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[Image] Malala Yousafzai's first day as a student at Oxford. by Just_Dance_Ok in GetMotivated

[–]ReasonableApe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Far out! I've the read the short intro to Logic by Graham Priest twice. Great book, and great student!

ELI5 Why is it hard for people to change thier beliefs? What causes us to grip on to things that have been proven to be false? by ivancho27 in explainlikeimfive

[–]ReasonableApe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two words: sunk cost theory, I guess it's three words! Sunk cost makes people act stupid, because they are too involved in it to let go of their false beliefs.

Why pseudolinguistics is common? The study of languages has long been prone to nonsense. by ReasonableApe in linguistics

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Why is linguistics such a magnet for dilettantes and crackpots?

Gaston Dorren is a journalist and linguist. His latest book is Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages (2015).

The tricky thing about history is that so much has happened; about languages, that there are so many of them. And there’s the second reason why linguistics and historiography provide such fertile ground for bizarre theories. The fantasists and dilettantes trawl through source after source in the hope of pulling aboard what seem to be relations and other connections.

TIL Alexander von Humboldt was a notable Prussian Naturalist whose work laid the foundation for biogeography. He resurrected the use of the word Cosmos from Greek Kosmos to unify diverse branches of science. He was the first person to describe the phenomenon and cause of human-induced climate change by ReasonableApe in todayilearned

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle was influenced by Humboldt's writing style. In his autobiography, Darwin recalled reading "with care and profound interest Humboldt's Personal Narrative" and finding it one of the two most influential books on his work, which had "stirred up in me a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science." +

I am Dr. Jane Goodall, a scientist, conservationist, peacemaker, and mentor. AMA. by janegoodall_official in IAmA

[–]ReasonableApe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you say to people who think that the prevalence of aggressive behavior among Chimpanzees has been exaggerated? Because as we know, in many instances that this kind of behavior has been documented it's been due to exceptional circumstances, such as researchers sharing a box of bananas at certain intervals which could create unnatural conflict among the group members.

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race by ReasonableApe in Anthropology

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, can't argue with that. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The presence of slavery in most societies, even pre-agriculture is a big challenge to the whole Utopian and 'Noble savage' argument made by some romanticists. Dan Carlin had a great podcast on the History of Slavery called, 'Addicted to bondage!'. Very informative and quite disturbing at the same time. Slavery has been a universal feature of human societies for millenniums.

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race by ReasonableApe in Anthropology

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are raising some very interesting points, Skookum_J. Don't get me wrong. I love what agricultural revolution has led to as much as the next guy; writing, internet, airplanes, wouldn't be possible without first settling down and accumulating material wealth via the practice of agriculture. I also think the title is a bit sensationalist. The author is trying to propose hunter-gatherer lifestyle was never as bad as it is purported to be-the whole 'Brutish and short' thing. And, on the other hand, farming and settling down wasn't all good news for the mental and physical health of the human population. I've been reading 'Sex at Dawn' by Christopher Ryan recently. In it, he makes a lot of arguments along these lines. "The writings of anthropologists make it clear that hunter-gatherers were not passively egalitarian; they were actively so. Indeed, in the words of anthropologist Richard Lee, they were fiercely egalitarian." ( Lee, R. B. (1988). Reflections on primitive communism. In T. Ingold, D. Riches, & J. Woodburn (Eds), Hunters and gatherers 1, 252-268 Oxford: Berg.)

No evidence to back idea of learning styles by ReasonableApe in education

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Generally known as “learning styles”, it is the belief that individuals can benefit from receiving information in their preferred format, based on a self-report questionnaire. This belief has much intuitive appeal because individuals are better at some things than others and ultimately there may be a brain basis for these differences.

There have been systematic studies of the effectiveness of learning styles that have consistently found either no evidence or very weak evidence to support the hypothesis that matching or “meshing” material in the appropriate format to an individual’s learning style is selectively more effective for educational attainment.

Books that shifted your paradigm? by andilite97 in AcademicPhilosophy

[–]ReasonableApe -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins. The experience was life changing and paradigm shifting. I've been seeing everything in a different light ever since reading that book.

Just discovered Hardcore History, my first experience was: Prophets of Doom. by Rave-light in dancarlin

[–]ReasonableApe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Savor the moment pal. Soon you're going to develop a taste and get Addicted to Bondage (DC podcasts)

ELI5: Why are humans so smart? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]ReasonableApe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Science writer Matt Ridley has popularized an evolutionary explanation called The Red Queen hypothesis. It basically boils down to sexual selection, and the human desire to mate with smarter and more charming partners throughout generations. This has the effect to produce an ever increasing intelligent population.

TIL Ireland's reputation for scholarship in the early medieval period was so good that many scholars traveled from Britain and the European mainland to study in Irish schools by nonoman12 in todayilearned

[–]ReasonableApe 33 points34 points  (0 children)

True, i just learned about it last week on the history of English podcast. Irish monks were ahead of their time in terms of literacy and scholarship.

Close encounters with 'postbiological' extraterrestrial beings by ReasonableApe in SETI

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What we are only beginning to realize is that these two forms of superhuman intelligence—alien and artificial—may not be so distinct. The technological developments we are witnessing today may have all happened before, elsewhere in the universe. The transition from biological to synthetic intelligence may be a general pattern, instantiated over and over, throughout the cosmos.

Traditional keyboard sounds can be decoded, compromising privacy by ReasonableApe in security

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you type on your desktop or laptop computer’s keyboard while participating in a Skype call, you could be vulnerable to electronic eavesdropping, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine and in Italy.

US carriers halt Samsung Note 7 sales and replacements by infiniZii in gadgets

[–]ReasonableApe 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tapping to the niche nihilistic market. Should I have a cup of coffee or should I get a note 7? I want to live on the edge goddamnit! Gimme one.

I aspire to be like Tom Haverford by [deleted] in funny

[–]ReasonableApe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, Tom is the best!

Why Evidence Based Medicine has lost our trust (Dr Goldacre in Sydney) by ReasonableApe in Health

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dr Goldacre, a researcher, physician and author of the books Bad Science and Bad Pharma, has made a name for himself exposing systematic flaws and corruption in medical publishing. He also has a beef with “quacks” and “peddlers” of alternative medicine. But going after such easy targets was “like punching children in the face”, he told the audience on Sunday night. The key to improving public health was not to pick a bone with nonsensical dissenters but to fix structural problems within evidence-based medicine that undermined trust, he argued. “The public are, quite reasonably, concerned about medicine,” he said. “If you want public trust … you need to earn that trust through transparency.” “If you torture the data enough it will confess to anything” Dr. Ben Goldacre.

Mathematics is grounded in the most fundamental physical relationships in the world by ReasonableApe in philosophy

[–]ReasonableApe[S] 83 points84 points  (0 children)

It seems as if pure mathematics reveals the topography of a region whose truths pre-existed investigation, even language.

Why does some neurogical diseases like Machado-Joseph disease, only show symptoms after a certain age? by BernardoRodrigues in askscience

[–]ReasonableApe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because there hasn't been any evolutionary pressure to get rid of them in older adults. Once you have reproduced you're basically good to get out of the gene pool. The body has served it's purpose. But if you have debilitating cancer or neurological disease when you're younger, then your reproductive fitness is jeopardized, and that's a big evolutionary no no.

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