this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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Science Memes

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You are in this solar system, but we do not grant you the rank of planet (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 71 points 7 months ago (6 children)

You know, this post made me realize something. Some people are viewing it in terms of "rank", instead of an arbitrary scientific classification designed to efficiently communicate ideas in a clear and concise way.

It's like ... mythology or something, and the planet(oid) being anthropomorphized.

Do people also view kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species as "ranks" of some sort, with some intrinsically greater value being given to some over others?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It’s like … mythology or something, and the planet(oid) being anthropomorphized.

I mean, the planet(oid)s are named after gods.

The personification of its classification is probably related to the exclusivity of the title and “bigger is better” mentality. Since every life form has a taxonomy for domain to species, there’s not really an exclusivity to each echelon. I don’t imagine anybody really thinks like this meme below, for example:

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

This makes me want to devise a tiered, inclusive classification scheme for space objects.

We could start with orbital objects, any object that normally experiences regular, periodic orbits with minimal deviation. So, everything in the galaxy would be one except potentially Sag A, and the galaxy itself. Perhaps the next branching subsets could be things undergoing continuous fusion somewhere in their body or not?

[–] GregorGizeh 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do people also view kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species as "ranks" of some sort, with some intrinsically greater value being given to some over others?

Well, for humans we most certainly do

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So, "homo" is better than "sapiens"? And "animal" is better than homo sapiens?

Or do I have it backwards, and "lower" ranks are better? So, "pinus ponderosa" would be better than "plant"?

[–] GregorGizeh 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I was just alluding to our racism 👀

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Our racism is completely unrelated to our classification. We are racist between homo sapiens and homo sapiens

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I think it'll matter a bit more once (if) we get to explore our solar system for real. I feel like right now the concept of "planet" is still rather distant in our minds and a lot of people just base it on vibes

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Hard not to anthropomorphize things when they’re named after our gods

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thing is everyone has one of those.

Compare it to non-sentience, sentience, and sapience, to properly anthropomorphize it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Every celestial body fits into a specific classification too.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Yeah but no one just has a kingdom or phylum.

Every living creature gets an entry from domain to species.

Celestial bodies aren't a hierarchy, a planet isn't also a dwarf planet or an asteroid.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Planet Y

In case it's a dwarf

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

Planet ~x~