And little boys are made of dictatorship. [I knew it!]
4.07.2008
Genetic Ruthlessness
It's all true! Girls are made of sugar, spice and everything nice!
And little boys are made of dictatorship. [I knew it!]
And little boys are made of dictatorship. [I knew it!]
4.05.2008
The Biological Singularity?
Read this whole article.
Search back through high/grade school biology vocab and work your way through. It's worth it.
Since this is the age of the internet, I'll give you a choice paragraph.
Tissue differentiation, agency and intelligent behavior were occurring for a billion years from the symbiotic origin of eukaryotes to the Cambrian explosion (Figure 1). What then happened? Was some critical level of intelligent behavior suddenly reached? Did consciousness then appear? Could primitive consciousness have significantly improved fitness and survivability beyond previous benefit provided by non-conscious agency and intelligent behavior?
One possible advantage of consciousness for natural selection is the ability to make choices. As Margulis and Sagan (1995) observe (echoing similar, earlier thoughts by Erwin Schrödinger), " If we grant our ancestors even a tiny fraction of the free will, consciousness, and culture we humans experience, the increase in [life's] complexity on Earth over the last several thousand million years becomes easier to explain: life is the product not only of blind physical forces but also of selection in the sense that organisms choose. . ." (Scott, 1996).
Search back through high/grade school biology vocab and work your way through. It's worth it.
Since this is the age of the internet, I'll give you a choice paragraph.
Tissue differentiation, agency and intelligent behavior were occurring for a billion years from the symbiotic origin of eukaryotes to the Cambrian explosion (Figure 1). What then happened? Was some critical level of intelligent behavior suddenly reached? Did consciousness then appear? Could primitive consciousness have significantly improved fitness and survivability beyond previous benefit provided by non-conscious agency and intelligent behavior?
One possible advantage of consciousness for natural selection is the ability to make choices. As Margulis and Sagan (1995) observe (echoing similar, earlier thoughts by Erwin Schrödinger), " If we grant our ancestors even a tiny fraction of the free will, consciousness, and culture we humans experience, the increase in [life's] complexity on Earth over the last several thousand million years becomes easier to explain: life is the product not only of blind physical forces but also of selection in the sense that organisms choose. . ." (Scott, 1996). By itself, the ability to make choices is insufficient evidence for consciousness (e.g. computers can choose intelligently). However non-computable, seemingly random conscious choices with an element of unpredictability may have been particularly advantageous for survival in predator-prey dynamics (e.g. Barinaga, 1996).
4.02.2008
Last Kid on the Street?
Recession? That's old news. Question is, was he the last one to know or the last one to tell?
If consumer confidence is what keeps our mass-indulgent service-sucking economy afloat, why scare the cows now?
[See for yourself.]
If consumer confidence is what keeps our mass-indulgent service-sucking economy afloat, why scare the cows now?
[See for yourself.]
Hequality and Shequality: Same Difference?
An interesting article, actually talking openly about the differences in the way that gendered mentalities operate.
I wouldn't go so far as to align biological gender with gendered mentality - certainly, there are some biologically male beings who think from a feminine mind and biologically female beings who think from a masculine mind.
Hermaphrodites [politically correct = "intersexed"] exist.
I would argue that's evidence of a scatter-plot diversity of gender in biological/genetic language as well as thought process.
But I digress...
Is "gender equality" something we are really seeking?
Is it equitable to promote the differences?
Is that furthering gender-based discrimination?
I wouldn't go so far as to align biological gender with gendered mentality - certainly, there are some biologically male beings who think from a feminine mind and biologically female beings who think from a masculine mind.
Hermaphrodites [politically correct = "intersexed"] exist.
I would argue that's evidence of a scatter-plot diversity of gender in biological/genetic language as well as thought process.But I digress...
Is "gender equality" something we are really seeking?
Is it equitable to promote the differences?
Is that furthering gender-based discrimination?
4.01.2008
How Could They?
*whimper*
Link: Fearsome avatar of my childhood.
Dead. Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.
Why?
By the way, IGN, get your embed code fixed.
Link: Fearsome avatar of my childhood.Dead. Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.
Why?By the way, IGN, get your embed code fixed.
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