An experiment measured the way subjects describe a stranger based on a given description. Before starting the experiment each subject was asked to hold for a second a hot or cold cup of coffee. This primming affected the result toward a more warm or cold description of the stranger.
Yet again, all the functions in our brain seem connected leading to unexpected consequences.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Guns, Germs and Steel
Why did Europeans conquer most of the world?
Useful wild plant species and big mammals that could be domesticated led to a significant lead in the Fertile Crescent and China compared to the rest of the world in food production. This caused:
- greater human densities, which caused more disease and thus disease resistance;
- specialized crafts people, which caused improved technology;
- specialized bureaucrats, which facilitated writing;
The rest of the world didn't have the food production and big domestic mammals on which to build powerful civilizations.
China was homogeneous and rulers put brakes on development and exploration.
Fertile crescent agriculture was not sustainable and lost it's development lead.
Europe imported food production and technology, and, driven by inner conflict, focused much more on development and exploration.
Thus when Europeans started expanding, they had far better technology and organization than everyone else, and carried a number of deadly epidemic diseases, the only barriers faced were local disease in tropical regions.
At least, this is what I understood from the book.
Useful wild plant species and big mammals that could be domesticated led to a significant lead in the Fertile Crescent and China compared to the rest of the world in food production. This caused:
- greater human densities, which caused more disease and thus disease resistance;
- specialized crafts people, which caused improved technology;
- specialized bureaucrats, which facilitated writing;
The rest of the world didn't have the food production and big domestic mammals on which to build powerful civilizations.
China was homogeneous and rulers put brakes on development and exploration.
Fertile crescent agriculture was not sustainable and lost it's development lead.
Europe imported food production and technology, and, driven by inner conflict, focused much more on development and exploration.
Thus when Europeans started expanding, they had far better technology and organization than everyone else, and carried a number of deadly epidemic diseases, the only barriers faced were local disease in tropical regions.
At least, this is what I understood from the book.
Reasons to doubt the existence of supernatural free will
Physical warmth induces interpersonal warmth.
Oxytocin increases trust among people.
Using a magnetic stimulator causes you to move a limb and have the sensation of you moving it by your own free will.(Talk about experiment starts on page 8)
Decisions can be registered in the brain, several seconds before they become conscious thoughts.
The strange effect on consciousness that occur in split-brain patients.
And all other ways in which consciousness can be affected by natural processes (e.g. sleep, brain damage, mind-altering drugs).
When all the evidence about brain processes shows only natural causes and effects, any supernatural hypothesis should be discarded.
Oxytocin increases trust among people.
Using a magnetic stimulator causes you to move a limb and have the sensation of you moving it by your own free will.(Talk about experiment starts on page 8)
Decisions can be registered in the brain, several seconds before they become conscious thoughts.
The strange effect on consciousness that occur in split-brain patients.
And all other ways in which consciousness can be affected by natural processes (e.g. sleep, brain damage, mind-altering drugs).
When all the evidence about brain processes shows only natural causes and effects, any supernatural hypothesis should be discarded.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)