The Earth Will Be Just Fine, Thank You

Fri, 02 May 2008 09:41:45 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Despite its many flaws, I’m a big fan of human civilization. I marvel at our capacity to organize matter and information, at our ability to learn from mistakes and pass that learning down to subsequent generations. Civilization—writing, cities, trade, the whole lot of it—makes us unique on this planet and, as far as we can tell so far, in our part of the universe.

Clip Source: ieet.org

The grand myth of environmentalism is that it’s all about saving the Earth. It’s not. The Earth will be just fine. Environmentalism is all about saving ourselves.

That may seem a bit counter-intuitive; after all, the Earth is certainly central to the rhetoric, the memetics of environmentalism. Most environmental discussions focus on ecological dynamics, with references to human beings typically limited to enumerations of the various insults we’ve visited upon the planet. Given the degree of culpability we bear for the current state of the planet, this is entirely appropriate.

But the rhetorical focus of environmentalism on the planet obscures the fact that what human beings have done to the Earth pales in comparison to past disasters hitting our world, from massive asteroid strikes to super-volcano eruptions killing off 90+% of the Earth’s species

And in every case, the Earth has recovered, and life has once again flourished.

Tags: myth, environmentalism, conceptual mistakes

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: brain research

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:58:57 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Potentially a contribution to understanding brain disorders. I very much like the scientists' scientific caveats, their 'mays' and 'appears to be"s. Correlation studies need to be contextualised in conceptual mapping.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Everyone is familiar with the sinking feeling you get after deleting a computer file by mistake or leaving the house without your keys.

But such events also cause their own unique reactions in the brain.

US scientists writing in the Journal of Neuroscience found one area becomes more active after "costly" mistakes.

They say it may help explain obsessive compulsive disorder, where minor events appear to be enough to trigger an over-reaction in the same area.

An exaggerated perception of error is likely to be linked to the untoward anxiety about errors or failures

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Brain scans may be able to reveal which people are at genetic risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), researchers say.

These brain changes appear to run in families and may represent a genetic risk factor

"These brain changes appear to run in families and may represent a genetic risk factor for developing the condition.

Tags: ocd, fmri

Clipmarks | Conceptual mistakes Clips

The Earth Will Be Just Fine, Thank You

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: brain research