emjohnson | November 3, 2009Chris Hedges, the American war correspondent who has authored such books as War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, has a new article entitled "Opium, Rape and the American Way" published on the website of RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan).
The warlords we champion in Afghanistan are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban. The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional. The uplifting…
emjohnson | November 2, 2009Caught your attention, didn't it? Mine too. This morning I came across Steve Silberman's twitter headline pointing out that when people typed "I Am Extremely" into the Google search bar, one of the top suggestions was "Terrified of Chinese People." Fascinated to see what fools these mortals be, I clicked the link only to discover an article on Christwire that was actually able to claim that they were terrified of a racial group but that this didn't mean they were racist. Confused? You're not alone. Just take a quick look at some of the extremely confused statements that attracted nearly…
emjohnson | November 2, 2009As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote of his native land but as a stranger in the process of discovery, "India is a geographical and economic entity, a cultural unity amidst diversity, a bundle of contradictions held together by invisible threads." These invisible threads were the spiritual beliefs of the people, the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita and the Manu Smriti. The sacred Ganges was a symbol of India's life blood, as much for the Indian people as for the British colonialists, that, as Rudyard Kipling described in his story "The Bridge Builders," was a natural force that needed to be conquered if the…
emjohnson | October 30, 2009It's been an unusually busy week, so I apologize for the lack of original posts, but I just came upon Christopher Hitchens' latest piece in Slate reflecting on the many debates he's had with religious proponents in the last few years. His new film, Collision, looks fascinating and I look forward to reviewing it.
What struck me in Hitchens' article, and what I've found when discussing religion with theists as well, is how few of them hold literally to the doctrine that they espouse. It is one of the curious aspects of religion today that people will join movements insisting that religion be…
emjohnson | October 29, 2009Last night Jon Stewart hosted the Israel/Palestine peace activists Anna Baltzer and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. The angry response from the Pro-Israel crowd resulted in a backlash against the show for even having the discussion (including the show's first heckler in eleven years).
Baltzer, an American-Jewish author, has put out a public letter asking that people contact The Daily Show thanking them for hosting the discussion as a way to counter the angry response they've received so far.
Last night Dr. Barghouti and I were on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about Palestine.
The show was…
emjohnson | October 29, 2009At the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, chimpanzees form a gallery of grief, looking on as Dorothy--a beloved female felled in her late 40s by heart failure--is borne to her burial.Image: National Geographic / Monica Szczupider
The Prancing Papio has brought attention to this powerful photograph presented by National Geographic showing chimpanzees focused on the body of a recently deceased member of their community. I still remember the powerful effect it had on me when I saw Jane Goodall's The People of the Forest which showed how one young male, who was fully capable of taking care…
emjohnson | October 28, 2009What happens when a Nobel Peace Prize winner breaks international law in the rules of war? The world may find out as increased attention is being focused on the use of unmanned military drones that are carrying out assassinations of suspected militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, stated today that the Predator drone operations approved by Obama and currently being carried out by the CIA may be a violation of international humanitarian law.
As reported by the BBC, Alston stated in a press conference that:
My…
emjohnson | October 28, 2009As a species we are consumed by love. Ask yourself, how many cultural productions (films, stories, songs, dances, arts) do not have love, the loss of love or the absence of love as their central theme? Would you be satisfied with what was left over? That fact that love has so much power over us is just one reason why evolutionary research is so fascinating.
A well-worn trope of human culture is mens obsession with female infidelity. Othello. Madame Bovary. Desperate Housewives. These are just three Western examples of this concern that are paralleled in nearly every society throughout…
emjohnson | October 26, 2009In a new understanding of the term power grab, researchers have shown that the supporters of a political candidate literally have their power taken from them after they lose an election. In a new study by Steven J. Stanton and colleagues in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, researchers asked 163 Republican and Democratic voters (57 of whom were men) to provide saliva samples both before and after the 2008 election between John McCain and Barack Obama. What the researchers determined was that Republican men showed significant reductions in testosterone after they learned that their candidate…
emjohnson | October 25, 2009
Answer: Everyone that couldn't afford it, if his representatives are any indication.
From People for the American Way:
Focus on the Family's James Dobson, on a recent conference call for anti-choice activists, sounded both those charges, calling reform legislation a "huge abortion industry bailout" as well as a "health care power grab by the federal government." Operation Rescue similarly conflates the anti-choice and anti-government arguments, urging activists "to act now to stop Obama's radical, socialistic abortion agenda..." The Christian Broadcasting Network has provided a major…
emjohnson | October 22, 2009I am tremendously excited to have David Sloan Wilson as a member of ScienceBlogs, and having had a small role in his decision is extremely gratifying. However, I take serious issue with the thesis of his first entry that bears the subtitle "Science as a Religion that Worships Truth as its God." This sat uncomfortably with me when I first saw it and it's been a persistent irritation ever since.
A light went off when I read one of the comments on his inaugural post. It was buried down the list (#54 to be precise), was only two sentences long, and would easily have been overlooked if I didn…
emjohnson | October 21, 2009Female chimpanzee with her infant requests meat after a successful hunt.
Image: David Bygott / Tree of Life Web Project
Owen Lovejoy's recent paper about Ardipithecus ramidus and human origins (see my detailed critique here) bases its argument on the male provisioning observed in chimpanzees. However, what went unacknowledged in his theory was the inherent gender bias it represented. A perfect example of this was observed in April with the release of the very study on provisioning behavior that Lovejoy used as the basis for his idea.
From the press introductions alone, you would have…
emjohnson | October 21, 2009
For those of you who don't know his work, I encourage you to check it out immediately (if not sooner). Among my favorites are Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior and the book that became the title of his blog, Evolution For Everyone.
It's a testament to the power of social media to have such an influential and important working scientist joining the network here at Seed. Please join me in offering him a warm welcome.
emjohnson | October 21, 2009In a shocking reversal after denying climate science for decades, a spokesperson for the US Chamber of Commerce (the world's largest business advocacy group) announced yesterday that they have reversed their historical stance on the issue of global climate change.
According to the press release carried by The New York Times, Reuters, CNBC, the Washington Post and FOXNews:
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is throwing its weight behind strong climate legislation, a spokesman for Chamber President Tom J. Donahue announced today at the National Press Club.
"We believe that strong…
emjohnson | October 20, 2009Click on over to Genetic Influence for the latest edition of this biweekly science carnival. Some great editions have been selected and it's a pleasure to be among their company.
emjohnson | October 20, 2009"Keeping an open mind is a virtue, but, as the space engineer James Oberg once said, not so open that your brains fall out." - Carl Sagan
On Saturday Michael Shermer, founder of Skeptic magazine and author of numerous books including Why Darwin Matters, posted an "Open Letter to Bill Maher on Vaccinations":
Bill, your comments about not wanting to "trust the government" to inject us with a potentially deadly virus, along with many comments you have made about "big pharma" being in cahoots with the AMA and the CDC to keep us sick in the name of corporate profits is, in every way that matters…