I know. Why didn't they just interview you instead of making this stupid coral video?

I gave that hobby up at least 7 years ago.

Just pointing out that marine biologists should want to tap into what amounts to tens thousands of different culture tanks and amateur biologists around the world to do some research, instead of snubbing it away like a useless cynical hipster with a completely unfounded superiority complex might.

You let the coral die for decades expecting them to magically know to come to you for knowledge they didn't know you had?

Evil.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/science/a-lifesaving-transplant- for-coral-reefs.html

jesus christ, are you nimrods so self-centered that you can't imagine that my problem is that the marine biologists took so long to notice this common phenomenon, and maybe gotten a decade or more head-start on these programs? or are your shriveled brains only capable of comprehending actions that lead to self-gratification?

Woah woah I am by no means stepping up here. The things coral reef hobbyists have done cannot be understated and I by no means wish to deprive you of the credit you deserve.

Fuck marine biologists. Lazy incompetent pieces of shit.

Thanks for giving us a great example of a self centered useless hipster

I've got no stake in this debate at all but I would like to point out that it could be equally argued that the hobbyists laboring in obscurity to regrow coral back when it was still underground and then taking umbrage when the marine biology mainstream catches on and gets publicity or it are the party more aptly characterized as "hipsters."


Personally I don't think the analogy holds up, because the coral reef hobbyists (at least some of them) were actually innovating in their field and the marine biologists are taking those innovations and working to implement them on a different scale, whereas "hipster" is most appropriately applied to consumerist early adopters who fall between those two poles and contribute little if anything to the actual development of the form (or in this case, the technology).


A coral hipster would be someone who bought an already established coral tank from a skilled hobbyist, used it to impress people, and then abandoned it when growing coral got some media exposure and became more widely known.

As a practical matter, Sol is forgetting the great advantages held by the amateur in his garage. This poor hippie bastard probably spent the bulk of his day responding to interdepartmental emails, polishing the deans knob, and fighting with his fellow academics for scraps of grant money. If he spends 5% of his day doing science, he's still well ahead of the pack.

The amateur, on the other hand, answers to no one. Nothing stands between him and physical reality. And with freedom, comes all the muses in their various guises. You can't imagine how much of an advantage that gives you.

Take this fellow, for example. His great world changing observation occurs, not during his great career ( the _career_, oh my lord, the mighty and all consuming CAREER ) but at his retirement. Finally, he's stopped responding to those emails. He's told the dean that his knob is just what it is and no amount of polishing will change that, and finally, at long last, some physical reality is creeping in...

All that said, what good does it do to repopulate the corral reefs? What killed them off before is still killing them today.

Actually, Oscar, thanks to this inferior thinker, SolRo's grossly unethical scientific and existential negligence is no longer killing the coral reefs, so there is hope!

Apple farmers were discovering gravity long before Issac Newton did. So like in this case scientific progress had been halted by the egos of big science.

As the man said, some coral strains are much more able to survive in our new, warm, acidic oceans than the ones that are common now. If the beardy man can identify and plant those, he might mitigate grow some resilient reefs.

Memedumpster is correct. I know there are some anti-science bullies out there (like potholer) and it can be difficult to raise your voice when you believe yourself to be powerless, but I think if you're an amateur marine biology enthusiast, and you've hit on a replicable method for restoring coral reefs, then it is your *ethical duty* to speak up!

Remember: Darwin was not a professional scientist, but rather a bright and inquisitive hobbyist, when he came up with his theory of natural selection.

gibberellic acid, bitches!