Welcome to Thursday Things! This week we take on a couple of oldies making comebacks — the woolly mammoth and the floppy disk.1
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Look who’s back! Photo by Kelsy Gagnebin on Unsplash
Mammoth problem
I like woolly mammoths. Who doesn’t? They’re big and woolly, like overgrown fluffy elephants.
But what do we really know about mammoths?
Most of our impression of mammoths comes from cartoons and animated films that depict the big galoots as loveable king-size golden retrievers. They seem friendly and non-threatening. Or so the animators would have us believe.
The other most common image we have of mammoths may be closer to the truth. We find these depictions in textbooks teaching about the last Ice Age. Usually there is a picture of our Cro-Magnon or Neanderthal ancestors hunting a mammoth with spears and stone clubs. Those mammoths look a lot less friendly.
The AI tried its best. Image: Dall-E 3
To be fair, tiny humans want to kill and eat them. I’d be angry too. But my point is that an angry mammoth is terrifying! Maybe it’s a good thing they were hunted to extinction.
Enter, scientists:
It has been more than 4,000 years since the woolly mammoth last walked the Earth, but these extinct giants might not be gone for good.
Researchers have made a major breakthrough that could see woolly mammoths returning to life before 2028.
Scientists from Colossal Biosciences have successfully created elephant 'pluripotent' stem cells which can grow into any cell in the body.
Dr George Church, co-founder and lead geneticist of Colossal, told MailOnline that the creation of these cells 'opens the door' to the de-extinction of the mammoth.
'It's not a huge extrapolation to think that we'll be able to synthesise on a large scale in the future,' he said.
The technology to potentially “de-extinct” a long gone species is certainly impressive.
Yet, if I’m not mistaken, there is an entire blockbuster movie franchise making the point that bringing back extinct species might just possibly be a very bad idea.
Hear me out — maybe our ancient ancestors weren’t hunting the mammoths solely because they were delicious. Maybe the mammoths were also hunting them. Maybe it was a war to the death that Team Human only barely won.
Mammoths had brains the size of a Volkswagen! Well, that’s a slight exaggeration, but a preserved intact woolly mammoth brain found in the Siberian permafrost weighed more than 9 pounds.2 The human brain tops out at about 3 pounds. That is three times as much brain!
What if mammoths were evil geniuses whose plan to wipe out humanity was only foiled by their lack of opposable thumbs? Do the scientists trying to bring them back ever think about that?
With access to modern technology, super-intelligent evil genius woolly mammoths might be able to turn the tables and send us to chill in the permafrost.3
Do we not have enough to worry about with the dangers of rogue AI, super-apes, and asteroid strikes, that we need to add angry prehistoric walking tanks to the mix?
Let’s not undo our caveman forefathers’ hard-won victory.
Floppy tunes
We discussed in a previous edition the unexpected resurgence of music on cassette tape.
That was four years ago. Vinyl record sales have also made a comeback, though falling far short of their heyday.4
I get the combination of nostalgia (among Gen X and Boomers) and retro-curiosity for an analog world they never knew (among younger cohorts) driving the interest in these older music media.
But this is something I never saw coming:
Flop rock: inside the underground floppy disk music scene
Floppy disk music arguably peaked in the 2010s, but in the 2020s, it’s still going strong; Discogs.com shows a healthy 500-plus floppy releases in the 2020 category, which is more than the documented number of floppy music releases in the ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s altogether.
I was around for the floppy disk era. I’m old enough to remember when 3.5” floppies replacing the older 5” disks was a big deal. But I don’t recall floppies ever being a significant way of distributing music. What did I miss?
Billy Idol, apparently:
In 1993, Billy Idol launched a multimedia floppy disk to accompany Cyberpunk — the first promo of its kind (inspired by a 1991 HyperCard stack) that arguably left more of a mark on pop culture than the album. In 2009, artist and professor Florian Cramer compressed every Oscars Best Film nominee onto a single floppy disk, so that each was represented by an abstract, almost Mark Rothko-like moving image. And floppy music, in its powerfully weird little niche, is still alive and kicking even as the anemic remains of physical media are being miserably, myopically phased out of everyday retail.
So floppy music, it seems, was always a niche living in the shadows of vinyl, cassette, and CD. And since I’m not a huge music aficionado (more of a book guy) I guess it was too niche for me to notice until now. But floppy disk music is hanging in there!
There are almost 2,300 floppy releases listed on Discogs.com, most of which are electronic, but other genres include hip-hop, a smattering of classical and jazz, a bunch of metal subgenres, and “non-music” like experimental field recordings from Norway and spoken word from China.
No word on when 8-track is coming back.
Thank you for reading!
Please click the hearts, leave a comment, and use the share feature to send this issue to a friend who might enjoy it. See you next Thursday!
Not to be confused with the floppy mammoth and the woolly disk.
https://www.livescience.com/48625-mummy-woolly-mammoth-brain-revealed.html
Woolly Mammoth Mummy Yields Well-Preserved Brain
The mummified brain of a well-preserved woolly mammoth found in the Siberian permafrost is the only mostly intact mammoth brain known to science, which has been described in a new study.
Here are some observations from a random guy on Quora, in answer to How smart were mammoths compared to modern elephants?
Comparing the intelligence of mammoths to modern elephants is a challenging task, as both are distinct species with their own unique adaptations and behaviors. However, some general observations can be made:
1. Brain Size: Mammoths had larger brains in proportion to their body size compared to modern elephants. This suggests that they had a relatively high level of intelligence.
2. Social Behavior: Like modern elephants, mammoths were social animals and likely had complex social structures. This implies a degree of social intelligence, including communication and cooperation within the group.
3. Problem-Solving Abilities: Modern elephants have demonstrated impressive problem-solving abilities, such as using tools and working together to overcome obstacles. While there's no direct evidence for mammoths, their similarities in behavior and brain structure suggest they may have had similar problem-solving capabilities.
4. Long-Term Memory: Both mammoths and modern elephants are believed to possess long-term memory, which is essential for navigating their environments, finding food and water sources, and recognizing individuals within their groups.
5. Communication: Elephants communicate through a range of vocalizations, body language, and infrasound. Mammoths likely had similar communication methods to coordinate group activities and convey information.
Do we really want these thing roaming around the planet, using their problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills (and tusks the size of harpoons!) to plan our overthrow? Think about it.