Nature reuses patterns. If you see a mathematical distribution, pattern, type of organization or even something you could flowchart in one place, you’ll see it in another:
All the bacteria living inside you would fill a half-gallon jug; there are 10 times more bacterial cells in your body than human cells, according to Carolyn Bohach, a [...]
When modern society treats all human populations as a uniform mass of generic hominids, we have secular universalism. Diverse value systems that do not fit this generic hominid fantasy are then invalidated as idiosyncracy, bad manners, superstition, even criminality.
“Unlike Hobbes, Locke believed that natural law dictated that all human beings were fundamentally equal; he derived [...]
OK, thought-provoking post from my favorite (to read) far-right group, the American Renaissance:
The situation was otherwise in Eurasia, where large game was a dietary staple. Bringing down a cornered mastodon takes cooperation, with each man in his assigned position, ready to respond to shouted instructions. There must be jointly acceptable rules for dividing the kill. [...]
Back in election 2008, many people voted for Barack Obama out of a simple desire to fix the racial inequities and conflict in the United States, a problem that has plagued us for centuries and peaks, periodically, in riots like Watts (1967) and L.A. (1992).
The thinking was that if all people are finally made equal, [...]
Every age has taboos, just like it has ideals. These are the stick and the carrot, respectively. If you want to succeed, find some way to justify what you’re doing in terms of the ideals; if you want to knock out some competition, bully them and accuse them of being the taboo.
One of the big [...]
An excellent point from an unusual source:
Those who form the majority population of a territory will rule that territory, no matter how powerful a ruling elite may be. They will determine its culture and society. A majority-European population will create a society that reflects European values and norms. A majority-African population will create a society [...]
From the mouth of The People’s favorite font of wisdom, here’s a logical fallacy you see all the time:
Converse Fallacy of Accident: argues from a special case to a general rule
Example
Argument: Every swan I have seen is white, so it must be true that all swans are white.
Problem: What one has seen is a special [...]
I know, I know… if you want to be one of the popular kids, you insist that everyone is equal, we all want the same things, and we all have inalienable rights and we’re all OK.
If you’re a realist, you know that people are different, have different abilities, and some are born bad and some [...]
Forensic experts are increasingly relying on DNA as “a genetic eyewitness,” says Jack Ballantyne, associate director for research at the National Center for Forensic Science at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, who is studying whether a DNA sample can reveal a person’s age.
Researchers are identifying genes that give rise to a person’s physical [...]
If we have categories “A” and “not A,” is there a grey area?
The soldier testified that the “clear” message of literature distributed to troops by the rabbinate was: “We are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to [...]