Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #2: Evolutionary psychology provides an excuse for bad behavior – in particular, for the kinds of bad behavior that men specialize in. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #3: Evolutionary psychology implies that certain undesirable phenomena – old-fashioned sex roles, xenophobia, war and aggression – are ultimately ineradicable. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
"There's no magic-bullet study that can single-handedly establish that a given trait is an adaptation – or that it's not. The best we can ever do is to look at the preponderance of evidence and see which way it points." #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #8: Evolutionary psychologists argue that everything is an adaptation. They're guilty, in other words, of what’s sometimes called "panadaptationism." #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Critics who rail against status quo bolstering, genetic determinism and just-so storytelling are like the crazy person in the bus shelter, fighting with a sparring partner who isn't really there: They've invented their own evolutionary psychology and are arguing loudly with that.
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"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives... on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
–Carl Sagan (born OTD in 1934)
"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot."
–Carl Sagan (born OTD in 1934)
"It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience."
One of the most fascinating papers I've read for a long time: People dislike their political opponents for views that most don't actually hold. psyarxiv.com/cr23g/ [Preprint; N = 4,993.]
"(Over)estimation of political opponents' agreement with extreme issues predicted cross-partisan dislike, which in turn predicted unwillingness to engage with opponents, foreclosing opportunities to correct misperceptions." psyarxiv.com/cr23g/ [2/5]
"If you empower the government to censor, you are giving the powerful more power... Do you trust what a Biden administration would do with that power? If so, do you trust what the next Trump would do with that power?" areomagazine.com/2021/05/25/ans…
"Censorship doesn't generally change people's opinions, but it does make them more likely to talk only to those with whom they already agree. And what happens when people only talk to politically similar people? The well documented effect of group polarization takes over."
Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #2: Evolutionary psychology provides an excuse for bad behavior – in particular, for the kinds of bad behavior that men specialize in. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Misguided Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology #3: Evolutionary psychology implies that certain undesirable phenomena – old-fashioned sex roles, xenophobia, war and aggression – are ultimately ineradicable. From #TheApeThatUnderstoodTheUniverseamazon.com/Ape-that-Under…
Inspired: Dan Baldassarre (@evornithology) submitted a joke science article to a predatory journal, to see if they'd actually publish it. They did. The paper is called "What's the Deal with Birds?" and it's hilarious. 😂 irispublishers.com/sjrr/pdf/SJRR.…
Come to think of it, though, what *is* the deal with birds? 👇