I had a conversation with Meghan Murphy on science, and SARS-CoV2, and feminism, and sex and gender, and more. Meghan Murphy was booted from twitter for the 21st century crime of stating the obvious. She’s still on YouTube, which is good for all of us.
I made two errors of (biological) fact in this conversation. I’m not going to say here what they are. If you watch and you think you spot them, let me know!
Privately, I've heard from a few people as to what the two "errors of (biological) fact" might be, but since twitter is apparently not like a classroom in which patience can be inculcated, I will state the errors here:
Two errors that I made in my conversation with Meghan Murphy:
“Half of all mammals are placentals” (fact: it’s way more than that)
“Komodo dragons can change their sex” (fact: nope, but under some conditions, females can go parthenogenetic and give virgin birth.)
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On top of the global pandemic, Portland, Oregon had months of protests & riots; 10 days of wildfires that gave us the planet’s worst air quality; and now this: snow and ice storms that wiped out power *and* cell service for a huge number of us. (Portland is under all the red.)
Earlier, I was out walking the dog in the deep icy slush as an explosive melt kicked in: The sun broke through, and days of accumulated ice loosened, breaking off trees, shattering on the ground like porcelain , crystalline ice casting shard-shadows.
I spoke to many strangers, all out in the strangest conditions many of us had ever seen, marveling at what we saw. Many roads were blocked by branches and trees. I carried the dog over a downed power line. One man said, “I thought 2020 was bad. But here we are: apocalypse.”
MYTH: Sex is not binary.
Gametes reveal our sex. Going through development as a male permanently changes your body, and provides advantages in strength, speed, and power.
Variation within categories does not render the categories invalid.
FACT TWO: Trans athletes have an unfair advantage in sports.
Variation is a feature of complex systems. The fact that some female athletes perform as well or better than some trans athletes is not evidence of your point. Take some statistics, do better, and stop gaslighting us.
Science doesn’t work by fiat, or by forced, fabricated consensus.
That consensus that you see before you? It’s a mirage. It’s a farce.
Science embraces all hypotheses, and says: let me at ‘em. [thread 1/30]
Science does not require a lab coat, or fancy tech, or a big grant. Having a credential and using an authoritarian tone are *useful* for tamping down dissent, but “useful” and “truth-seeking” aren’t always the same, are they now? 2/
.@BretWeinstein & I have the credentials—evolutionary processes are central to zoonotic disease *and* gain-of-function research. But we lack the perverse incentives that might keep us quiet. Refusing to be bullied into a canoe turns out to be freeing. 3/
All of us are capable of beauty, grace & strength, and also of ugliness, spite & weakness. We make brilliant decisions, and bad ones. Sometimes we follow when we should lead in a different direction. Sometimes we conform so as not to feel alone. At our best, we forgive. [thread]
Here are three amazing pieces relevant to this moment, insightful and deep and enjoyable to read. They do not ask you to suffer for your sins, or to turn in your neighbors. They invite you to think, by offering observation and interpretation, and letting you go from there.
.@walterkirn writes of the “liberal switch from skepticism to sanctimony about the most powerful arms of the Establishment” and of “liberal puritanism…fears that the wrong sort of people might be happy, or that their happiness might be of the wrong kind.” harpers.org/archive/2018/0…
Here are a few cool things. Viewers of the DarkHorse podcast will be familiar with some: DarkHorse merch, an arts & culture magazine, perfume, some books. Gift ideas, if you will. [thread]
Root Quarterly is a gorgeous, high-production arts and culture magazine based in Philadelphia—from journalism to poetry, politics to food, it is a joy to read, and to have in your hands. rootquarterly.com
At the end of #DarkHorseLive53, I read (hilarious) perfume reviews from Turin & Sanchez’s “Perfumes: The Guide.” Soon thereafter, I became aware of Possetts Perfumes, which makes entirely hand-blended, original perfume. This is art, and affordable too. possets.com