Evolutionary Psychology 101

Over at Feministing, where I comment frequently, there have been more than a few, er, discussions about evolutionary psychology. (Full disclosure: I started one of them.) In general, the feminists (whom I usually agree with) think it's a bunch of bunk, and the "trolls," who are the loud obnoxious frat-boys of the blogosphere (at least, that's the impression I get), use evolutionary psychology to "put women in their place"—pregnant and at home.

The problem is, evolutionary psychology isn't really anti-feminist. (Is "masculinism" the opposite of feminism? Just a thought.) Most of the readers at Feministing also have a somewhat distorted view of evolutionary psychology: "evolutionary biology [sic] means that I shouldn't be good at math or abstract thinking." Well, actually, it doesn't. The first thing that you must remember about evolutionary psychology is that no one, not even Steven Pinker, thinks that biology is the only thing that controls personality or ability. There is room for a "use it or lose it" theory, and significant outside influences. Even if someone is born with an aptitude for math, if they are discouraged from taking math, they are likely to lose some of that ability. Conversely, if someone is encouraged to take math, and likes it enough to continue with it, they can become very good at it regardless of innate talent.

Second, evolutionary psychology deals only with averages. It cannot deal with individual cases. So, if most humans are better at arithmetic than calculus (which I blogged about previously), evolutionary psychology can help explain. It cannot explain why Einstein could discover E=MC² but couldn't do his taxes. It can explain why most men don't like it when their wives/girlfriends cheat on them, but not those men who don't really care. It might be able to explain the difference in the ratio of men to women in sciences and in arts, but not why certain people prefer science, art, language, or any other discipline. It can explain why we like sex, but not why some like BDSM, and some don't

Finally, and most importantly, evolutionary psychology is descriptive, not normative. It makes claims about how the world is, not how it ought to be. So, even if Lawrence Summers was right when made those stupid remarks about whether or not the lack of women in sciences could be due to innate differences, it should not influence him to avoid hiring qualified female science professors (as he apparently did).

Here We Go...

I was hoping I could ignore the brouhaha over Keith Ellison taking his oath of office on the Quran rather than the bible, but Dennis Prager has written a column that is at once very scary and strangely amusing. A couple excerpts:

What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.

Damn straight. There's this little thing called the First Amendment, Dennis. You might have heard of it. No? I suspected as much.

Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.

Yes, what the Islamic extremists want most of all is to see a moderate Muslim serving the United States after having vowed to fight terrorism. Sheesh.

[S]ecular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon.

Let's see:
1) I can't think of a single atheist (why he insists on calling atheists "secular" is beyond me) who has been elected to a major position yet.
2) Mormons believe the Old and New Testaments to be holy as well.
3) The whole point of swearing on a Bible is to be sure that you don't break your oath. This is why ancient Greeks made sacrifices to the gods while making important oaths, and Romans grasped their testicles. (I swear I'm not making this up. Testes is the root for "testify.") If you want a Muslim, who doesn't believe in the authenticity of the Christian Bible, to keep his oath, why in God's name would you have him swear on a Bible?

Cartoon of the Week

A new idea I had. Here's this week's edition:

The Permanent Democratic Majority

It looks like we really might be headed for a permanent stay in congress. The Hill says (at the bottom of the page) that Republicans are not turning to "self help books" for losers like the Dems did in 2004 (What's the Matter With Kansas, Don't Think of an Elephant, etc.). This could mean (and I hope it does) that republicans are not willing to change, even though their strategy for the past 12 years has fallen apart.

Let the schadenfreude begin!

Anti Gravity At Last

Yes, that's a floating fish.

Frist Won't Run in '08

According to the New York Times. Good for the country, bad for heart patients in Tennessee. A response on the NYT's website:

If this guy is returning to surgery in Tenessee, I hope I don’t have a heart attack when visiting the place. If his memorable diagnosis of Terry Shivo is any indication of his abilities, he might decide I have kidney stones and cut out my appendix.

The Game of Love

Good news for me.

Happy Thanksgiving...

I hope everyone had a better Thanksgiving break than the Willamette debate team.

On Wednesday, one of our team members, Logan Will, died in a car crash on his way home for Thanksgiving. His girlfriend and our coach were some of the first at the hospital where he was airlifted, and our coach sent out an e-mail to all of the debate team.

When I saw this, I think like everybody else on the team, I was in a sort of shock. I had talked to him just a few days before, and now he was gone. Unlike most of the team, though, I was in the odd position of knowing and liking Logan, but not so well that I ever saw him outside of debate class and competitions. And yet, I found myself near tears—and my emotions don't usually get the best of me. "Why?" I started asking myself.

I know why. Logan was the one person in a thousand who was not only incredibly intelligent and funny, but also completely available. I have known many people who, in their senior year, would pay little or no attention to freshmen like me. We don't have anyone like that on our team, but Logan was especially friendly, even though he was quiet (probably the first word anyone used to describe him).

On the forensics retreat earlier this year, Logan was the first person to help me with my debate style. He went out of his way to make me, and the other freshmen, feel comfortable. And again at each tournament we were at, he was always the first to ask how rounds had gone, and to congratulate or commiserate. I wish I could express this better, but for some reason I can't.

Goodbye, Logan.

Holy Holy Holy Shit!

From the Guardian, no less, comes evidence that the CIA killed Bobby Kennedy.

Wait Your Turn, Senator

Sorry for the frivolous post, but this is too funny to pass up. Apparently John Edwards sent an aide to Wal-Mart to buy a PS3. This from the guy who has been so critical of Wal-Mart! It turns out that it was too early to buy one, so they sent his aide home empty handed.

On a slightly more important note, you can plug in your new PS3 to the internet and help Stanford find cures for cancer and Alzheimer's. Sort of like the programs you can download to use your spare processing power to help SETI or Climateprediction.net.