The Now Reading Thread

[Div]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

http://www.economist.com/printeditio...ry_ID=12795510

This is fucking well-researched and awesome. I love The Economist.

Just as unfit peacocks cannot grow splendid tails, so unfit people cannot sing well, dance well (for singing and dancing go together, as it were, like a horse and carriage) or play music well.

i fundamentally disagree.

there are plenty of people who can sing and dance but theyre total hacks. does that make them more "fit" than, lets say, a brilliant writer who cant sing or dance well?

you cant compare a physical trait in an animal to a psychological trait in a human. animal psychology and reductionism cant apply to traits that are specific to humans and not found in animals. not to mention that approaching everything from a reductionist viewpoint is going to give biased results because they will attribute everything to reductionism.

this is more evolutionary psychology than actual biology. sociologists spend alot of time trying to come up with reasons for behavioral phenomenon, but alot of it is based on circular logic instead of actual evidence. infact i think the social sciences are pretty arbitrary and shouldnt really be considered science at all, atleast on the same level as the life sciences.

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by Div

i fundamentally disagree.

there are plenty of people who can sing and dance but theyre total hacks. does that make them more "fit" than, lets say, a brilliant writer who cant sing or dance well?

you cant compare a physical trait in an animal to a psychological trait in a human. animal psychology and reductionism cant apply to traits that are specific to humans and not found in animals. not to mention that approaching everything from a reductionist viewpoint is going to give biased results because they will attribute everything to reductionism.

this is more evolutionary psychology than actual biology. sociologists spend alot of time trying to come up with reasons for behavioral phenomenon, but alot of it is based on circular logic instead of actual evidence. infact i think the social sciences are pretty arbitrary and shouldnt really be considered science at all, atleast on the same level as the life sciences.

Well obviously there are weaknesses in the article and you picked a major one (who's to even say what "good" at singing means?), but I think the very idea of trying to apply evolutionary biology (or psychology, as you put it) to something as fundamental to our lives yet evolutionarily unnecessary as music is a bold step.

[ChildrenofSodom]

Originally Posted by Div

infact i think the social sciences are pretty arbitrary and shouldnt really be considered science at all, atleast on the same level as the life sciences.

There goes my whole career.

[Div]

Originally Posted by ChildrenofSodom

There goes my whole career.

political science?

political science is pretty hard to find a job in, you basically have to get a doctorate to assure yourself a job, even then its not 100%, at least thats what my professor told me. go for it if thats what you want to do. its a good major if you want to get into law school or something.

[ChildrenofSodom]

Originally Posted by Div

political science?

political science is pretty hard to find a job in, you basically have to get a doctorate to assure yourself a job, even then its not 100%, at least thats what my professor told me. go for it if thats what you want to do. its a good major if you want to get into law school or something.

Political science, economics, or sociology. I figure I can work either in government, for a campaign, or with a social advocacy/activist group.

[zgodt]

In the past couple days I finished the novel Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta (which is excellent), the book of poems Man and Camel by Mark Strand (which is largely mediocre), and How Soccer Explains the World by Franklin Foer (which is good).

Tonight I started Black Swan Green by David Mitchell.

[DethMaiden]

http://news.aol.com/article/muslim-f...f-plane/291630

Fuck the airlines.

[Maiden33]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

http://news.aol.com/article/muslim-f...f-plane/291630

Fuck the airlines.

I think the shocking thing is that 54% of people who voted said that the airline handled the situation appropriately.

[ChildrenofSodom]

Originally Posted by DethMaiden

http://news.aol.com/article/muslim-f...f-plane/291630

Fuck the airlines.

Why would a terrorist openly talk about their plot, on the plane?

Fucking xenophobia. I think it says that they were US-born, too.

Anyway....I'm reading:

What Makes a Terrorist: Economics and the Roots of Terrorism by Alan Krueger

[DethMaiden]

Originally Posted by Maiden33

I think the shocking thing is that 54% of people who voted said that the airline handled the situation appropriately.

Yeah, that pissed me off, but AOL News is pretty conservative for whatever reason.