Language Evolved Gradually via Complex Genetic Regulation
Thirty-six years ago, @paulbloomatyale and I argued that the human language faculty was a genetically complex trait, distinct from general cognition, which evolved gradually by natural selection of many regulatory genes over a long period (as opposed to being the result of a single lucky macromutation, just another manifestation of general intelligence, or a by-product of a big brain). We were repeatedly told that our hypothesis was an unfalsifiable after-the-fact just-so story. | Natural language and natural selection | Behavioral and Brain Sciences https://t.co/KzVzVLoPSI
Exploring Whether History Was Truly Less Violent
Is It True That... the Past Was Less Violent? - Watch the full documentary (but not in the US, unfortunately - seems to be Europe-only). | ARTE in English https://t.co/yxWj1xlBBx
Stewart Brand Shares Life's Core Principle with Ezra Klein
Ever since I bought The Whole Earth Catalogue as a teenager, and again when I read his "ecopragmatist manifesto" and then got to know the man, I've admired Stewart Brand. Here he is in conversation with Ezra Klein: "Silicon...
Animal Concern Unchanged, Meat Consumption Stays High
Most people care about farm animals — but eat lots of meat anyway. (Consistent with the data I cited in The Better Angels of Our Nature 15 years ago. Despite all the vegetarians we know, the proportion in the population...
Gene Therapy Cures Specific Deafness—A Modern Miracle
Another modern miracle: Gene therapy cures a form of deafness. Harvard to USA: You're welcome. https://t.co/mfEzVMGugp
AI's Jagged Intelligence: Powerful Yet Limited by Scope
Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Stupidity: The ‘Jagged Intelligence’ of AI is said to be "reframing" the debate, but many cognitive scientists have noted it from the get-go: any implementation of intelligence is not a magic wand that can solve all...
Genetics Reveal Heritability of Specific Math Ability
Independent evidence, this time directly from the genome rather than twin comparisons, that specific cognitive abilities (in this case, math), not just general intelligence (g), is heritable. By Emily Willoughby, my former student James Lee, Matt McGue, et al. |...
Uta Frith: Autism Isn't a Spectrum
There is no autism spectrum, says expert (esteemed cognitive scientist Uta Frith) who pioneered our understanding of the cognitive deficits underlying autism. https://t.co/a5e8jZzUbF
Genetics Shape Specific Cognitive Skills, Not Just General IQ
An accessible explanation of the new study on by Steve Stewart-Williams @SteveStuWill here | Beyond General Intelligence: The Genetics of Specific Cognitive Abilities https://t.co/uRnhKsuJQE
Specific Cognitive Skills Proven Heritable in New Meta‑Analysis
Important new finding: For decades there's been abundant evidence for the existence, importance, & heritability of "general intelligence" (despite massive denial in journalism, ed schools, and among intellectual-cultural elites). That is: if you're above average in verbal skills, you're likelier...
Spinoza Meets Boltzmann Brain in Keating
The Book Spinoza Would Have Written If He Had Boltzmann’s Brain (Review of The Mattering Instinct by physicist Brian Keating) @platobooktour https://t.co/Ji8gHpQFeD
Happiness Grows, Yet Meaningfulness Remains Elusive Through Ages
On happiness and meaningfulness: Overall, across the world, there’s reason to believe that happiness has increased, for obvious reasons: people are living longer, they’re less poor, they’re better educated, and so on. So that would suggest, but not prove, that...
Cosmic Indifference, Human Purpose: Care and Flourish
The fact that the universe doesn’t care about you doesn’t mean that other humans don’t care about you, or that we don’t have to care about other humans. That is, there is a purpose, there is a meaning: that is,...
Male Autism Linked to Evolutionary Reproductive Variance
Why is autism more common in males? Interesting finding here (as with other sex differences, men's lack of a redundant X chromosome has a role), but it's a sign of the lack of Darwinian thinking in medicine that a more...
Our Primal Drive to Matter Fuels Courageous Living
Joshua Steinfeldt and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (@platobooktour) spoke about her new book on Joshua's "The Courageous Life" podcast: https://t.co/lrz8pOY1AR Written introduction on Spotify: "There is a primal drive that in our species alone has been transformed into one of our most...
Reading Defies Evolution; Video Becomes Preferred Learning
Like an appreciation of progress, reading and literacy are among the things that are good but cognitively unnatural. That is, they go against our evolved nature. We didn’t evolve with print; it was a recent invention. Reading, for many of...
Urbanization Drives Global Decline in Suicide Rates
From my discussion with Marian Tupy of @HumanProgress: As best we can tell, suicide rates are actually going way down, globally. And especially in poorer countries. But you're right also in many rich countries. The United States is something of...
Comforting Falsehoods Aren’t Evolutionarily Adaptive, Says Dan Williams
Wishful Thinking is wishful thinking. Dan Williams @danwilliamsphil notes that "We believe comforting things because they make us feel better" makes no adaptive sense, and is not the best explanation for why people believe falsehoods like conspiracy theories. ...
Memory Is Constructed, Not Recorded, Says Loftus
Conversation with the brave and brilliant cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, whose discoveries about the constructive nature of human memory changed the conventional wisdom about eyewitness testimony and recovered memory. Convos About Teaching N & Stuff (I'm not involved). ...
Goldstein Explores “Mattering Instinct” At Cato Event
This Wednesday: Rebecca Newberger Goldstein @platobooktour discusses The Mattering Instinct at the Cato Institute with @AdamOmaryPhD: https://t.co/StQ0LIgwxa #CatoEvents via @CatoInstitute
Publicly Sharing Autism Turns Private Stigma Into Dialogue
"Why I always announce my son’s autism" - Whitney Ellenby, mother of a disruptive and profoundly autistic young man, answers this question by invoking common knowledge and When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows... Commonly known denial + private knowledge ("open...
Catholic University Compels Pro‑Israel Club to Host Opponent
Catholic University is forcing Students Supporting Israel to invite someone who doesn't support Israel — or they can't hold the event. Student clubs, regardless of their perspective, are allowed to advocate for their beliefs and provide programming that supports those...
Philosopher's Gender Book Review Censored, Academic Freedom Falters
Book reviews by philosophers, notoriously, can be scathing, but a sober review of a book on gender identity by the MIT philosopher (and Academic Freedom Council co-founder) Alex Byrne was deemed too dangerous to print. "The philosophy profession has shown...
AI's Longevity Gains Stalled by Real-World Data Limits
Excellent analysis here of why current AI (or any AI) won't deliver sudden increases in longevity. One big reason: data on physical entities in the real world, unlike data scraped from the internet, must be gathered in real time with...
HAL's Death Fear Fictional; Real AI Lacks Fear
Why HAL 9000 Was Afraid to Die and Real AIs Aren’t: Maarten Boudry @mboudry on some misplaced fears of AI (which is not to deny that AI poses threats; it's just important to identify the real ones). https://t.co/OcroQGi1ru
Hunting Still Central to Human Evolution, Says Ed Hagen
Anthropologist Ed Hagen @ed_hagen debunks the debunking on the role of hunting in human evolution.
Bioethics Bureaucracy Stifles Medical Research Progress
Medical Research Is Hopelessly Caught in Red Tape. Part of the blame goes to "bioethics," which I've long argued is highly unethical. https://t.co/6tF016elEH
Coyne: Evolution Undermines Need for God
Jerry Coyne comments on Pinker vs. Douthat debate: Do we need God? – Why Evolution Is True https://t.co/adSZcA8oC4
Higher Intelligence Predicts Lower Authoritarianism, Greater Social Liberalism
Does being smart make you less authoritarian and more socially liberal? James Lee (former student), Emily Willoughby, & colleagues present evidence (including ruling out confounds) which suggests the answer is yes. | Predicting political beliefs with polygenic scores for...
Helping Others Boosts Your Own Happiness, Study Shows
Doing Good makes you Feel Good: Review of the data by psychologists Shawn Rhoads and Abigail Marsh @aa_marsh https://t.co/x1ZQQPwjB9
Time to Retire Fowler’s Outdated Modern English Usage
Why it’s time to close the book on Fowler's century-old Modern English Usage, despite its many good bit. https://t.co/UFORDPIw8x
The Past Wasn't Golden: Preindustrial Life Was Brutal
The Grim Truth About the “Good Old Days” by Chelsea Follett @chellivia (one of the best essays debunking pristine antiquity). "A popular saying holds that “the past is a foreign country,” and based on recorded accounts, it is not one...