Draxonomy

[@sagerider2]

I'm with Isaac Asimov. “Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.

[@phileas007]

And you actually had to open it, in order to figure this out ????

[@wadespencer3623]

Well of course he had to open it. Unlike fundamentalists, we can't just know things without evidence.

[@davidcolby1456]

Two things did it for me. Reading the bible and meeting Billy Graham.

[@GrammeStudio]

you don't need to have average intellect to be aware that you don't need to get pass the genesis story to find a contradiction. and i even did that when i was a believer. proves how it takes immense amount of mental gymnastic to be able to read the entire bible and not in a constant cognitive dissonance state. only explanation is that these people don't read their source material. which explains all sort of deviant theologies--Trinity, God's omnipotence, etc. none of these are cannon and would fall onto the same category of mankind flaws as Eve inferring that "no eating" means "no touching". it's inherent to human thinking process to not touch that which you cannot eat--poison, rotten food, etc. by the way the specific contradiction i was referring was on whether God created man or plant first--covered within the first TWO pages of the bible. it's a wonder how ANYONE, christian included could take the story of Genesis literally. and if you don't do it for that piece of the bible, what justification is there to take the rest of it literally. what if the resurrection of Christ is simply a metaphor or larger parable?

[@thebigjul]

The bible is just a poor written novel from witch the first page is missing, the one stating that it is a fictionnal work and all characters and events involved are purely imaginary.

[@asaenvolk]

Draxonomy: the study of the comic book character Drax the Destroyer.

[@rikk319]

Drax is a badass, but not as badass as AronRa.

[@TheRhinehart86]

I thought it was the study of Xander Drax from the 1996 film "The Phantom"

[@wadespencer3623]

My extensive studies suggest that nothing goes over his head.

[@gspendlove]

I'm gonna ask you this one time: Where is Drax?

[@mazingdaddid]

I believe that's called draxology.

[@AnswersInNature]

Dragons don't always have to be reptilian. Valcor from Never Ending Story was a mammal dragon. But then again, mammal and reptile dragons would be so different that the mammal ones may have to be called something else even if they're very similar to the reptile ones by means of convergent evolution.

[@wolfsruhm]

As he explained, Valcor (or Fuchur in the original) as pretty muzch an oriental dragon, as they 'developed' more and more mammalian traits over time, including fur.

[@alexanderlovett7564]

I just call 'em Furred Dragons

[@kobayashi1194]

*Sisu has joined the chat*

[@TheKyrix82]

I truly fucking love how much of a nerd Aron Ra is

[@CasaVipera]

Dear Aron, Smaug giganteus is actually a species of lizard from South Africa. As a dragon owner I enjoyed this lecture very much! Thank you!

[@umbraemilitos]

Fiction is such a great medium for teaching the thought processes of real disciplines in education.

[@ExpertOfFX]

I LOVE THIS GUY! This man changed y life ---->FOR THE BETTER~ Learning NEVER gets old, no matter how old you are! Support AronRa and his work I DO!

[@amandarios448]

Honestly I don't have much health and I'm uncertain about time. To the point I've had to consider euthanasia and end up realizing my fear of death (not the dying itself but what comes after). Is quite crippling. Having to not fear hell when you're seriously ill is a great comfort. I cannot do anything about my body failing me, but Aron has made me realize so many important things... We who don't have faith need to talk about those things, many if us have been so deeply indoctrinated that we still have unfounded fears that are hurting us, because the indoctrination has gone so deep we have not yet had the time to think about beliefs we may still hold, but that have no reason to holding on to

[@WilbertLek]

@@amandarios448 "heaven" and "hell" are simply a state of mind. Not actual places you can go. For the same reason young flat earth creationists can't produce one single accurate map for their fairy tale place neither can the other reality deniers produce a map of "heaven" or "hell". Because it does not exist.

[@courtneywoodbury5198]

Dragons are like porn and anime. They're hard to define, but you know one when you see one.

[@mlazos]

The etymology of the word Dragon is also interesting. The name actually comes from Dracon, an Athenian politician at 7th century BCE, noted for the severity of his code of law. His name was associated with fear, and all the monsters who made the people afraid. The dragon in the religion and folklore is the representation of fear. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(lawgiver) en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/dragon In ancient Greece they were giving the name Dracon, to monsters as well. There is the known expression "The draconian measures", the measures that make people fear the laws, and fear make them obey the laws. Overall the name doesnt mean a specific animal, but rather things that create fear.

[@mlazos]

MinutemanSam very sure. Dracon was his name, not a nickname he got after he introduced the laws. Also the dragon didnt exist in the ancient Greek mythology, you can find many other monsters, but not a creature with the name Dragon. The word itseld doesnt have a bad meaning, the etymology : drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dragon It is a typical ancient Greek name, at that time all the names were playwords, they had a meaning. The Iliad was first written around 400 BCE, the stories were older but the Aristoteles wrote down the golden version, so the legendary politician was 200 years before the first time the word Dragon was recorded in Iliad. There is no mention of dragons in the first Greek stories, like Hercules, Jason, Achiles. etc. The word Dragon was used when around 80 BCE in Jerusalem had to translate the Jewish bible in to Greek, and apparently they came in to a word they couldnt translate exactly. I dont believe the Jews use the word dragon, it makes no sense. The word is not Jewish and I really wonder what was the original Hebrew word which was translated in to Dragon. In anycase in ancient Greece they were using the word Dragon for things that create great fear and that was after the the death of the Athenian lawmaker. Dragon is associated more with the Christian legends, and the bibble stories. List of all the monsters in the ancient Greek mythology en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_mythological_creatures You can find few dragons but those could easily be animals who were introduced after 600 BCE.

[@mlazos]

MinutemanSam i have explained that the first time we have the Homer written was by Aristoteles the 3rd Century BCE, 300 years already after the lawmaker Dracon. Aristoteles added many things in the stories, and used the words of his time. By then Dracon was the representation of fear, the Greeks were using this name for anything that creates great fear. Dracon was before the word Dragon. Thats what I am saying. I dont think there is any doubt that the monster Dragon was named after the Athenian politician Dracon. the word for reptile in Greek is either Saura (sor, dino-saur bad repite, mean dangerous reptile) or the greater file of erpeto. Dracon doesnt mean serpent, this is a later association.

[@nakenmil]

"Dracon" means "gaze", or "clear sight". The idea seems perhaps to be that these were animals with a deadly sight, a concept that was not unfamiliar to Greek mythology (cf. Medusa or the basilisk). I'm skeptical to the connection to a human individual, since it sounds like a typical folk etymology that grabs onto something historically famous and attributes current meaning onto it.

[@mlazos]

Enthused Norseman Dragon or to be precise Δρακων only later was assosiated with the reptile. The name itself doesnt mean anything deadly. I gave already the definition. There were no dragons in the ancient Greek mythology. You can find Titans, Giants, Gods etc and the dragons are much later additions. In the ancient times dragon was called anything that creates fear, it was a general adjective. This is common in Greek, for example the nightmare in Greek is Efialtis, the name of the Greek traitor. you can find in the ancient Greek literature the word dragon to describe something scary.

[@shaynedumais5760]

Every time I listen to Aron Ra I learn something.

[@rainboweagle-o8b]

LOL The Finnish word for dragon would be translated as salmon snake. Not at all scary. Sounds more like yummy.

[@thebigjul]

I just thought about a salmon snake sashimi… yummy indeed

[@amandarios448]

Sounds like what I would describe this lonnng fish in the Amazon. That literally looks like a salmon+ snake cross. Because of the colors too...

[@uliuchu4318]

@@amandarios448 you mean an electric eel? That's a great choice for a living dragon no matter what

[@HumanisticJones]

When I asked my question about Gamera at 53:25, I don't know what I expected, but the fact that you sang the MST3K Gamera song in response and then went into the wonder that is a massive snapping turtle that becomes a rocket for short travel, and a flying saucer for long distance travel, that was better than anything I could think of. Funny enough, the Heisei Gamera trilogy actually has Gamera declared to be a genetically engineered guardian created by some ancient civilization, meaning he's not an evolved creature, but a created entity. Which fits with the fact that, as you described, turtles don't have teeth much less rockets or flame breath.

[@ericmishima]

Brian Jones Gamera is a friend to all children! :)

[@williamjameslehy1341]

The problem with the sort of dragons popular in fantasy fiction today is that, unlike any real land vertebrate, they're commonly six limbed. So dragons would indeed have to be a completely different lineage of Gnathostomata, existing as a sister clade to Tetrapoda, that would have necessarily evolved the ability to lay hard-shelled eggs on land, convergent with the Amniota. This would nicely explain their peculiar mix of squamate, mammal, and dinosaur features.

[@JamesM1994]

Jacob Hoss I might classify them as triapsida. its easier to imagine them separately evolving those features without having to evolve amniotic eggs too. I think the hexapodal characteristic might be better explained as a hox duplication

[@allanpatterson7653]

Something with 6 limbs would be a huge Insect?

[@JessesanMan]

@@allanpatterson7653 Not necessarily. Many insects have wings, which technically give them 4 pairs. Insecta is a related group of arthropods.

[@allanpatterson7653]

@@JessesanMan never thought of wings,it makes sense.

[@kamion53]

@@allanpatterson7653 or very much like an insect or arthopod with an external skeleton. It is very hard to image how the complex system of muscle attachments would work in a vertabrate. Same trouble with the fourarmed green Martians of John Carter of Mars. There are only very few artists who made an attemp to depict is acceptable. More often they just stack two torso's upun each other.or worse have the arms stick from somewhere with only one set of pectoral muscles. some artist gave the Tharks a rather locust like appearance, but they are still vertebrates.

[@johns294]

Aron , In your educational series can you please find a way to work in what it means to be "Intellectually Honest". This is a concept that most people don't really grasp especially teenagers. People understand "Honesty" in general but don't really grasp what's involved in truly being intellectually honest in the pursuit of knowledge. Thanks

[@HadalStreetlights]

Skeptical Jed This is actually a great point I often leave unconsidered!

[@xX1Mankrik3Xx]

Not really sure why this is distinctly directed at teenagers. In my experience, being intellectual dishonest is an adult problem. Kids know what dishonesty is, even teenagers, they just might not care. Adults actively try to muddy the truth so that they can't be wrong. Much worse in my opinion.

[@teardrop-in-a-fishbowl]

@@xX1Mankrik3Xx Between the "I know something" of youngsters and " I know" of older adults lie often years/decades of experience or study. My experience online is, that youngsters often argue with half-trues, they mix things up, repeat some hear-say and often don´t understand what they are talking about, whereby adults are heavily biased, deny certain things and are also often unskeptical thinker. Who is the most pain in the ass? IDK. Both personalities can really be painful to discuss, if it´s even possible. I like people who accept a stated fact, say "I don´t know" and "How do you mean by that" or even say "You are right about that". But I can say that´s a very rare thing!

[@Mechaghostman2]

If dragons did exist, they'd most likely be the descendants of the recently discovered dinosaur Yi-Qi. A tree dwelling glider that, through convergent evolution, has bat wings. Yep. Real life dragon. .....I want a time machine now.

[@cedricrobertson2893]

Mechaghostman2 you forged that it was chicken sized and fly like a chicken

[@TheNamelessOne888]

Cockatrices were real.

[@Mechaghostman2]

The cockatrice was most likely just an Egyptian cobra. Still a terrifying animal in its own right. It was said that weasels had the venom to kill the cockatrice. Well, weasels aren't venomous, but they do sometimes kill snakes.

[@inotaishu1]

Does that also explain the shapeshifting dragons?

[@frostbitecryo]

Either that or they could possibly exist if varanids took another step in evolution

[@Payne2view]

Its nice to be able to categorise the dragon on the Welsh Flag as a hexapod and definitely mythical :-)

[@teardrop-in-a-fishbowl]

After listened to Aron I'm afraid to say I was born in the year of the Wooden Dragon (Chinese) and I'm a Gemini Dragon too. I find it funny without believing in this stuff. BUT, I recognize myself a little in the two cosmological descriptions that want to define me as a person.

[@ImperatorZor]

AronRa I think you might like a book series called "The Memoirs of Lady Trent". It's about a lady biologist in a fantasy world in it's Victorian era who studies Dragons.

[@cmd31220]

I can really appreciate the work involved in this kind of thing and how hard doing it really is. Back in my freshman year of college, my Bio 101 class had us do a presentation using the basic concepts of evolution to explain something other than real life (so like how cars would develope or how languages evolve or something like that.) I did mine on Pokemon, because I'm a nerd. Part of my presentation was building a full phylogenetic tree for the (at the time) 6 generations of Pokemon, at least ones that aren't explicitly designed like Mewtwo. And let me tell you that was a BITCH. Like, it's apparent that these things couldn't exist naturally within about 10 minutes, so it was basically a month of me trying to jam hundreds of square pegs into round holes. Thankfully the things like megaevolutions actually helped the process along, since they brought out a few more common traits to split the boxes on. I was thinking of going back in my spare time to try and complete it. Just as a vanity project. But I don't know what I'd do with it once I felt it was done

[@cardshark38]

Pretty sure I watched this video and liked it previously, so here I am in 2021 watching and liking it again because KZbin sucks.

[@Katzztar]

I disagree on Falcor's only weapon would be dog breath. Wet dog fur has its own stench that can possibly exceed the dog breath.

[@zarasha8220]

Katzztar nah... His poop is his ultimate weapon. Just imagine the size of that pile, and you'd be able to smell it from a mile away. Dog breath and wet fur are off putting, but dog poop is absolutely vile stuff

[@ahouyearno]

This reminds me of a game of 20 questions we once played where my father took "dragon" as the animal we had to guess. We all had a different concept of dragon and as such, we couldn't get to the solution.

[@vegasflyboy67]

Future generations will learn of AronRa, the creationist dragon slayer.

[@cartmanrlsusall]

drop the Mike no need for a Question and A.he just identified, classified, and categorized, dragons.aron shredded this totally awesome

[@rationalmartian]

Couldn't have put it better m8. "Shredded". I like it.

[@kevinconrad6156]

Dragons in 2016 and no mention of Skyrim?

[@MrGreensweightHist]

31:20 Aron "WTF is this" Me "An infertile Oriental/European hybrid. The Draconic equivalent of a Liger"

[@colinmaclaughlanweir9670]

The rules are very simply Dragons beats gods Gods beats Man Man beats Dragons Look it up when ever there is a Dragon to fight the gods have it done by a human. For the next one could you do Unicorns??????? Pink ones please.

[@BlackEpyon]

Unless you are Marduk (one of the forerunners to YHWY), crushing the head of Tiamat and forming the Earth from it's carcass.

[@nakenmil]

Or Thor ripping Jormundgand's jaws apart with his thick shoe in the bottom. Then again, the World Serpent does drown him in venom as it dies, so it's a bit of a tie.

[@colinmaclaughlanweir9670]

Thor is the best its the big strong arms that get to me everytime

[@KingQwertzlbrmpf]

Or you are Susanoo no mikoto killing Yamata no orochi and pulling the kusanagi no tachi from his tail.

[@rafeverao4105]

Unicorns are Rhinos - _Rhinoceros unicornis,_ specifically, is a unicorn, the Indian rhinoceros.

[@anthonynuzzo9512]

Fantastic presentation Mr Ra. I really enjoyed it. Bravo!

[@CharlesBryan1]

Awesome job with your project. I can't wait until it is ready! I am glad someone took the initiative.

[@WetDoggo]

If the croc is 4m away from the camera, the people are 7-8m away. They were using an optical illusion to show a "monster" croc

[@marconatrix]

"My job interferes with my work" --- LOL! That's a keeper, deffo :-)

[@klumaverik]

This is so amazing! Thank you AronRa and I apologize for misspelling your name in the past with an Aa. You have helped me create arguements and a better understanding of my own understanding.

[@-cosmicrogue-]

Well, I think we can infer that Aron Ra likes Mystery Science Theater 3000 :)

[@Dragonzord571]

Aron, Legendary's Godzilla is not a god. He is a prehistoric creature that lived in the Permian who feeds off of radiation. It's explained IN THE FILM what he is (Well, the specific period in which his species lived is explained in other material connecting to the film). The line in the movie was "A god for all intensive purposes", as in it was a point of comparison. Godzilla is the closest thing to a god humanity could comprehend and it's not the only time such a comparison was made. Hell, it's probably the most natural out of all the incarnations seeing how it evolved rather than it being a mutated dinosaur or what ever Shin's origin was in Godzilla Resurgence (I believe he was a cluster of mutated microscopic organisms)

[@akizeta]

Typo: "all intents and purposes"

[@Biochemitra]

There is a lot of Shinto philosophy in Godzilla's portrayal. Within that philosophy, it's possible to be both a naturally occurring animal *and* a divine spirit.

[@HadalStreetlights]

using english semantics to make arguments about the canon of a japanese monster story. Seems totally legit.

[@ladanodion2826]

Damn it J.K! You have literally created a world that can be brought up in ANY conversation and still apply.

[@Knightyme]

On the videos being reuploaded by someone else, I think you can flag the content as yours and have any money it makes sent to you, the vids stay up for all to see and you still get to profit from your works.

[@andrewpurvis1754]

Phylogeny project sounds awesome!

[@govimodo9231]

Imagine being an aboriginal ancestor and having to live with the big varnids. The Komodo is big and scary enough.

[@connorcore7008]

Wandering around Australia 50,000 years ago would have been an interesting experience. Even more dangerous than it is now :D

[@PlanetZoidstar]

I've long had a fondness for the Wyrm/Wurm type of Dragon and I am glad Aronra picked up on them being the earliest depicted version of Dragons. Things like the Lambton Worm in English myth, Tiamat from Mesopotamian myth, the Midgard Serpent from Norse myth, and so on. I'd like to see more Wyrms/Wurms in movies and TV since winged Dragons are overdone and cliche, especially if they show the Wyrms/Wurms breathing poison as they often did in ancient stories.

[@jestermoon]

Great stuff thx Aron 😊 Take A Moment Have a listen Tax religion Shop locally Stay safe Stay Free

[@arjenbootsma6881]

10:35 AronRa: I can't define what a monster is. I can: it's a line of motorcycles made by Ducati!

[@yaeldragwyla8170]

I love this! It's a wonderful cross between evolutionary biology and fiction, obviously for fun. Evolutionary biology and paleobiology are two of my academic interests, but I'm also a non-stop reader of science fiction (especially by Larry Niven), and this merging of the two is a delight. Your lectures on the many aspects of toxic religion are also of deep interest. I'm not exactly an atheist of any kind myself, but I have no interest in converting anyone to my own views and beliefs, so I have no quarrel with you on that score, and much interest in the things you bring to life in your lectures.

[@AxiomApe]

A late night treat :) Thanks Aron

[@CaseyShontz]

“A snakey dog” 😂 that’s so weird

[@errantthought3570]

Yet another excellent video, thanks Aron!

[@Troubleshooter125]

This was fun as well as informative, Aron. I totally loved your take on Gamera, even if it were off topic! Also very much appreciated your mention of Vermathrax Pejorative, a long-time favorite of mine. THANKS!

[@Hymeteron]

Very eloquently done! Thank you for all the effort you've put into this and for all the other work you do!

[@turbosteve97pizza]

Ten minutes in I'm realising this may not be the best video to watch if I'm afraid of lizards

[@turbosteve97pizza]

I'll listen to it though

[@MachineElf_Official]

My friend believes dragons still exist... I'm going to use this video, thank you Aron

[@uliuchu4318]

I'm demanding a remake of "the last unicorn" starring bold, heavy rhinos

[@LMcAwesome]

Brilliant video. Some of your best work in my opinion. Really hope you keep it up with your new responsibilities.

[@glutinousmaximus]

In some stories, I think St. George is depicted as fighting a giant 'worm' rather than a dragon. The 'worm' later turns out to be meant as an analogy for those opposed to the Catholic church - specifically.

[@nesslig2025]

Probably my favorite video since the FFOC series. Keep up the good work!!

[@humbertojimmy]

I enjoy all of AronRa's videos, but, being a herpetologist myself, this one is easily my favorite, for the obvious reasons. I noticed a few (not that important) info imprecisions throughout the video, regarding Herpetology facts, but that's just the way i am (too picky about this stuff, lol). If St. George was in *Libya* when he encountered the "dragon", then the varanid he most likely saw was Varanus griseus (your pic showed a Varanus niloticus). There are many subspecies of varanids, all with forked tongues, but they aren't *the only* lizards with that trait. Tegus, from South America, for example, come to mind as well. As for the largest species of "leviathan"... it gets tricky. It does seem like salt water crocs are the biggest around today (followed very closely by niles), but the most impressive documented records are of Crocodylus intermedius, a quasi-extinct species that barely survives around the Orinoco river. When the jungles of South America were first explored, this species was abundant and it is said that 7 to 8 meter males were common. Most were killed, especially the bigger ones (which made for a better trophy) and skins were exported by the thousands. Sadly, i think the genes for *"big size"* were mostly weeded out of the species, surviving only those that the explorers didn't find impressive enough to bother killing. And *still,* with the very few specimens alive today (probably stripped of the genes for "giant" their relatives once had) some big males are known to attain sizes similar to those of salt waters!! So, in my opinion (shared by many other herpetologists) the *true* king of crocs should be considered the Orinoco crocodile.

[@clarerobnett7342]

Does the fact that the basilisk sheds in one piece have any effect on whether or not it would be classified as a snake?

[@rebeccabeard4759]

Great presentation, fun mix of education and comedy. The video quality and editing was fantastic too. I felt a little bad for the guy whose poor listening skills earned him an 'I did' from Aron ;] .

[@returnofthesonofnothing5358]

Thanks Aron. I am a casual fan of your work, but this is my first time viewing this. I realise this is quite old now, and you probably will not see my comment, but can I just say, that this was a wonderful presentation. Very interesting, informative and educational.

[@OnekiKai]

Why would you work the bugs out of the system? That would exclude millions of species...

[@donkink3114]

Why did I literally fall on the floor laughing when I read this 😁

[@j0hnnylawless585]

May God bless and have mercy on you amen

[@laurajarrell6187]

You are brilliant Aron Ra. And funny. You take boring stuff and make interesting and clear! Thankyou. That Ken Ham can look in a mirror and still not believe in evolution is baffling! LOL Love and peace to you and yours!

[@musicauthority7828]

My best interpretation of a Dragon would be the one on the album by Jefferson Starship. with a body shape with four legs with the front legs being dual purpose as arms. on the album cover the dragon is holding an orb in it's three fingered clawed hand. it was covered with scales and had a long neck and a long tail that biforcated at the end. and also had a biforcated tounge and could beath fire. that is also one of my favorite albums. Aron Ra has one favorite hobby that he continues to do even after becoming more busy. and that is eating very spicy food. which he is quite good at.

[@carmajinn]

@AronRa in the case of eastern dragons you missed out on the part where a carp swimming up a waterfall could turn into a dragon (if I remember correctly that's why they have a mustache). as for the green "definitely not a dragon": a gryphon has the body and hind legs of a lion, but the head and the front legs are eagle like. if it has a lion head then it might be closer related to a manticore (which is an odd group in itself) which usually has a lion-like head (sometimes with horns, like a goat), bat-like wings and a tail ending in a (or multiple) venomous spike(s), often depicted as a literal scorpion tail. but that green thing seems to be neither. I would ignore anything that was created recently as part of modern child media because they contort anything into anything to make it child friendly and marketable.

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

52:09 I feel betrayed. Also, there's a girl in the background with horns.

[@Alessandro-B]

And behind her there's a Thunderfoot clone.

[@SeRoAnthem]

Donald Trump, looking at how sensitive he is.

[@Tomocide]

Maybe she's a tiefling?

[@LSpiro]

And she is checking out the questioner.

[@enlightendbel]

I would be disappointed if there wasn't.

[@garygood6804]

been a few years since ive been to dragon con. i need to go again

[@wadespencer3623]

All religion aside, the description of the Leviathan is BADASS.

[@fanghur]

Gotta make a correction here, Aron. Elliott isn't a gryphon; gryphon's have the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Whereas Elliott has the body and head of a lion, as well as wings. He's a 'winged lion',. not a gryphon.

[@angellara7040]

Fanghur Rahl mantacore lite

[@joefization]

Nerds! 🤓 lol. Great talk, I just hope that those who don't understand what evolution is and watch this can grasp Aron's facetious humor in taxonomizing mythical creatures. Most surely will but I personally know people who wouldn't get it 🔥☄🐉

[@StarSong936]

@ 26:16 :-) I played "Dungeons and Dragons". I love the game, though I haven't had the chance to play it in a long time. I was a Dungeon Master (essentially overworked and underpaid) and I had a circle of friends that I would otherwise not have had.

[@maxorbit357]

Phylogeny Browser...WooHoo!!

[@tehspamgozehere]

Small point on crocs. Australia has both salt and fresh water crocodiles. The salt water or 'salty' crocs are the more dangerous by far, but both are to be treated with respect.. Obviously. "I'm right, I'm standing on this log." "That's not a log, that's a crocodile." "Ohhh. I wondered why I kept getting shorter!"

[@Philip271828]

Love it, but I can't look at The Resurrectionist or Flight of Dragons the same way :( Did anyone ever watch China Mievilles Politics of Monsters talks?

[@haotianzhang1441]

I just realized: The first questioner is ACTUALLY COSPLAYING AS A GOPNIK.

[@Lucius1958]

Great presentation! I think, however, that "just making shit up" is a bit of an oversimplification (if perhaps a necessary one). Humans have many reasons for creating stories, such as parables for instruction, or trying to interpret (or re-interpret) the symbols of a previous culture (as the poet Robert Graves termed it, "iconotropy"). There is also the evidence of ancient people's attempts to make sense of fossils: there was an interesting article in the journal _Archaeology_, some years ago, that made some fascinating points.

[@thefirstofthelast1181]

The more you know of taxonomy the better scifi aliens you can think of

[@JohnnyDrivebye]

+AronRa I forgot to tell you that you are a model and inspiration for critical thinking. Don't stop fighting ignorance. It seems to bring out the worst of our tribalism. Loved the video

[@gazcan1]

DragonCon isn't a Scalie convention?!

[@TelenTerror]

It's a fantasy/sci-fi convention. I know someone who goes every year.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

Maybe...

[@nathanielgrey4091]

I like that your avatar makes it look like the kitten is asking, confused.

[@scepticchristian]

I also note, from the questios afterwards, you mentioned differences between Eastern and Western dragons. I think that the Eastern dragons are more amiable and mammalian because they more closely resemble gods, like the Chinese ones and so need to be powerful and good and more anthropomorphic or at least with moreattractive features/faces, as mammals tend to have. Dragons in the West tend to be evil, so don't need mammal like features (ears, nose, cute eyes and faces). Just a theory. Don't know what you make of power rangers, vampires, gouls, ghosts, zombies etc.

[@renardleblanc5556]

When I was in, like, grade 4, I wrote a report on Dragons, theorizing that they used hydrogen to keep themselves aloft, and firebreath was a means of releasing built up gasses.

[@omarisawesome1996]

Phylogeny explorer would save me a lot of time switching from Wikipedia page to Wikipedia page

[@MrHat.]

Im pretty sure in one oh his videos, Aron said one oh the reasons for the project was due to the inconsistency of wikapiedia

[@Redem10]

i like Hexapod dragons

[@jacobjohnston3983]

The thing to remember about a lot of these monsters is that they are unique animals, not naturally evolving creatures. He mentions both Godzilla, King Ghidorah and Gamera (in the Q&A part) and how they defy classification. Of course! none of these evolved by natural means. Love this guy and his intelligent discussions, but it's worth mentioning for some of these kaiju

[@oldmanfromscenetwentyfour8164]

That was fun as well as informative! Thanks Aron!

[@furtado704]

Interestingly the ancient greek word drakōn which gave birth to the english dragon could mean huge serpent or even only serpent - being interchangeable with ophis. Srry btw if I'm being annoying.

[@stankthatank7074]

@AronRa Thank you for all the hard work buddy. Is this similar to what you'll discussing in Amarillo next month? Will be looking forward to seeing you again sir!

[@Linkedblade]

At the end when he's talking about making up a new creature all i could think was crab+man=predator

[@MrChristerj]

You are a hero AronRa.

[@mikelapine1]

I think calling Godzilla a god wouldn't be entirely inaccurate personally.

[@WilbertLek]

So Smurfs are "gods" as well....

[@kamion53]

@43:47 are these pictures of monitor lizards not actual intended to represent Salamanders, not the amphibian ones, but the salamanders of the Tarot, the firedwellers. the one with the crown at the top row is depicted surrounded by fire. Francis I of France had it all over his palace of Fontainebleau, haven chosen it as his emblem with his slogan Nutrisco et extinguo ( I nourish and destruct).

[@ShadowOfMaedhros]

:( I didn't know Aron would be at DragonCon. I might have gone...

[@asaenvolk]

Well to be fair with Godzilla, they were saying that he was a "god", they were being poetic.

[@BlackEpyon]

That's what happens when you try and anglicize Toho's Gogira.

[@asaenvolk]

BlackEpyon I am familiar with the original name, weirdly enough, Gogira is not hard to say in English. But yes, they were just guessing at the origins in the new western movie.

[@BlackEpyon]

asaenvolk Sorry, that's supposed to be a J: Gojira. Japanese has a very simple phonetic base - Gi and Ji are distinct.

[@asaenvolk]

BlackEpyon yes, you are correct

[@Nocturnalux]

Which is ironic since the 'go' in 'gojira' actually derives from 'gorilla', a nod to King Kong and one of the many English words absorbed the Japanese language.

[@PaulGrahamHealth]

Great content and professional production, nice.

[@blackraptor311]

14:37 The Dragon from the 7th Voyage of Sinbad did breathe fire. They just use it only once when it was first introduce.

[@anatheistsopinion9974]

The level of awesomeness is high around here...

[@armouredseptic9371]

Is that Thunderf00t in the back @46:28? 😃

[@jmtnvalley]

"The Last Dragon" on Animal Planet was pretty good, but they went with the 4 legs/2 wings version. Too bad.

[@natebush8217]

To be fair, they started with the two legs/two wings combo, but yeah, they didn't sticking with it for long. They tried to explain the hexapodal thing as the wings evolving from fins, but that just seems highly unlikely. Still, a lame explanation is better than explanation at all.

[@Outis89]

I love that Aron made this video, but it makes me think of Rick saying, “You know who's into dragons, Morty? Nerds who refuse to admit they're Christian."

[@MrChupacabra555]

You were at DragonCon once? Its a convention I attend semi-annually myself (once every other year or so due to the expense of travel/room and board).

[@DeconvertedMan]

Sweet I cant wait for this thing to be up! Does this/will this cover plants/fungi/insects... what about bacteria/virus's ? YELLOW THING IS SO CUTE! So the chart of dragons in essence shows they have to be created - they are not related - each one has to be its own thing. Really intriguing.

[@DeconvertedMan]

Hector Defendi ahhhh!

[@andrewharper1609]

You have a strange definition of cute.

[@Handofcrom13]

Aw, man! I didn't know you were at Dragon Con! I was stuck in the vendor area most of the Con. I would have loved to meet you.

[@OneOnOne1162]

At 2:25 I wonder how they managed to make it so that it can take changes at any level without having to restructure the whole thing. Sounds useful for any and all categorization efforts of things that could be expanded on later.

[@skaruts]

I'm not sure what he meant by that, but considering the old stuff was text based and the new stuff is in a database, I would assume he essentially meant _"make changes without much of a hassle"_, since the text based thing would likely imply having to manually copy/paste/draw lines/fix alignments/etc. In a database you can basically just tell a species to bugger off to some other part of the tree, and the program then displays it in it's new place. Not much of a hassle. Though this is just my guess.

[@scipio10000]

Modern databases are object oriented (OO). That means that any thing you can imagine of can be described as a object with properties and rules. Objects can be nested within other objects. Certain properties and rules can be set that are 'inherited' from the higher class objects by the lower nested objects. What AronRa probably means here is that if new evidence is obtained about an object class, this can be corrected in the class and that change will reverberate all the way down to the 'child' objects, that is the object nested in that class.

[@LazarL]

I was taught that Godzilla, Gojira comes from Japanese words Gorira (Gorilla) and kujira (whale).