Worlds Hardest Creature VII, 2014 Quarter Final D

Garry Nelson's Left Foot · Jan 28, 2014

THINK before voting. You've got 24 hours.

The Combatants:

Mantis Shrimp

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This debutant has been a revelation. Massacred the competition in group A, then pummeled the crap out of the Bull Shark in the second round. This foot long crustacean is a fearsome foe. It can kill by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Unlike other crustaceans it will hunt its prey. Its claws attack at incredible speed...the same acceleration as .22 calibre bullet. They strike so fast that they actually create a shock wave of about 1,500 newtons that acts as a secondary attack and is powerful enough to kill their victim outright. On top of this, the claw attack creates a flash of light and a heat of several thousand kelvins. They are powerful enough to smash the glass in aquariums.

Vs

Man

View attachment 50573

Man has had an easy tournament so far getting to the last eight by finishing third in group C and then seeing off the chicken in the second round. Physically a weak creature the human possesses a magnificent mind that has enabled him to overcome his weak stature and dominate the natural world. Has a propensity for violence on a small one to one scale up to organised rucks between millions a side. Possibly the most wantonly violent creature in the competition despite needing all sorts of technological help to better its animal opponents.

Hillian1 · Jan 28, 2014

In the end, there can be only ONE.

VOTE SHRIMP.

fruitnveg · Jan 28, 2014

The Shrimp is a little mentalist. It even looks crazy. No competition.

Trufflehound · Jan 28, 2014

Go shrimp.

Even if it isn't a debutant. It was in the 2011 competition but went out at the group stage with a pathetic 3 votes (search on 'shrimp').

Clearly it's been working out and got itself a better PR team this time around.

brakespear · Jan 28, 2014

The shrimp continues its march to the final, 13-1 up at present.

Bold Seagull · Jan 28, 2014

The easiest of the 1/4 finals. Shrimp all the way.

skipper734 · Jan 28, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/28/doctor-fights-shark-stitches-up-leg

Just saying like!

JCL - the new kid in town · Jan 28, 2014

Plooks said:
Right, lets try and make this interesting.

1,500 newtons....pffft a human can produce 5,000 newtons of force with a single punch and 9,000 newtons with a single kick. As for the pesky shrimp killing a human with that pitiful shock wave well human "bone is extraordinarily strong — ounce for ounce, bone is stronger than steel, since a bar of steel of comparable size would weigh four or five times as much. A cubic inch of bone can in principle bear a load of 19,000 lbs. (8,626 kg) or more — roughly the weight of five standard pickup trucks — making it about four times as strong as concrete."
http://www.livescience.com/6040-brute-force-humans-punch.html

yeah but the shrimp 1500 newtons and is a fraction of the size of a man, extrapolate those values based on size and its no contest.....

Hotchilidog · Jan 28, 2014

Man or MANTIS? No contest, that shrimp is a right prawn CRACKER and will deservedly despatch the human with one sweep of its CLAWS of DOOM.

fruitnveg · Jan 28, 2014

Plooks and Skipper seem to be missing the point and spirit of the competition. Sure Human's are smart, but they're not inherently hard, relying as they do on tools and numbers to do the dirty work for them.

fruitnveg · Jan 28, 2014

You also get some really wet softies among humans. The decision is theirs, but not all make the same one. So I suppose you could argue some humans are hard. Humans as a whole? No. Mantis Shrimps, most deffinitely yes.

Hillian1 · Jan 28, 2014

Plooks said:
Also, "Yum yum, this is nice what is it?" asked one human to another. "Oh" replied the other "just some mantis shrimp".

http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_menu/mantis_shrimp_sushi.html

All that says to me is that the Mantis Shrimp is SO hard that rather than allow itself to be cooked and eaten it starts to eat itself even after it's dead.

That is HARD.

JCL - the new kid in town · Jan 28, 2014

Plooks said:
So it is harder to just do violent things based purely on instinct than to know the consequences of your actions and plan them whilst also having empathy with the attacked and then carry them out?

The mantis shrimp has no idea what it is doing it is pre-programmed to do so. A human decides to do violent things and take punishment from another, not because it is pre-programmed to but because it chooses to. That is why being smart makes human harder.

but humans aren't generally very smart, cue one of my favourite quotes from Douglas Adams:

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so"

Bold Seagull · Jan 28, 2014

JCL - the new kid in town said:
but humans aren't generally very smart, cue one of my favourite quotes from Douglas Adams:

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so"

He also said...

“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

JCL - the new kid in town · Jan 28, 2014

Plooks said:
So humans are not hard because they are smart is the argument by most yet they are also not hard because they are not smart!? What a contradictory argument.

Also, despite being very good, that book Adams wrote is a work of fiction, not fact.

It may be a book of fiction but the quote holds up to a lot of people

I've never said being smart stops you being hard but I would say stupidity could stop you being classed hard. I would agree having an awareness about what your doing makes you harder

Hillian1 · Jan 28, 2014

Plooks said:
Also, despite being very good, that book Adams wrote is a work of fiction, not fact.

If you look closely, this whole competition is fiction.

The Modfather · Jan 28, 2014

Shrimp

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Worlds Hardest Creature VII, 2014 Quarter Final D