[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]
- Artificial Life (NeuroLogica Blog)
- Well – not quite. But Dr. Craig Venter’s lab has made an significant advance in crafting synthetic bacteria. This is an advance we have been anticipating, as Venter has not been shy about promoting his research program.
What he has accomplished now is the following: He has sequenced the genome of a specific species of bacteria, then manufactured a copy of the DNA entirely with a sequencer. The synthetic copy was then inserted into a bacterium of a different species whose own genome had been removed. The bacterium then transformed into the species of the synthetic genome it had received, and was able to reproduce normally as the new species.
So, the end result was just a normal bacterium of an existing species. But this is a significant proof of concept.
- This is a real thing in the world.
- The Governor of Arizona using a Kermit the Frog impersonator to mock critics of Arizona's new "Papiere, bitte!" immigration law for not having read the law in full (which is not remotely unusual, either among Democratic or Republican politicians, who typically receive summaries from aides). [video]
So, by my calculation, Governor Jan Brewer is against "illegals stealing jobs from Americans" but all the fuck for elected officials stealing intellectual property from Americans. Got it.
- Where does courage come from? (Amanda Marcotte)
- Ta-Nehisi blogs about one of my all-time top pet peeves: people who swear they would have been the brave ones joining up the resistance to some horrible historical injustice. [...] If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all seen something unfair go down right in front of us and we did nothing—it’s not like acts of public bullying are that uncommon. And when it’s institutionalized bullying? Good luck. [...]
As much as people play dumb, we all know domestic violence is common enough that we understand its contours immediately, and know that victims aren’t going to leave until they’ve decided to quit living in denial that the man they love isn’t interested in loving but in controlling.
[1. No, we don't all know what it looks like. 2. No, not all victims are living in denial; studies suggest that while denial may be common to victims of <b>mild</b> abuse, severely battered folks <b>know</b> their partner might kill them. -L]
I feel bad picking on people for imagined bravery, because in a way I think imagined bravery can lead to real bravery. It’s a well-known psychological trick that picturing an event before it happens can make your reactions better. For instance, if you actually imagine a blow out on your car before it happens, when it does, it’s a lot easier to calmly slow down and pull to the shoulder, instead of freak out and jerk the wheel. So, imagining yourself intervening probably can make it likelier to happen. But I think the whole process would work better if you don’t blithely assume you will, but instead assume your inclinations are all wrong, and you have to mentally practice beforehand so that you create the courage to tap into.
[I share this pet peeve. I think the fact that the Holocaust is part of the public school curriculum is a good start, but it needs to be paired with the discoveries of psychologists and social scientists about bystander effects, etc., so that we all have a better understanding of how our own impulses might play into situations of bullying and hate crimes. This would in turn provide a better foundation for the type of imagined courage that is a rehearsal for real courage. -L]
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