12 DEC 2017 by ideonexus
Wheat Domesticated Homo Sapiens
Think for a moment about the Agricultural Revolution from the viewpoint of wheat. Ten thousand years ago wheat was just a wild grass, one of many, conFolksonomies: artificial selection
Folksonomies: artificial selection
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notes
notes03 DEC 2014 by ideonexus
The Pretties
There was a certain kind of beauty, a prettiness that everyone could see. Big eyes and
full lips like a kid’s; smooth, clear skin; symmetrical features; and a thousand other
little clues. Somewhere in the backs of their minds, people were always looking for
these markers. No one could help seeing them, no matter how they were brought up. A
million years of evolution had made it part of the human brain.
The big eyes and lips said: I’m young and vulnerable, I can’t hurt you, and you want... 1 notes
notesA society that uses plastic surgery to turn everyone into a beautiful average as a means of reducing conflict.
02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Imperialism and Feudalism are Mountains Weighing Down the...
There is an ancient Chinese fable called "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains". It tells of an old man who lived in northern China long, long ago and was known as the Foolish Old Man of North Mountain. His house faced south and beyond his doorway stood the two great peaks, Taihang and Wangwu, obstructing the way. With great determination, he led his sons in digging up these mountains hoe in hand. Another greybeard, known as the Wise Old Man, saw them and said derisively, "How silly ...Folksonomies: government revolution
Folksonomies: government revolution
1 notes
notesThe Chinese overthrew kings just as Americans and Europeans did.
10 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Humanities are About "Inwardness"
It is the irreducible reality of inwardness, and its autonomy as a category of understanding, over which Pinker, in his delirium of empirical research, rides roughshod. The humanities are the study of the many expressions of that inwardness. Pinker’s condescension to the humanities is endless. He proposes for the humanities “a consilience with science,” but the only apparent beneficiary of such an arrangement would be the humanities, since they have nothing much to offer the sciences, w...
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1 Argument for why they cannot be reconciled with science.
18 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
We All Talk About One Another Behind Our Backs
I’ve often thought that the single most devastating cyberattack a diabolical and anarchic mind could design would not be on the military or financial sector but simply to simultaneously make every e-mail and text ever sent universally public. It would be like suddenly subtracting the strong nuclear force from the universe; the fabric of society would instantly evaporate, every marriage, friendship and business partnership dissolved. Civilization, which is held together by a fragile web of t...Folksonomies: social circles
Folksonomies: social circles
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notesAnd we need to accept that such talk is none of our business.
21 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Tummy-Time Improves Infant Motor Skills
The recent trend of putting young babies to sleep on their backs also appears to be having an effect on their motor skill acquisition. This posture, which has proven advantageous in reducing the number of SIDS fatalities, does not permit babies to exercise their arm and neck muscles as much as and see the world. In one recent study, pediatricians found that babies who slept on their backs were significantly slower to roll over, sit, crawl, and pull to stand than babies who slept on their stom... 1 notes
notesBy forcing the infant to work their neck and back to look around while on their tummy, they strengthen these important muscles; however, the infant should still remain on their back while sleeping to prevent SIDS.
21 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Proper Burial for a Naturalist
I will leave a sum in my last will for my body to be carried to Brazil and to these forests. It will be laid out in a manner secure against the possums and the vultures just as we make our chickens secure; and this great Coprophanaeus beetle will bury me. They will enter, will bury, will live on my flesh; and in the shape of their children and mine, I will escape death. No worm for me nor sordid fly, I will buzz in the dusk like a huge bumble bee. I will be many, buzz even as a swarm of motor...To have one's body placed outdoors or in a shallow grave so that it make give birth to thousands of insects that feed on it.
05 MAR 2011 by ideonexus
The Light of Science Defines the Rights of Human Beings
All eyes are opened, or opening to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born ,with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of god. These are grounds of hope for others.Folksonomies: enlightenment science
Folksonomies: enlightenment science
Quote from Jefferson arguing that scientific thought was making people aware that we are all equal.
