May, 2008
Welcome, Kevin Dick
True to its title, this blog itself is adapting. I’m pleased that one of the smartest people I know has accepted my invitation to join me as a primary contributor. I’ll let Kevin introduce himself from here……
Beyond the Gene
In an earlier post, I argued that the gene concept is in bad need of a makeover. It turns out that Evelyn Fox Keller and David Harel feel the same way and have made an actual start of it in a paper titled Beyond the Gene. In the paper they propose a new lexicon:
The Socioeconomics of Cancer
Pop Quiz: Which is a bigger determinant of cancer mortality in America, being poor or being black?
According to Dr. Harold Freeman of the National Cancer Institute, poverty is the bigger factor today, but it hasn’t always been so:
…How Much Water Does it Take to…?
An eye-opening graphic from Wired’s cover this month on “Peak Water“:…
Sigmoids vs Exponentials
In a previous post, I argued that we humans suffer from a destructive oversimplifying habit of linear extrapolation. This professor argues the same point, but he falls into the next logical trap, thinking that exponential extrapolation solves the problem.…
Global Warming
A few months ago a friend of mine engaged me in a discussion about the controversy surrounding global warming. If you are surprised to hear that there is still controversy, read on; I was equally surprised.…
Dangerous Media, part 2
I have talked about some of the dangerous aspects of main stream media in the past. Recently I was reading The Black Swan, in which the author argues that watching TV news, listening to news on the radio, and even reading newspapers actually makes you less informed (and dangerously so) than if you were to tune out completely.…