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The Proper Study Of Mankind: Scientific Happenings on the South Coast
http://psom.blogspot.com/2008/02/scientific-happenings-on-south-coast.html
The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Wednesday, February 20, 2008. Scientific Happenings on the South Coast. Brighton, UK, is playing host to fourth annual science festival between 23 February and 2 March, and there is lots on offer for anyone living in the region and interested in a bit of brain food. You can browse the programme highlights here. And there are more detailed pages for the various events on the left-hand side of the page this links to.
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: Torture, Inc.
http://psom.blogspot.com/2010/03/torture-inc.html
The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Thursday, March 04, 2010. The story of how torture became part of standard operating practice at Guantanamo Bay is by now widely known. Andrew Sullivan over at The Atlantic has written extensively, and with great sense, about all these issues; a good place to start is with this open letter to George Bush. Details of the abuses meteed out to detainees such as Mohamed al-Kahtani. And Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Have similar, or wors...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: April 2006
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The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Sunday, April 23, 2006. To cooperate or free-ride: picking the right pond. Cooperation can get off the ground when people can punish cheats, and a new study shows that people choose environments that allow punishment over ones in which cheats go free. Why do people get together and cooperate? Why do people not ruthlessly pursue their own selfish ends in a battle ‘red in tooth and claw’ in which only the fittest survive? But wh...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: Two feet good...
http://psom.blogspot.com/2008/03/two-feet-good.html
The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Thursday, March 06, 2008. Along with a big brain, walking upright on two feet has often been taken to be a defining feature of the human line. In this week’s New Scientist. I have a feature article on some recent ideas about why, and where, bipedality first arose. The ‘where’ question relates not to which part of the globe walking on two feet got going, but whether it was on the ground or in the trees. Walking in the trees?
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: May 2006
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The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Thursday, May 11, 2006. Just a short post to let you know about a cool site. I found with links to many talks and radio shows featuring the likes of Dan Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Steve Pinker and Michael Shermer, and also to say that despite the dearth of posts on this blog recently I haven’t quit just been a bit distracted. More substantial posts will be reappearing shortly I hope! Posted by Dan Jones at 11:36 am. Human natur...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: Gracious giving and helping hands
http://psom.blogspot.com/2008/09/gracious-giving-and-helping-hands.html
The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Friday, September 26, 2008. Gracious giving and helping hands. Two new papers on prosocial behaviour in monkeys suggest that giving to others can be self-rewarding, and also sensitive to situations. Similar results were found by Keith Jensen and colleagues, suggesting that chimpanzees are motivated solely by personal gain (2). Later studies have complicated the picture. Chimpanzees, like young children, will help a human g...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: The evolution of disgust
http://psom.blogspot.com/2009/03/evolution-of-disgust.html
The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Sunday, March 01, 2009. The evolution of disgust. New reseaerch illuminates the path from "oral won't" to "moral don't". In such cases, our moral abhorrence or disgust is patently justified. Indeed, you’d suspect that anyone lacking such feelings on hearing this tragic story had a moral screw loose. More generally, moral revulsion has been advocated as a guide to moral judgment. On this view, there is wisdom in rep...There are...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: August 2006
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The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Thursday, August 24, 2006. Beware of the Others? Shows how biases towards members of our social group, and against those outside it, shape how generous we are to people and how we punish others for transgressing social norms. Will be familiar with), frequently arousing enmity and stoking conflict. Note how groups really come into their own and pull together when pitted against other groups in the human speciality of war. The i...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: January 2006
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The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Monday, January 30, 2006. Race - Fact Or Fiction? The excellent Mixing Memory. Recently had a post commenting. Prompted by some comments from Fido the Yak. On MIT cognitive psychologist and best-selling author Steven Pinker’s remarks about group differences in his answer. To the Edge Annual question. In 2002, Daedalus. Published two essays, one by Ernst Mayr. The other by James Crow. James Crow is a distinguished and widely re...
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The Proper Study Of Mankind: Oh what a lovely molecule!
http://psom.blogspot.com/2010/06/oh-what-lovely-molecule.html
The Proper Study Of Mankind. A blog on evolution, philosophy and human nature. Friday, June 11, 2010. Oh what a lovely molecule! The continuing adventures with the astonishing hormone oxytocin. Many studies have stressed the importance of tactile contact in regulating the effects of oxytocin. Touch is an important means of social communication for many mammals, and is frequently deployed to convey emotional states, such as friendliness and anxiety. And studies on rodents have suggested that direc...Yet a...