13 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
With Obtuse Spelling Rules, Pronunciation Becomes Reliant...
Since our current orthografy bears no real relation
to the present pronunciation, but is at best an imperfect attempt to represent that of the Elizabethan
period, English pronunciation has become almost entirely a matter of oral tradition as unsafe a gide in
regard to correctness in speech as it is in regard to
correctness in history. We learn to talk, and continue
to talk, entirely "by ear," and with the same tendency
to uncertainty and variation as do those who play music
by ear. The...
1 27 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
Literate Societies Place Less Value on the Elderly
...older people in traditional societies have a huge significance that would never occur to us in our modern, literate societies, where our sources of information are books and the Internet. In contrast, in traditional societies without writing, older people are the repositories of information. It's their knowledge that spells the difference between survival and death for their whole society in a time of crisis caused by rare events for which only the oldest people alive have had experience. ... 1 
notes
notesIn societies without readily-available information stored in written words, the elderly are more valuable for their knowledge and experience.
08 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
The Danger of Teleological Accounts of Evolution
It's important to remember that arguments over evolutionary mechanisms often depend on the deeply held convictions of evolutionary biologists—after all, biologists are people, too! Almost everyone is reluctant to let go of deeply held convictions. Many biologists, in particular, are still attracted to teleological accounts of evolution. Teleology is the idea that all activities tend toward the achievement of some sort of goal. "Everything as to its purpose" is the undercurrent of teleology,... 1 notes
notesThe idea that evolution has a purpose and that natural selection works efficiently are erroneous.
26 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Cognitive Rigidity
Two experiments examined the relation between mindfulness practice and cognitive rigidity by using a variation of the Einstellung water jar task. Participants were required to use three hypothetical jars to obtain a specific amount of water. Initial problems were solvable by the same complex formula, but in later problems (“critical” or “trap” problems) solving was possible by an additional much simpler formula. A rigidity score was compiled through perseverance of the complex formula...Folksonomies: meditation cognitive rigidity
Folksonomies: meditation cognitive rigidity
Demonstrated using tests with "traps" that can only be overcome with novel thinking.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Individuals VS Species
The assumptions of population thinking are diametrically opposed to those of the typologist. The populationist stresses the uniqueness of everything in the organic world. What is true for the human species,–that no two individuals are alike, is equally true for all other species of animals and plants ... All organisms and organic phenomena are composed of unique features and can be described collectively only in statistical terms. Individuals, or any kind of organic entities, form populatio...Folksonomies: taxonomy perspective
Folksonomies: taxonomy perspective
1 notes
notesSpecies are classified according to a mean, the perspective is to ignore the variation within the species.
05 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Think in Letters Not Figures
I was just going to say, when I was interrupted, that one of the many ways of classifying minds is under the heads of arithmetical and algebraical intellects. All economical and practical wisdom is an extension or variation of the following arithmetical formula: 2 2=4. Every philosophical proposition has the more general character of the expression a b=c. We are mere operatives, empirics, and egotists, until we learn to think in letters instead of figures. Folksonomies: arithmetic formlae
Folksonomies: arithmetic formlae
1 notes
notesHolmes breaks down all logic into a cause/effect equation.
30 MAY 2012 by RadioGuy
Humans share 98.5% of our genes with chimpanzees
The genome is not a blueprint for constructing a body; it is a recipe for baking a body.
As the hox story illustrates, DNA promoters express themselves in the fourth dimension; their timing is all. A chimp has a different head from a human being not because it has a different blueprint for the head, but because it grows the jaws for longer and the cranium for less long than a human being. The difference is all timing.
The startling new truth that has emerged from the human genome - that...Folksonomies: genetics
Folksonomies: genetics
1 notes
notesEven the difference between human and mouse blueprints are minor. Our variation comes from the schedules that manage the expression of genes, and these are controlled by the chemicals and enzymes in our environments.
29 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Nature Uses the Same Materials and Forms in Life
We know that nature invariably uses the same materials in its operations. Its ingeniousness is displayed only in the variation of form. Indeed, as if nature had voluntarily confined itself to using only a few basic units, we observe that it generally causes the same elements to reappear, in the same number, in the same circumstances, and in the same relationships to one another. If an organ happens to grow in an unusual manner, it exerts a considerable influence on adjacent parts, which as a ... 1 notes
notesA brilliant early observation, crucial to understanding evolution.
21 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Evolution is No More Irreligious Than Birth Through Biolo...
I am aware that the conclusions arrived at in this work will be
denounced by some as highly irreligious; but he who denounces them
is bound to shew why it is more irreligious to explain the origin of
man as a distinct species by descent from some lower form, through
the laws of variation and natural selection, than to explain the birth of
the individual through the laws of ordinary reproduction [the pattern
of development]. 1 notes
notesDarwin challenges the religious to explain why being related to primates is any worse than being conceived through sexual intercourse.
21 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
The Biological Species Concept (BSC)
And when we think of why we feel that brown-eyed and blue-eyed
humans, or Inuit and !Kung, are members of the same species, we realize
that it’s because they can mate with each other and produce offspring
that contain combinations of their genes. In other words, they belong
to the same gene pool. When you ponder cryptic species, and variation
within humans, you arrive at the notion that species are distinct
not merely because they look different, but because there are barriers
between them ... 1 notes
notesA species is defined by the fact that its members can breed with one another.
