What, Why & How do we Know ?
Drs Alice Roberts and Michael Mosely on BBC2 Horizon today 29th September. Just rough personal notes here, whilst watching: Vive la différence, I usually say 😉 Hmmm. Nothing is “hard” wired. Some stuff is pre-wired, genetically and in foetal development, neurally and hormonally, and a great deal is infant developed by stereotypical “encouragement”, and a lot more is … Continue reading “Male & Female Brain Differences, Again @DrAliceRoberts”
I’ve always believed this, and believed that the cross-wiring was part of the reason. The “connectome maps” reveal the differences between the male brain (seen in blue) and the female brain (orange). I hope this is good science – need to follow-up the reference source (*). Of course following Pinker’s hint, being (genetically) “hard-wired” may … Continue reading “Vive La Differance”
Interestingly, just seconds after the previous post on the disservice done to science by the conflation of science and technology, Lisa Jardine also tweeted a link to this Sue Nelson piece on “BBC lads’ science” in the Telegraph. And, only hours after Jim AlKhalili had tweeted to “boast” (tongue in cheek) about acquisition of his iPhone5 … Continue reading “Laddish Disservice to Science @ProfLisaJardine @SueNelson @alicebell @tiffanyjenkins”
Capturing this neat summary, NOT for the decade long Sex vs Gender blip of 21st C insanity, but for the millennia old fact that men and women do have archetypically different brains & minds as well as biological bodies. “Vive la Difference” as I keep referring to it. Facts are not normative, everything and anything … Continue reading “Sexual Dimorphism”
Further to the previous post, let’s try and elaborate some specifics of what John C Doyle has to say. What is clear, after the throwaway “scientists will hate this” remarks, is that this is the reason he is unpublished in more popular journals and publishing formats. Because he is pointing out “a problem with science” … Continue reading “Zience and John C Doyle”
Always contentious that atypical variations around the neurotypical “human condition” are (a) real in any objective sense and (b) heritable as much as they are plastic in mental development. Always PC to avoid medicalising conditions away from such norms, and variety has its own value anyway, but the woke extreme of PC often denies the … Continue reading “Heritability of Psychological Traits”
Having commented on the risky – “careless” – non-PC and even misogynistic end of things, in the BrewDog situation in the previous post, I was returning to the other extreme, the crippling effects of PC-Wokeness, which is topical everywhere at the moment. Not only generally topical but central to my own agenda about how knowledge, … Continue reading “Unbearably Painful & So So Important”
George Floyd Meets Wittgenstein Otherness is neither absolute nor meaningless, so it’s important we understand what it is if we are to be more constructive than simply engaging in binary battles between ideological extremes. ===== I need to write two posts, but they’re closely related, and this probably isn’t either of them. It’s my usual … Continue reading “George Floyd Meets Wittgenstein”
One for the collection – Vive La Difference.
Interesting piece in the Grauniad today by Karen O’Donnell (a student of Prof Francesca), particularly interesting for the (male) responses in the comment thread. At the outset, I should say I’ve no idea why it is cast as a response to (the media myths of) the Jeremy Hunt debacle, other than the Grauniad audience-attention-grabbing motive, … Continue reading “The Objectivity Fetish”