evolution
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On gene duplication and oppression, a reprise.
Maybe horrific oppression helped get from our past to the present, but it’s certainly not the only way forward.
aristocracy, bacterial evolution, citrate metabolism, cultural evolution, DNA duplication, DNA polymerase, DNA replication, evolution, evolution in a laboratory, evolution of culture, global wealth tax, guaranteed basic income, history, history of violence, landed gentry, mutation, natural selection, oppression, Richard Lenski, taxation, taxes, theft, wealth
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On smell (again!).
In our polluted world, animals can’t always find their own kind to mate with. Not that all species barriers are good.
assortive mating, CAFO, CAFOs, chimera, choosing mates, choosing romantic partners, continuing evolution, cultural barriers, evolution, fish, heredity, history of violence in the U.S., human evolution, inequality, Loving, Loving v. Virginia, mating, mating based on smell, melanin, miscegenation, parental education, perfume, persistence of inequality, pollution, poverty, racism, romance, scent, skin color, slavery, smell, speciation, species, stick insects, wealth, wealth inequality, Wedekind
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On loneliness.
It’s well known that loneliness wrecks brains … so why are we imposing it on the people we expect better behavior from?
addiction, animal welfare, biomedical research, coke, cooperation, crime, crime deterrence, Daniel Weary, David Grimm, dendritic growth, evolution, evolution of cooperation, health risks of incarceration, heroin, imposed loneliness, incarceration, isolation, jail, John-Michael Bloomquist, lab animals, lab mouse, laboratory animals, loneliness, loneliness epidemic, mass incarceration, meth, mice, mouse, neuron growth, parole, parole officer, parole violation, pot, probation, punishing defectors, punishment, rehab, rehabilitation, research animals, science, Surgeon General, The Prodigal’s Return, Vivek Murthy, War on Drugs
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On genetic inheritance and sexual assault.
Violence flourishes whenever people want control without putting in the work. But humans can stand against injustice.
animal breeding, arranged marriage, CAFO, consent, duck genitalia, duck rape, duck sex, ducks, evolution, factory farming, feminism, feminist, forcible fertilization, freedom, freedom of choice, gender violence, genetic inheritence, injustice, instinct, instinctual behaviors, interspecies sexual assault, lek mating, male feminists, manakin, mate choice, mating strategies, Mean, Myriam Gurba, orangutan, parenting, patriarchy, post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, puppy mill, rape, rape culture, rape in nature, sexual assault, sexual autonomy, sexual violence, slut shaming, smooth guardian frogs, the opportunity to consent is sexy, violative assault, violence, what does evolution want, zoo, zoos
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On animals that speak, including humans.
Tom Wolfe & Noam Chomsky both claim that no other animals are capable of anything like human speech … while scientists are finally learning to listen.
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On Edward Dolnick’s ‘The Seeds of Life’ and artificial wombs.
Among the smooth guardian frogs of Borneo, females croon to the males, attempting to woo a mate. This is abnormal for frogs: usually females are serenaded. But males of this species are the most devoted parents – they guard the fertilized eggs and carry tadpoles from pond to pond after they hatch. Whereas the females…
creator gods, Drona, Edward Dolnick, Egyptian mythology, evolution, feminism, Hindu mythology, Indian mythology, mate choice, mating practices, mythology, myths, parental effort, paterogenesis, pregnancy, semen, smooth guardian frogs, The Seeds of Life, unilateral reproduction, Wendy Doniger, Women Androgynes and Other Mythical Beasts
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On the sounds of aberrant ecosystems
The world humans are born into inevitably seems normal, no matter how hot, or loud, or empty of animals…
acidity, anthropocene, birds, buffer, buffering, climate change, climate destabilization, Collapse, cultivation, cultural extinction, David Haskell, deforestation, depopulation, directed evolution, domestication, Easter Island, endangered species, environmentalism, evolution, extinction, global warming, Goblin Nabob, Herman Melville, industrial revolution, innovation, Jared Diamond, landscape amnesia, loss of diversity, Magic, Magic the Gathering, mass extinction, Michael McCarthy, Moby Dick, natural renewal, noise pollution, ocean, outdoor cats, overpopulation, population crash, progress, renewal, songbirds, sperm whale, Squee, technology, The Moth Snowstorm, The Songs of Trees, vegan, veganism, whale, where have all the insects gone, windshield phenomenon
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On storytelling.
Our myths engulf each other… but some stray remnants live on.
amoeba, animal life, Avigdor Shinan, Baal, Babylonian myths, Bible, biology, cellular biology, Christianity, dragons in bible, Eden, evolution, From Gods to God, Genesis, great whales, Jesus, King James, Marduk, mitochondria, morality, myth, mythology, narrative, Old Testament, origin of Bible, origin stories, paradise, polemic, Quran, reframing, religion, Religion in Human Evolution, Robert Bellah, science, sea dragons, sea monsters, storytelling, teleological misconception, Tiamat, Tower of Babel, Umberto Cassuto, Valerie Zakovitch, Yahweh, Yair Zakovitch
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On naked mole-rats.
Naked mole-rats shrug off pain, & cancer, & even time itself… but can they withstand the curiosity of Homo sapiens?
age-related diseases, age-related mortality, aging, animal cognition, animal research, animal welfare, anoxia, anoxia resistance, apoxia resistance, breeding, caloric restriction, cancer, cancer immunity, cancer resistance, cancer susceptibility, carbon dioxide poisoning, chemotherapy, Christopher Byrd, civil war, compassion, cooperation, cooperative childcare, Creep, cruelty, David Stipp, death curve, Eliot Weinberger, environmentalism, eusocial, eusocial mammals, eusociality, evolution, evolution of eusociality, food insecurity, fructose, Fructose-driven glycolysis, glucose, good stewardship, high-molecular-mass hyaluronan, hit single, hyaluronan, hypoxia, immortality, jail poetry, Jennifer Jarvis, Karmic Traces, lab mice, Laboratory Animal Welfare Act, laboratory animals, laboratory research, lifespan, lifespan elongation, limited senescence, longevity, mating habits, metabolism, mutation, Naked Mole-Rats, naked molerats, New Yorker, Norman Dubie, observation, opiates, Orange and Peanuts for Sale, Oranges and Peanuts for Sale, oxidation, oxidative stress, oxygen deprivation, pain, painkillers, Park et al., poetry, prison poetry, Radiohead, recycling, research animals, Richard Alexander, Selective Inflammatory Pain Insensitivity, Stalin, starvation, stroke, The Biology of Naked Mole-Rats, The Ghosts of Birds, The Marshall Cloud, Thomas Park, Tian et al., tumor, tumor resistance, tumorogenesis, What Happened Here, Xiao Tian
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On fairness (and how we treat the utility monster).
How do you measure someone’s capacity for joy? And what does that say about our opiate epidemic?
animal welfare, Betham, competetive equilibrium, distribution of resources, distribution of wealth, economics, equality, evolution, fairness, heroin, heroin epidemic, human evolution, mass incarceration, Milton Friedman, moral philosophy, natural selection, negative externalities, opiate abuse, opiate epidemic, opportunity, Pareto optimal, Pareto optimality, political philosophy, survival of the fittest, tax policy, utilitarian, utilitarianism, utility monster, utility theory, War on Drugs
Frank Brown Cloud 