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PhilGoetz comments on Not By Empathy Alone - Less Wrong
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It is at best as victimless as destroying a great work of art that is rarely seen.
The playa of the Black Rock Desert appears to be completely lifeless. I haven't checked for microbes. (And I don't care if anybody destroys it; it is too simple to be interesting or beautiful. No great work of art, that. Ironic that that barren, boring, lifeless mud flat is taken better care of by burners than are most places on Earth.)
It's not -- lots of encysting macroinvertebrates there, some of them probably endemic. Nothing too charismatic to the average human, I suppose, but it's not nearly as lifeless as it looks -- and their seasonal population booms are important to migratory fauna that pass through each year, such as birds. The ecology there responds to seasonal flooding, so if you've only gone during Burning Man, appearances will be deceiving.
How do they tolerate the alkaline pH?
One part periodic diapause (aestivation in response to hostile conditions), one part biochemistry being more flexible than you probably think.
You don't find deserts beautiful?
Some deserts. Not this one. There are no Joshua trees, no grasses, no lizards, no snakes, no rocks, no valleys, no hills, no birds, no insects. Nothing but miles of silent, flat, dry mud, a burning sun, burning alkali dust, and frequent dust storms. If it's beautiful, it's only the way a blank sheet of paper is beautiful.
Well, this isn't really something we can argue about, but I can't say I find deserts beautiful because of how lively they are. Seems to me like eerie, silent vastness is exactly what I find appealing about them.
Seconded.