top and the head), the thylacine, the giant eel and the giant octopus seem to be the three most likely candidates. Since the other cryptids might not exist at all, their discovery - this century or the next - is *highly* unlikely...

Here´s a more certain prediction: there will still be enthusiasts in 2100 hunting the Gugu, the Megalenia or whatever cryptids will be on the top ten!

Progressive mankind, rejoice ye!

 

Progressive people all over the world
are celebrating world´s biggest oyster!

Is Reality messing with my ass, or what? I recently mocked a story about a squatch in a Stockholm suburb, and just one day later, a moose stopped the traffick at the Stockholm metro?! And look now: at the West Coast of Sweden, two dude bros found what could be...wait for it...the world´s largest oyster?! Even more funny, it´s an invasive species (although not an actual cryptid). And yes, you can eat it?! 

The news article is only available in Swedish at the present time, but I´m sure ChatGPT or even Google Translate can help you out. The photo is self-explanatory. 

"Kan ha hittat världens största ostron"

Scandinavian escargot

 

Credit: Waugsberg 

“Nationalnyckeln” is a Swedish multi-volume encyclopedia the original purpose of which was to describe all (as in every single one) species of multi-cellular organism in Sweden. That would take at least 100 volumes, and since the Swedish government (both governments) stopped paying, the project will probably never be completed. But not for want of trying, since the editorial board is still publishing new volumes at a semi-regular basis.

The latest one, hot off the printers as we speak, has the mysterious designation DN 168-202 and the long title “Blötdjur. Snyltsnäckor – skivsnäckor. Mollusca: Pyramidellidae – Planorbidae”. It covers 193 species of “pulmonated” snails and slugs (you heard me). They are classified into three superorders known respectively as Pylopulmonata, Eupulmonata and Hygrophila.

As usual when it comes to invertebrates, both the species diversity and the yuck factor are considerable. The “pyramid shells” or “pyrams” are impossibly small marine snails that suck body fluids out of somewhat larger invertebrates. The book calls them “the mosquitoes of the sea”! In sharp contrast to this, we have the escargot, introduced to Sweden already during the Middle Ages by Catholic monks who ate them as Friday “fasting” food, today an established “naturalized” species in the wild, although still found around manors, palaces and old ruins to a great extent. And, of course, in gardens. Not sure if we eat them anymore, though. Indeed, quite a few of the species covered have been inadvertently introduced by man. Snails being slow as a snail, they often stay around the green houses, gardens or parks to which they were first “introduced” by the gardening trade. Some specific species even live in the grassy sections of roundabouts!

As for the yuck factor…well, these snails and slugs are hermaphrodites, making their mating habits kind of weird, since they “mate” by exchanging sperm capsules with each other?! Don´t tell the local trans-activists about this stuff, please.

The volume contains both species presentations, illustrations, color photos, and keys to species identification. The shells are depicted from different angles. Although the book is huge, it´s clear that the editors want it to be used as an actual field guide – or at least identification guide, since I assume you have to collect the specimens you want to identify. The volume only covers Sweden, but is remarkably complete, even describing species only found once or twice on our territory. There are also more general chapters on the morphology and ecology of these mollusks, and how to collect them (if that´s your thing in life). No escargot recipes, though.

All in Swedish, and probably not recommended unless you are a pulmonated aficionado. We still don´t know what the next volume of this never-ending encyclopedia will bring us, but knowing these guys, probably another invertebrate extravaganza!  

I solved Fermi´s paradox, guys

Previously posted on July 20, 2019.

There are two obvious solutions to Fermi´s paradox, and the reason why the matter hasn´t been put to rest is simply that both answers are intolerable to Modern Man and his belief in Eternal Progress, or rather a very specific view of Eternal Progress.

The first obvious answer is the Rare Earth hypothesis. We really are alone, and we are alone *not* because all civilizations go through a human-like history and eventually destroy themselves in a human-like nuclear war (a typical 1970´s anthropocentric conceit), but because multi-cellular life, or perhaps life as such, only emerged once in the entire universe – here on the third rock from the Sun. I´m not sure why this scenario is so intolerable to so many. Asimov has it, and in his novels, humans eventually conquer the entire galaxy because of it. I mean, there is no one to stop us! It´s almost as if the believers in eternal progress want there to be advanced alien civilizations as a kind of guarantee that we will once reach that stage, too. And a secret wish to fall down and worship the aliens…?

The second obvious answer is that the universe is *teeming* with life, including advanced life, yes, including advanced intelligent life…but most of it is unable to or even uninterested in developing our kind of advanced technology, let alone fly around in space. (If you believe in the supernatural, you could even argue that most life is clever enough to avoid this shitty universe, much preferring the astral delights of some spirit-dimension.) Humans aren´t the only intelligent species on Earth. What about chimpanzees, whales, ravens, or even octopi? Let´s assume whales or octopi evolve for another 100 million years or so. What makes us think they can´t become smarter? And why must this necessarily entail leaving the sea, becoming bipedal and have opposable thumbs? “Because that is the only way we can create a civilization”. No, it isn´t. What makes us think the only way to create a civilization is the human way? What makes us think a species with whale-derived intelligence would want to make the things humans are making? Come to think of it, even creatures driven by pure instinct can create something eerily resembling a civilization. Yes, I´m thinking of ants, which did it millions of years before humans even existed.

And that´s just one planet…

Imagine what weird and wonderful creatures could evolve at other planets. Once again: what makes us think they would be interested in communicating with other star systems (or conquering them), rather than studying the notochord, the immortality of the common cockchafer, or what have you. If they evolved differently from us, they might not even *need* to create a high technology civilization that emits radio waves. That´s something we have to do because we (or many of us, at any rate) wouldn´t survive without one. Other species might not need this kind of jerry-rigged contraption.

Believers in the very specific kind of progress which entails going to the stars can come up with some pretty bizarre scenarios “solving” Fermi´s paradox. Thus, one prominent atheist (who is otherwise a very smart guy) claims that the aliens must be hiding in the empty space in between star systems (that´s why we can´t see them) constantly hooked up to a virtual reality more interesting than our galaxy (that´s why they don´t bother with humans). Analyzing the Bayesian probability for this might be interesting, even apart from the fact that it sounds almost religious…

Next week, your favorite blogger will solve Euthyphro´s dilemma and the theodicy problem. End of transmission.

Animals need to eat

"Wild Greece: Highlands and islands" is a two-part nature documentary produced by the Austrian TV network ORT. When I saw it, I was *almost* shocked. Is it just me, or do nature docus these days no longer show predation, aggression and too explicit mating? Many times, the hunter becomes the hunted, smaller animals succesfully challenge larger, and so on. Not wrong, per se, but surely a new development? Except in this one! It seems animals (of all sizes and phyla) in Greece still devour each other in good ol´ social-Darwinist fashion, not to mention some pretty agressive mating habits (or intra-species fights in general). Or at least in the highlands and on the islands... 

There doesn´t seem to be any deeper point with this production (not that it must have one) except to show various spectacular Greek vistas (with not a single Greek in sight) and as many animal species as humanly possible within a two-episode format. Brace yourselves for vultures, falcons, pelicans, cormorants, all kinds of passerines...and that´s just the birds. Snakes, lizards (some of them pretty weird), moths, really scary orthopterans and allies, the inevitable feral goats, and surprisingly petit bears (well, at least they´re petit by bear standards) are some of the other highlights. And speaking of highs, they actually show Mount Olympus, the abode of the Hellenic gods according to traditional mythology. The gods are gone, but the mountain itself turns out to have more than one peak! 

Another spectacular site shown is the small island of Antikythera north of Crete, mostly known for the strange "computer" salvaged there from an ancient shipwreck. The mechanism is not shown (it´s a *nature* documentary, remember?), but seeing the island, I can understand why a ship might have gotten in trouble there! Today, the most notable nature-related site on the island is a large breeding colony of fairly large falcons (the species known as Eleonora´s falcon, to be exact). Apparently, the migratory birds spend the winter in Madagascar, so perhaps a docu from that place will show them, too? 

"Wild Greece" might be good for tourists who visited Greece and (of course) didn´t see any of the above, or for occasional nature documentary aficionados as yours truly, but might be considered immensely boring if, say, the trial of Socrates or the exploits of Herakles are more your thing...      

The real Otherkin

"Nationalnyckeln till Sveriges flora och fauna" is a work in progress, published by Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), i.e. the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The original ambition was to describe all (!) species of living organisms found in Sweden in about 100 volumes, published over a period of 20 years. 16 years into the project, only 20 volumes have been published, and something tells me we will never see the happy ending of this particular project! Still, the books produced so far *are* interesting, at least if you´re some kind of super-nerd with a strong tendency to favor invertebrates, mosses or fish. I´m pretty sure volume CV is the only encyclopedic treatment of the Psocoptera *with full color photos* available on the market, to take just one example.

The latest installment in this potentially never-ending series arrived earlier today at my COVID-restricted pick up location somewhere in Sweden. Yes, it´s volume DN 110-167, titled "Blötdjur. Sidopalpssnäckor - taggsäckssnäckor. Mollusca: Cimidae - Asperspinidae". Yes, folks, it´s time to give the small subsection of the nerd community who specialize in molluscan cladistics their due! This volume covers Heterobranchia ("the different gilled-snails"), more specifically the infraclasses Lower Heterobranchia and Euthyneura, minus the superorders Pylopulmonata, Eupulmonata and Hygrophila, to be covered in another volume at some unspecified later date. In plain English, most "standard" snails and slugs (the ones you eat, the ones that eat your vegetables, etc) have been excluded from this work, which concentrates almost exclusively on marine species, many of them positively bizarre. 

The authors make a valiant attempt to sort out the cladistically correct relationships between the taxa described in the book, and an even more daring attempt to describe the often quite strange anatomy and behavior of these "sea slugs and sea snails". I´m not sure if they really succeed. What was that again about "secondary detorsion" and "internal symmetry", or whatever it was? And what on earth is a "protandric hermaphrodite"? Yes, it means that an organism is born a male and later in life switches biological sex and becomes female. It also seems that many of these Mollusca have the "wrong" body plans altogether, which I suppose keep evolutionary biologists and geneticists up all night, scratching their heads. (Creationists have a ready answer: God did it to confound the non-believers! Why he created the protandric hermaphrodites is, alas, less clear.) 

The most bizarre creature in the entire volume is Elysia viridis, a sea slug with the ability to photosynthesize sun light! The authors even refer to it as a "plantimal", a term I assume is derived from science fiction. Through a process known as kleptoplasty, Elysia incorporates chloroplasts from green algae it consumes into its own cells, thereby becoming "solar-powered" like a plant. Since chloroplasts could be considered cyanobacteria, the relationship is a kind of "symbiosis". Here we have a true Otherkin, it seems! 

Compared to this, the capture of cnidarian nematocysts (stinging cells) by the Nudibranchia is almost trivial...

The species presentations contain information on morphology, behavior and ecology (if known), and range. There is also some information on the scientific names. No English summaries seem to exist, but the keys are bilingual. Most species are illustrated by color pics of their soft bodies and/or shells. Vernacular Swedish names, many of them weird, seems to have been invented by the authors and approved by the mysterious committee regulating such things. Trust me, we don´t know what on earth "klubbnuding", "dubbelvårting" or "Y-tecknad snigelkott" is supposed to mean (well, maybe barely)! 

This will hardly be a best seller, but if heterobranchs is your main thing in life, investing in a copy might be a good idea. At least if you understand Swedish. 

And perhaps even if you don´t. 

En riktig toppensnäcka

Först en skalbagge, och nu en snäcka. Jag är avundsjuk. Kan inte någon uppkalla en slemsvamp efter Ashtar Command? 😃

Från Aftonbladet. 

Ny art av snäcka uppkallad efter Greta Thunberg

The return of the Old Ones

Chandra Wickramasinghe, Fred Hoyle´s old associate, is one of the scientists who two years ago signed a paper arguing that "panspermia" rather than "abiogenesis" is how life originated and evolved on Earth. The idea is that all life really comes from space and "seeds" our planet on a semi-regular basis, for instance during the Cambrian Explosion. 

Wickramasinghe also connects panspermia to the steady state cosmology usually associated with his late collegue Hoyle. Since the universe is eternal, life is really eternal, too, so no need for any complicated hypothesis about abiogenesis! Needless to say, few scientists believe in Wickramasinghe´s scenario - it´s probably too daring even for admirers of Lynn Margulis - but it´s fascinating anyhow. 

The media particularly liked the idea that the octopus was an "alien from outer space". I´m reliably informed that certain occultists and chaos magicians do the same. You know, Cthulhu and all that stuff...  

The return of panspermia

I solved Fermi´s paradox, guys

There are two obvious solutions to Fermi´s paradox, and the reason why the matter hasn´t been put to rest is simply that both answers are intolerable to Modern Man and his belief in Eternal Progress, or rather a very specific view of Eternal Progress.

The first obvious answer is the Rare Earth hypothesis. We really are alone, and we are alone *not* because all civilizations go through a human-like history and eventually destroy themselves in a human-like nuclear war (a typical 1970´s anthropocentric conceit), but because multi-cellular life, or perhaps life as such, only emerged once in the entire universe – here on the third rock from the Sun. I´m not sure why this scenario is so intolerable to so many. Asimov has it, and in his novels, humans eventually conquer the entire galaxy because of it. I mean, there is no one to stop us! It´s almost as if the believers in eternal progress want there to be advanced alien civilizations as a kind of guarantee that we will once reach that stage, too. And a secret wish to fall down and worship the aliens…?

The second obvious answer is that the universe is *teeming* with life, including advanced life, yes, including advanced intelligent life…but most of it is unable to or even uninterested in developing our kind of advanced technology, let alone fly around in space. (If you believe in the supernatural, you could even argue that most life is clever enough to avoid this shitty universe, much preferring the astral delights of some spirit-dimension.) Humans aren´t the only intelligent species on Earth. What about chimpanzees, whales, ravens, or even octopi? Let´s assume whales or octopi evolve for another 100 million years or so. What makes us think they can´t become smarter? And why must this necessarily entail leaving the sea, becoming bipedal and have opposable thumbs? “Because that is the only way we can create a civilization”. No, it isn´t. What makes us think the only way to create a civilization is the human way? What makes us think a species with whale-derived intelligence would want to make the things humans are making? Come to think of it, even creatures driven by pure instinct can create something eerily resembling a civilization. Yes, I´m thinking of ants, which did it millions of years before humans even existed.

And that´s just one planet…

Imagine what weird and wonderful creatures could evolve at other planets. Once again: what makes us think they would be interested in communicating with other star systems (or conquering them), rather than studying the notochord, the immortality of the common cockchafer, or what have you. If they evolved differently from us, they might not even *need* to create a high technology civilization that emits radio waves. That´s something we have to do because we (or many of us, at any rate) wouldn´t survive without one. Other species might not need this kind of jerry-rigged contraption.

Believers in the very specific kind of progress which entails going to the stars can come up with some pretty bizarre scenarios “solving” Fermi´s paradox. Thus, one prominent atheist (who is otherwise a very smart guy) claims that the aliens must be hiding in the empty space in between star systems (that´s why we can´t see them) constantly hooked up to a virtual reality more interesting than our galaxy (that´s why they don´t bother with humans). Analyzing the Bayesian probability for this might be interesting, even apart from the fact that it sounds almost religious…

Next week, your favorite blogger will solve Euthyphro´s dilemma and the theodicy problem. End of transmission.

PS. Now, read this:

Seven solutions to Fermi´s paradox

The god of octopi

First, a quote within a quote:

>>>The very biology of the octopus precludes any idealistic or dualistic conception of consciousness: “In an octopus, the nervous system as a whole is a more relevant object than the brain: it’s not clear where the brain itself begins and ends, and the nervous system runs all through the body. The octopus is suffused with nervousness; the body is not a separate thing that is controlled by the brain or nervous system.” This leads him to the conclusion that “The octopus lives outside the usual brain/body divide.”>>>

So if octopi would create a religion, it would be a pantheistic form of Haeckelian monism? 

Hmmm....