1. Making Ray Guns Cool Again
This piece from the Economist sheds some light on the ongoing military development of electromagnetic weapons that can disable enemy ground vehicles, ships, aircraft and missiles. The appeal of this technology seems to be its non-lethality (apart from the disabled aircraft of course, I imagine that ejector seat’ll get fried too), though if it is deployed its eventual escalation will without doubt lead to space-based or missile-delivered systems that can target entire cities and defense grids as we once fantasized nuclear EMP would do, killing thousands if not millions. Perhaps another reason not to rely too heavily on removing the human element from the battlefield.
2. Autism vs Altruism
This study seems to supply further support for the long-held supposition that autism ditches two related and genetically hard-wired human brain codings: the “theory of mind,” which allows us to relate to others by recognizing our own mental states in them, and the concept of “reputation” that promotes altruism, both of which have allowed us to out-cooperate every other species on the planet. What fascinates me about this is how it offers a reminder of the fact that our evolution has been one that, through our brain development, pushes individuals away from independence and iconoclasm and strongly reinforces cooperation and submission to strong leadership or groupthink. We are programmed to constantly seek the approval of our group and will sacrifice a surprisingly great deal in order to either receive group acceptance or achieve group leadership ourselves.
3. The Price of Leadership: Being a Dumbass?
I know this is cliched, but during election cycles I can’t help but think this: Is it just me, or does everyone, literally everyone, holding an official leadership position in politics sound like a complete and total dumbass when they speak in front of an audience? Saying stupid things, uttering demonstrable falsehoods, getting their history wrong, or talking about science as if it were some obnoxious cult. The video of President Obama linked above, along with this from Nancy Pelosi and this now-famous bit from Rick Perry, is cringe-inducing for any thinking person. I can’t help but feel this phenomenon is directly related to some of the dynamics of our evolution covered in Item 2 above.
@3: While I tend to agree that there is a selection bias in politics for "being a dumbass", I think there is a slight lienency that must be granted to people that are continually being recorded. The occasional missed fact or "gaffe" is bound to happen - and everyone will invariably have an "off" day, which will of course be immortalized in film.
ReplyDeleteThat is not to say the content should not be assessed. Ceteris paribus, my guess is one's true thoughts (when one is scrutinized so much) are the things that slip out, not those that are more commonly espoused.
@3: What I find so insulting to my intelligence is the assertion by these gaffers that what they said was "not what they meant to say" or "not what they really think." Well clearly they meant to say it or they really thought it because they attempted to articulate it (perhaps poorly) to a crowd of people holding cameras while standing behind a microphone at a carefully staged event for which they were carefully coached and handled ahead of time. The leniency I'll grant to folks who are almost constantly on record only goes so far, considering these folks actively seek opportunities to get on the record in order to put their message out in furtherance of their own ends.
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