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better than half our interns (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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Twitter post from Moonlit Sentences Arizona DOT installed a wildlife camera at Route 87's pedestrian crossing outside Payson last September. Standard deer migration count. After six months, they had footage of zero deer and 147 clips of the same coyote pressing the crosswalk button with its paw at sunrise. The animal waits for the walk signal. Steps into the road. Crosses at a trot. Every single time. Biologists believe it learned by watching hikers at the adjacent trailhead. "It's not random," said the lead researcher. "That coyote understands cause and effect better than half our interns." DOT voted unanimously to keep the camera running. The coyote hasn't jaywalked once.
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[–] 9 points 3 months ago (1 child)

It’s amazing the amount of things we’ve never observed before suddenly having endless videos now that AI sludge is clogging up the world.

Remember the old meme of "paranormal/bigfoot sightings" per year timeline... with a point where there's an enormous drop at "camera invented", and then bounces back with "photoshop invented".

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  • [–] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

    I also feel that the economy has something to do with it, I seem to recall the 1970s were replete with the Bermuda Triangle, spontaneous human combustion, ghost ships like the Mary Celeste, Sasquatch, crystal skulls, devil worship, backwards records, astral projection, possessions and exorcisms...

    Then when the economy got better people were busy stacking Benjamins and watching Miami Vice and I feel like all this stuff lost popularity.

    Now we're back to war, inflation, and uncertainty and we're back to nonsense.

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