Anthropology, Barack Obama, Osama bin Laden: "Modern existence has thrown many civilizations into close contact, and at the moment the overwhelming response to this situation is nationalism and racial snobbery. There has never been a time when civilization stood more in need of individuals who are genuinely culture-conscious, who can see objectively the socially conditioned behaviour of other peoples without fear and recrimination. (Patterns of Culture, pp.10-11)."
Friday, May 27, 2011
Exhibit One on Why "Evolutionary Psychology" is Bullshit
You probably already heard about this, whoever you are..
Really? Well I got news for you pal, Mr. Kanazawa (sorry, no "Dr." for you). This white boy has seen some hot looking beautiful black women in my time. At first I didn't notice. When I was a young boy I was gazing at the hottie blond white girls on television and the serendipitously obtained and absconded Playboy mags, and then I started chasing after girls that resembled that standard of beauty. Mainly because that is who I came in contact with in my social environment, because I am "white". And that is who the dominant culture, the white controlled mass media, white-boy peers, and the socio-cultural milieu of which I was immersed told me was physically attractive.
Gosh, do you think that maybe there is some socio-cultural construction of what is considered physically attractive? Do ya think, Mr. Scientist?
In fact, I have noticed that as I have interacted with more and more peoples of phenotypic variability in this world, and attempted to purge myself of the racist brainwashing that we are all subjected to in this society, that suddenly I became more and more aware that physical attractiveness is evident across that phenotypic variation (that's real scientist talk for so-called "races").
Anywhooo, for my dear readers who who like to read a more serious and scientific debunking of this bullshit, which has information on Kanazawa's faulty research methods and premises, you can start here, here, and here, at It's Only a Theory. And I am sure there is more out there, post in the comment to clue me in.
Oh yeah, one more thing, I hear there is some data and studies out there that concludes Japanese men are much less physically attractive.....
Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women? | Psychology TodayCan you believe that? This clown, Satoshi Kanazawa, who has a Ph.D. in something, gets research grants, and writes books and articles as a "scientist", actually takes himself seriously with this bullshit "black women are objectively (OBJECTIVELY!!!???) less physically attractive than other women...". REALLY?
It is very interesting to note that, even though black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women, black women (and men)subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others.
Really? Well I got news for you pal, Mr. Kanazawa (sorry, no "Dr." for you). This white boy has seen some hot looking beautiful black women in my time. At first I didn't notice. When I was a young boy I was gazing at the hottie blond white girls on television and the serendipitously obtained and absconded Playboy mags, and then I started chasing after girls that resembled that standard of beauty. Mainly because that is who I came in contact with in my social environment, because I am "white". And that is who the dominant culture, the white controlled mass media, white-boy peers, and the socio-cultural milieu of which I was immersed told me was physically attractive.
Gosh, do you think that maybe there is some socio-cultural construction of what is considered physically attractive? Do ya think, Mr. Scientist?
In fact, I have noticed that as I have interacted with more and more peoples of phenotypic variability in this world, and attempted to purge myself of the racist brainwashing that we are all subjected to in this society, that suddenly I became more and more aware that physical attractiveness is evident across that phenotypic variation (that's real scientist talk for so-called "races").
Anywhooo, for my dear readers who who like to read a more serious and scientific debunking of this bullshit, which has information on Kanazawa's faulty research methods and premises, you can start here, here, and here, at It's Only a Theory. And I am sure there is more out there, post in the comment to clue me in.
Oh yeah, one more thing, I hear there is some data and studies out there that concludes Japanese men are much less physically attractive.....
Mining Minerals in Space, Business Innovation Can Get Us There?
So some smarty-pants mediocre-tech billionaire, Peter Thiel, thinks that college is "over valued" a waste of money in proportion to what a kid can do by just going out there and starting a big billion dollar business like he did himself. Which leads to Market Place reporters discussing the case of one John Burhnam:
My bets are that "Spaceboy" John Burhnam has actually already figured this out and is taking the cash and the internship and planning on a few of those physics and geology degrees afterwards. Kid may actually end up contributing to the mining of heavenly bodies. Who knows? And it's not going to be business that gets him there, but science, and most great scientists are nurtured in universities. So stick it where the sun don't shine Mr. Peter Theil!
Of course the premise under which Peter Theil operates under is that the most important pursuit in life is MONEY. Yeah, apparently he yammers on about "innovation", and his is Pay Pal. Big fucking deal, yeah he got super rich with that, but it isn't like a some actual contribution to humanity. Never mind the fact that the actual value of higher education is increased knowledge and hopefully some critical thinking skills. Yeah, it is too bad that so many of us have to go into the poor house to gain access to this higher education, but that doesn't eradicate the value of higher education in of and for itself.
And another thing, the Market Place reporters, Scott and Henn don't seem to be all that bright in their mocking commentary, and annoy the hell out of me! Just thought I would get that off of my chest. Thank you.
Students get big payday for skipping school | Marketplace From American Public Media: "STEVE HENN: Most of the fellows are pretty excited about this. I talked to John Burhnam. He's 18 and he's skipping his own high school graduation to get started. This summer, he's interning at MoonEx, which is a private space exploration company.Well I can't say I blame the kid for taking $100,000 dollars to not go to college for a couple of years. Lucky fucking bastard, I wish I had been offered a deal like that. But isn't this the worst case study to discuss? The kid wants to mine minerals from outer space for crying out loud! Jeez, you think that maybe a few courses or even degrees in engineering, geology and physics might come in handy in this epic quest? Ya think?
JOHN BURHNAM: There's an incredible amount for me to learn, and I'm swimming in an ocean of information. I feel like a kid in a candy store.
Burnham's sketching out a business plan to mine rare minerals from asteroids and the moon --
AMY SCOTT: Wait, what?
HENN: And then fly them back to earth.
SCOTT: Steve, this sounds a little crazy. This guy wants to drop out of college to mine the moon?
HENN: Basically, yeah. And you know, it might not work. But I think Thiel just wants to show that bright, motivated kids don't have to go to college. They can innovate or learn in other ways.
SCOTT: Sure, if someone pays you $100,000 not to go to college. But what happens to Space Boy when the money runs out and he's left without a college degree?"
My bets are that "Spaceboy" John Burhnam has actually already figured this out and is taking the cash and the internship and planning on a few of those physics and geology degrees afterwards. Kid may actually end up contributing to the mining of heavenly bodies. Who knows? And it's not going to be business that gets him there, but science, and most great scientists are nurtured in universities. So stick it where the sun don't shine Mr. Peter Theil!
Of course the premise under which Peter Theil operates under is that the most important pursuit in life is MONEY. Yeah, apparently he yammers on about "innovation", and his is Pay Pal. Big fucking deal, yeah he got super rich with that, but it isn't like a some actual contribution to humanity. Never mind the fact that the actual value of higher education is increased knowledge and hopefully some critical thinking skills. Yeah, it is too bad that so many of us have to go into the poor house to gain access to this higher education, but that doesn't eradicate the value of higher education in of and for itself.
And another thing, the Market Place reporters, Scott and Henn don't seem to be all that bright in their mocking commentary, and annoy the hell out of me! Just thought I would get that off of my chest. Thank you.
It's Ok, Blog Means: Web Log
So I try to keep telling myself, a blog can simply be a web-log, with which I just post links and excerpts of stuff I find interesting on the web. I don't have to write long original well thought out essays or responses to the world wide web out there if I don't have the time. Because I don't have the time. I do admire those who do these types of things on their blog, and attempt to do so myself. In fact I have 5-6 of these well thought out original essay posts (that are now lost on my old dead hard-drive) that I never feel quite ready to post. And then there are other bloggers that feel free to just link and excerpt, and not even comment, like I Cite written by a real live published academic, Jodi Dean, who feels free to copy, paste and link often without comment. So why not me? Aw hell, I can even muster a shoot from the hip sentence or two. It's OK I tell myself, you don't have to be all that brilliant, because you're not, just don't be too fucking stupid! So here I go......whoopeee..!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Deng Xiaoping's Capitalism
Very interesting historical analysis on Deng Xiaoping's bringing of capitalism to China and its consequences by Mark Sumner, the quote below is from the end of the article:
"Daily Kos: Owners of the world, unite: It's become popular to view American workers in the decades after World War II as "highly paid." The truth is they were "rightly paid," with incomes that tracked well against the value of the products they produced. This was only possible because of the tight alignment between workers salaries and the price of goods.
"Rather than organize an international revolt of workers, Deng generated a conspiracy of business leaders willing to devalue their work force. He showed CEOs that they could become fabulously wealthy if they only reduced their companies to nothing more than nameplates and outlets – brand names for China Inc. He showed them that they could profit from the destruction of their own system. What we took as economic victory was really an invitation to economic suicide, and corporations lined up to jump.
Deng and the leaders who followed him rightly judged that we would overlook any abuses for money. That we would not severe relationships no matter how radical their actions. That we would mouth platitudes about the connection between capitalism and democracy, long after we were fully aware that no such relationship existed."I only disagree slightly with a minor point mentioned here. American workers may have been better paid in the decades after WWII, but they still produced surplus value and were still exploited. They, CEOs, are profiting as normal from "their system" and not necessarily destroying it. Like most establishment liberals, Sumner still takes capitalism as a system for granted.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
How Rich Are The Super Rich? Really Fucking Rich!
Absurdly so, and it should piss you off!
Many people don’t understand our country’s problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don’t see it. People just don't understand how much wealth there is at the top now. The wealth at the top is so extreme that it is beyond most people’s ability to comprehend.
If people understood just how concentrated wealth has become in our country and the effect is has on our politics, our democracy and our people, they would demand our politicians do something about it.
How Much Is A Billion? Some Wall Street types (and others) make over a billion dollars a year – each year. How much is a billion dollars? How can you visualize an amount of money so high? Here is one way to think about it: The median income in the US is around $29,000, meaning half of us make less and half make more. If you make $29,000 a year, and don’t spend a single penny of it, it will take you 34,482 years to save a billion dollars. . . . (Please come back and read the rest of this after you have recovered.)
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