Human Prosperity
Human prosperity has increased dramatically in the past 100 years. But we tend to focus on the glitzy technology, and overlook the big reasons for it.
Biology
Nature vs Nurture
The Ideal & Romanticism
How many of the Romanticists ever visited the peasants in winter? Did any of them bother to pass by their frozen shacks when there was not enough food, fuel, clothes or warmth? In its focus on the ideal, how much disease, starvation, and death did Romanticism miss, in the nature all around them, and in the homes of their poor neighbors? The Romantics are like all of us: we only see what we wish to see…
Outrageous Lebanese Genetics
Lebanese Genetics sounds boring, but the Lebanese may be the most stereotypical ethnic group around, an inheritance from the Phoenicians.
The Deadly Game of Hawk-Dove
Consider hawk-dove: in the struggle between good and evil, who wins, warriors or peace makers? Neither does, because both do. In reality, there is no ideal.
The Bookscrounger Returns
I’m back, the Bookscrounger returns. Where I’ve been, and where we’re going.
Morality as Survival
We tell ourselves, and others, one reason for why we do things, but our choices often betray other, more convincing reasons. Sometimes the secondary reason helps us see morality as survival. This is a serialization from my book, Happiness: A Physician/Biologist Looks at Life. To see the Table of Contents and the dust jacket blurb, … [Read more…]
Colors as Shorthand (Ch. 1, Illusions)
Colors may not exist, but that does not mean they are not useful nevertheless. They are highly useful, and colors as shorthand help us process information more quickly.
Colors as Illusions (Ch. 1, Illusions)
We are buffeted by illusions, ideas and images served up by our bodies to help us, but sometimes they only confuse us. Colors are a great example of a simple illusion, that can help us to understand some of the more complicated ones.
How Many Brains Do We Have?
If you live in Acadiana, you should check out a current-events talk show on KRVS, ‘Bayou to Beltway‘. The host, Pearson Cross, was the Department Head of Political Science here at the University for some years, and if you keep up with Louisiana politics you have seen him quoted in papers nationwide. He has become … [Read more…]
Paternal Corn: Bad Dad Jokes
Perhaps there is a good reason that fathers tell bad dad jokes…