Category — Touchy Subjects

Richard Dawkins tears homeopathy (aka the height of quackery) a new one, as part of his Enemies of Reason series.

Psychologists at Cornell have found a link between high disgust sensitivity and conservative political views, lending support to the idea that emotion (rather than some form of reason) is the driving factor behind our sense of morality:

“To test whether disgust sensitivity is linked to specific conservative attitudes, the researchers then surveyed 91 Cornell undergraduates with the DSS (Disgust Sensitivity Scale), as well as with questions about their positions on issues including gay marriage, abortion, gun control, labor unions, tax cuts and affirmative action.

Participants who rated higher in disgust sensitivity were more likely to oppose gay marriage and abortion, issues that are related to notions of morality or purity. The researchers also found a weak correlation between disgust sensitivity and support for tax cuts, but no link between disgust sensitivity and the other issues.”

This is an interesting issue, because the disgust reaction is believed to have evolved as a mechanism to help humans avoid disease, and yet here it is playing a part in how we define moral ideas of purity.  One of the more interesting results of the study is that people who generally fit the tag of liberal tend to weigh the moral worth of an act by the actual good or harm it does, and less by their emotional reaction to it, while conservatives seem to be very much the opposite.

I’ve mentioned Herman Daly and some of his ideas here before; he’s by far the most interesting and outspoken Economist I know of.  Here’s a link to a great interview he did with Developing Ideas Digest, where he’s very critical of the existing Economic institutions in Academia and discusses topics from free trade to the World Bank to the fundamental questions of Economics and how traditional Economists have failed to truly answer them.  It’s a great read for anyone with an interest in this kind of stuff, and important information for anyone who’s not!

All over the world, governments are busy spending unprecedented amounts of stimulus money unifying economic and environmental interests, hoping to get their populations back to work by providing green jobs.  These jobs range from the theoretical end – providing more research money for those trying to improve renewable energy sources – to the labour/application end – installing solar panels, weather-fitting buildings and the like.  A huge concern, especially in the US, is ensuring that the benefits of this enviro-economic union are distributed equitably amongst all communities, classes and races.

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Sex in space has always been a bit of a taboo subject, at least as far as the public face of agencies like NASA and the RFSA are concerned.  I’ve always been baffled and disappointed by their singular tactic of deny, deny, deny every time someone brings up the possibility that two Astro/Cosmonauts might have been getting it on.  It’s as if they’re worried that admitting to/allowing sex on missions will somehow  make it seem that they aren’t really in the business of conducting serious science.  I mean, really; putting people in space and conducting experiments on everything from physics to botany to animal physiology isn’t enough?  In-orbit sexual encounters between two consenting adults are somehow going to tear down their image as credible scientific and technological institutions? [Read more →]