Daily Blend: Wednesday, October 10, 2012

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So it turns out that little shake I tweeted about last night actually was a 4.5 quake that hit the region. ^[pictured] It’s only the second earthquake I remember feeling. The important thing is everyone’s okay ^[pictured].

Newsweek derps again, publishes doctor’s typical “experience with the afterlife” as proof that “heaven is real”. Rational thinkers everywhere facepalm.

Swedish school lunch lady ordered to make her food less good to avoid making students at other schools jealous. Because that’s the real problem – cafeteria food that’s too tasty.
(via @RadleyBalko)

PETA attacks Pokémon for encouraging animal cruelty (!), succeed in “wast[ing] everybody’s time while simultaneously proving [they] don’t know what the hell [they]’re talking about. Again”.

And finally, Cracked.com reveals a few key details that were (in)conveniently left out of big news stories. (Spoilers: Vioxx is awesome and Hooker Chemical is an innocent scapegoat.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Gawker and the scientific case for treating pedophiles humanely

I got nuthin’, so here’s a flower

It’s been a while since I’ve (presumably) creeped y’all out with this subject matter, but long-time readers may remember that pervasive social stigmas faced by discouraged sexual minorities was an early running theme on this blog (whatever that might say of me). It’s now time to jump back in, not because some other travesty of justice or reason has transpired, but because Cord Jefferson at Gawker has penned a lengthy, detailed and wonderfully insightful piece on the changing scientific views of pedophilia and how those stuck with this most unfortunate sexual attraction truly aren’t the devils that our society makes them out to be.

The whole thing is a definitive must-read, but here are just a few highlights, starting with describing just some of the endless difficulties these people face in their everyday lives:

Then there's the problem of finding homes for pedophiles who are arrested and eventually put back into communities. In Florida, where Miami-Dade County has grown increasingly restrictive about where people who commit sexual crimes can live, the department of corrections has started housing a small group of pedophiles under a bridge, like real-life trolls. Elsewhere in America, with neighborhoods both informed and alarmed by a growing number of sex-offender tracking sites, it's now become easier than ever to harass and intimidate a pedophile in your neighborhood until he moves away. But to where? Nobody seems to care as long as it's not near them.

In an ABC News article from 2003, a corrections officer from Los Angeles told reporter Michael S. James that imprisoned pedophiles "usually don't make it" without protective custody. Leslie Walker, a prisoner's rights activist, told James, "[Child sex offenders] are at risk of being murdered, having their food taken, having their cells defecated and urinated in. Their life is truly a living hell." Good, most people will say.

I take it “most people” haven’t received the memo about how the precepts for being a decent human being include acting like one even towards those one wouldn’t consider to be decent human beings.

The article then focuses on the number of (mostly Canadian!) researchers who are growing convinced that rather than being a mental illness or some other potentially treatable (or even curable) disorder, true pedophilia – as defined as the exclusive sexual attraction towards prepubescent children (as opposed to hebephilia or ephebophilia, and unlike those who engage in pedophilic acts whilst still being attracted to adults) – is in reality more akin to an actual sexual orientation in shape and function, with the accompanying limitations:

Daily Blend: Friday, June 01, 2012

Dennis “Dave Mabus” Markuze

Connecticut becomes 17^th state to legalize medicinal marijuana. (Or, to the Obama administration, to paint a bull’s-eye on their dispensaries.)
(via @todayspolitics)

An update on the current status of Dennis “Dave Mabus” Markuze ^[pictured]. (If the name doesn’t ring a bell … good.)

Why do people keep trying to link atheism to high-functioning autism (aka Asperger’s)? (Better yet, why do some think it’s a mark against atheists?) Aspies’ brains are wired to favor logic over emotion; if anything, their conclusions are generally more reliable, less prone to emotional contamination. (Not that I’m biased, of course …)
(via The Daily Grail)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Connecticut, USA • medicinal marijuana • medical marijuana • marijuana • pot • Dennis Markuze • David Mabus • trolls • autism • Asperger syndrome

Daily Blend: Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Pres. Barack Obama

PZ Myers debunks an incredibly shoddy Salon article claiming that science has explained near-death experiences (NDEs).

President Obama ^[pictured] lies about lying about breaking his campaign promise to stop federal prosecution of legal medical marijuana providers.
(via @radleybalko)

Five gender stereotypes that used to be the exact opposite (often until only recently).

The responses to Greta Christina’s call for sex worker testimonials are utterly fascinating. General theme: The biggest problem with the sex industry isn’t sex work, but all the “anti”s and abolitionists who give sex workers a hard time.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: PZ Myers • Salon.com • near-death experiences • NDEs • Mario Beauregard • neuroscience • Barack Obama • medical marijuana • medicinal marijuana • stereotypes • gender stereotypes • gender roles • gender norms • heteronormativity • Cracked.com • sex workers • prostitution • stripping • sex industry • Greta Christina • abolitionists

Daily Blend: Sunday, October 02, 2011

Hogwarts?

Glenn Greenwald: “Those praising President Obama's actions on Awlaki include Rick Perry, Bill O'Reilly, Mitt Romney, Dick & Liz Cheney, and Peter King” If these are the people cheering you on, you seriously need to rethink your strategy.

• Anderson Cooper and guests accuse Reddit of spreading child porn with its “jailbait” subsection. Because legal photos of none-nude young adults found on Facebook and Google = child molestation. Obviously.

• Christians angry at atheist group for pointing out church’s tax fraud.

• Today, neurologists say evil doesn’t exist. Tomorrow, zoologists announce leprechauns are fictional.
  (via @ebertchicago)

• Twelve most beautiful U.S. college campuses. Almost makes me wanna go back to school. And become American. (And, with Princeton ^[pictured], feel like Harry Potter.)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Anderson Cooper • child porn • jailbait • Reddit • Freedom from Religion Foundation • Christ Cathedral Church • Columbus, OH • tax fraud • neurologists • evil • brain • Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain • schools • universities

Scientists can see your thoughts! (or almost)

There must be some strain of voyeurism inherent to science. Why else would experts be so dang keen on viewing people’s thoughts inside their heads?

The above is the brainchild of researchers at UC Berkeley, who explain their work thus:

The brain activity recorded while subjects viewed the first set of clips was fed into a computer program that learned, second by second, to associate visual patterns in the movie with the corresponding brain activity. Brain activity evoked by the second set of clips was used to test the movie reconstruction algorithm. This was done by feeding 18 million seconds of random YouTube videos into the computer program so that it could predict the brain activity that each film clip would most likely evoke in each subject. Finally, the 100 clips that the computer program decided were most similar to the clip that the subject had probably seen were merged to produce a blurry yet continuous reconstruction of the original movie.

There’s more technical info on the video’s YouTube page. Now, s’cuse me while I go brush up on my Occlumency.

Don’t bother pointing out that it only works against actual Legilimency or I will smite you. I fear for my neurological intimacy, dangit!

(via @ebertchicago)

Tags: UC Berkeley • brain activity

Daily Blend: Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Pamela Geller

• Islamophobic blogger Pam Geller [pictured] tries to defend her being praised by Anders Breivik by justifying his youth camp slaughter of kids who were “more MIddle ^[sic] Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian”.
  (via @ggreenwald)

• Today in regulation madness: Elderly Jackson, MN man fined and sentenced to jail for improperly shingling his roof.
  (via @aipfan)

• Maybe I’m just ignorant, but “The Spirited Atheist” at WashPost seems to make some good points against American Atheists’ lawsuit over the “Ground Zero Cross”.
  (via Project Reason)

• Intelligence cap? Scientists: Physically impossible for human brain to become any more powerful without better supply of energy and oxygen. (Daily Mail caveat.)
  (via The Daily Grail)

• British academic takes pride in backlash from calling Prince Charles out on his sympathy for homeopathy.
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Pamela Geller • Anders Breivik • Norway • racism • Jackson, MN • Andrew Espey • Susan Jacoby • Ground Zero Cross • American Atheists • David Silverman • 9-11 • brain • Simon Laughlin • Edzard Ernst • Prince Charles • Duchy Herbals

Fail Quote: The non-superstitious evangelical Christian

Neil Simpson

From evangelical blogger Neil Simpson at Eternity Matters, sneering at “New Atheists” in light of reports that as religiosity goes down amongst general populations, levels of non-religious superstition rise:

As a Christian, I scoff at superstitions. I leave those to non-believers.

Oh, lookie! A man who avows belief in talking snakes that trick us into eating cursed apples, intangible puffs of magical smoke that inhabit our bodies until we die, and a sky-fairy that loves us all so very very much that he’ll cast us into eternal damnation for so much as burping, thinks superstitions are stupid and silly. Of course, I suppose ‘superstitions’ in that context only applies to non-Christian ones, right?

The rest of his post is about the supposed embarrassment (to godless skeptics) of seeing both declining religiosity and rising levels of superstition in increasingly secular demographics. Of course, this is no such contradiction; the fact that many folks are shedding one particular brand of irrationality says nothing about their capacity to continue adhering to irrationality in itself, be it part of a structured religion or other vague paranormal notions. The human brain is hardwired to attach importance to perceived patterns and to seek out simple, seemingly evident explanations for natural phenomenon (or anything that simply “feels good” to believe in). It’s not exactly surprising, therefore, to see people shed religion only to immediately seek out other silly nonsense to believe in. Believers are believers, whether in God or Tarot. Only those who go the extra mile and forcibly come to the conclusion that all superstition is bullshit can truly be called “nonbelievers”.

It’s also simply unfair and dishonest to claim that the increasingly prominent atheistic/skeptic movement is, itself, the instigator for the increase in secularism seen in modern times. For all we know, both the advent of “New Atheists” and the phenomenon of decreasing religiousness could have the same common societal cause at their core, even if we’re unable to pinpoint exactly what it may be. In other words, both may very well be the result of some other influence, rather than one being directly caused by the other. It’s too early and unclear to tell at the present.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Tags: Neil Simpson • Eternity Matters • Christianity • Christians • atheists • skeptics • superstition

Daily Blend: Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Too true for too many

Be counted! Have you taken the easy-peasy, 100% anonymous Preliator Survey 2011?

• House GOP trying to “plaster some bullshit religious platitude [pictured] on the same government buildings [it’s] simultaneously trying to sell off and close down”.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Information is Beautiful’s consciousness survey informs me that I am a “Functionalistic Identity Theorizing Higher Order Theorist”. ¿Que?

• Patriotic Teen Fails Spanish.

• Seems about right.
  (via Diaphanitas)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Vox Day has a question for gender equalitarians

Equality

The unrepentantly and self-avowedly anti-feminist Vox Day, renown for his many revolting attacks against women and equal rights (including claiming women crave male domination, mocking and blaming rape victims, asserting that women are obligated to sexually submit to their husbands, and that women are so utterly incompetent that giving them executive power can only lead to total ruin), now asks those who value men and women equally to “educate him”: what reason do we have for believing that women are just as intelligent and capable as men on average?

I have to admit, I have never, ever understood any aspect of equalitarianism, except of course as a rhetorical and ideological device or legal pretense. There are so many differences between two individuals of identical genetic inheritage^[sic] that I marvel at the notion that there is even any possibility of material equality between two individuals or two groups of individuals. So, if you do genuinely believe in the intellectual equality of the sexes, here is your opportunity to educate me.

It’s nice of Vox to actually admit that he doesn’t even understand anything about equalitarianism, despite how strongly and frequently he rails against it. It isn’t anything particularly difficult to grasp: equalitarianism is the ideal that men and women are regarded as fundamental equals, regardless of any and all differences that arise as part of being two separate genders. The thing about equalitarians is that they understand and accept that given the genetic and physiological distinctions between males and females, there are indeed many differences, some more obvious than others, that affect how members of opposing genders think and act. They’re just also able to understand that these differences essentially complete each other on the whole, and thus, they value the two halves of humanity as equally important parts of the whole of the species.

See? Simple.

However, Vox asked what was the evidence that equalitarians use to support their beliefs and ideals that men and women are of equal intelligence. Now, there’s naturally been a vast amount of research conducted on this subject, and also naturally, no-one seems to be able to arrive at any exact conclusions regarding the results. First of all, men and women think differently; that much is a given. Even their very brains are wired differently, showing different distributions of areas responsible for intelligent reasoning. It’s well known that men tend to be stronger, on average, in fields based on logic and the concrete, such as mathematics, sciences, and so on. Women, on the other hand, tend to think more abstractly and emotionally, and tend to surpass men in areas such as interpretations of emotions, socializing and anything else that relies more upon intuition. However, some of the results seem to indicate that on average, men are more intelligent across a broader field of subjects, but this is still debatable.

A moral center in the brain?

The moral compass, technically named the right temporo-parietal junction, lies just behind the right ear in the brain

Here’s a rather interesting report: scientists seem to have discovered a real-life “moral compass” in the human brain that, when disturbed with a powerful magnet, can actually influence one’s decisions and perception on what is morally permissible and what is not. Here’s how they figured this out:

The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used a non-invasive technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt the area of the brain.

The technique generates a magnetic field on a small part of the skull which creates weak electric currents in the brain. These currents interfere with nearby brain cells and prevent them from firing normally.

In the first experiment, 12 volunteers were exposed to the magnetic field for 25 minutes before they were given a series of 'moral maze' style scenarios.

For each of the 192 scenarios, they were asked to make a judgement about the character's actions on a scale of 1 for 'absolutely forbidden' to 7 for 'absolutely permissible'.

In the second experiment, the magnetic field was applied to their heads at the time they were asked to weigh up the behaviour of the characters in the scenario.

In both experiments, the magnetic field made the volunteers less moral.

One scenario described a man who let his girlfriend walk over a bridge he knew was unsafe. The girl survived unharmed.

Under normal conditions, most people rate the man's behaviour as unacceptable. But after getting the magnetic pulse, the volunteers tended to see nothing wrong with his actions - and judged his behaviour purely on whether his girlfriend survived.

Another scenario described two girls visiting a chemical plant where one girl asks her friend to put sugar in her coffee.

The friend uses powder from a jar marked 'toxic' - but as the powder turns out to be sugar, the girls if unharmed.

Volunteers with a disrupted moral compass tended to rate the girl's behaviour as permissible because her friend was not injured - even though she was aware the powder came from a jar labelled toxic.

The science of pedophilia, morality, and free will

Do forgive my lack of blogging for the past couple of days. I’d be tempted to pass the blame off onto Christmas and all that, but then, that would just be lazy. Which is, in fact, the primary reason for my lack of posting. So, to compensate, here is my longest blog post to date. There.

As you can surmise by this post’s title, this is a rather intriguing subject I’m writing about, here. A reader with whom I’ve been having an interesting discussion regarding pedophilia, morality, and the likes, has brought my attention to a couple of stories on how neurological impairment (aka brain damage) and its effects on those who have it, specifically regarding impulses, inhibitions, and sexuality. These cases bring up very intriguing questions on the neurology of morality, and the nature of free will.

The first case is one of the most peculiar stories you’ll ever hear in the realms of neurology and psychology. Imagine a perfectly normal middle-aged man who has a career and a family, a man who has normal interests in sex and shows no signs of any deviancies. Then, virtually overnight, he becomes addicted to sex (a condition known as “hypersexuality”) and becomes entrenched in child pornography. He even tries to molest a prepubescent girl, despite having shown absolutely no sexual interest in children for the first four decades of his life. In other words: a perfectly normal 40-year-old man suddenly turned into a pedophile and a would-be child molester, for no apparent reason (at least at first).

Now, people don’t just become slaves to hyperactive sex drives and start groping children after having lived what is arguably the first half of their lives without having shown the slightest impulses to do so. Yet, this is what happened to the man who is the subject of this first story. However, this is only a partial medical mystery, for neurologists have identified the precise cause of his behavioral issues: a tumor in his prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for controlling one’s impulses and inhibitions (ie. self-restraint).

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA -- He was a schoolteacher, a husband, a father. Then he became a pedophile preoccupied with sex.

Doctors who treated him at the University of Virginia hospital in 2000 believe that the man's powerful sex addiction was caused by an egg-sized tumor in his brain.

"It turned out he was a guy who had made it into his 40s without having any problem with this," said Dr. Russell Swerdlow, a UVa associate professor of neurology. "He had a brain tumor that was damaging the part of the brain that controls impulse."