Terry Burnham > Quotes

“the blue-headed wrasse is a fish that lives on coral reefs. All wrasses begin life as females and continue to pump out eggs as they age and grow larger. Every reef section has one extremely large, territorial male that fertilizes up to forty batches of eggs a day. When the male dies, the largest female spontaneously changes sex and starts producing sperm.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“We can begin by trying to take our goals less seriously. We shouldn’t buy things in the hope that they will make us happier. At the time of purchase, we trade off the joys of a faster computer or a bigger house with the costs of payment. The joy will fade — more quickly than we are built to anticipate — but the bills will remain.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“We are built to pursue happiness as a tool to replicate our genes.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“In psychology experiments, women strongly prefer ugly men wearing Rolexes to handsome men wearing Burger King uniforms.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“Place a loaded pistol in a playpen and the babies will play with it just like any other toy, giggle, and perhaps even place the gun in their mouth. In contrast, put a plastic snake into the playpen; the babies will cower in fear. Show a person of any age a snake —or even a picture of one —and you will elicit a dramatic response, including sweaty skin and an increased heart rate. It doesn’t matter whether the person is in America, Europe, Japan, Australia, or Argentina,”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“Alcohol is the great impersonator, fooling at least four different receptor molecules. In a quick survey of the functions of these victims, we can see exactly how alcohol works its magic. 1. It slows us down, “relaxing” our neurons. By blocking receptors for our brains’ chief excitatory neurotransmitters, alcohol coats the brain in a bit of molasses, slowing reaction times and slurring speech. We could probably do without this effect. 2. It gives us a pleasant buzz. Acting like cocaine —but much weaker —alcohol blocks dopamine reuptake, increasing the concentration of the happy neurotransmitter in the key parts of our brains. 3. It blocks pain. By stimulating the release of endorphins, alcohol lets us sample the “runner’s high” without even putting on our running shoes. Resembling morphine and heroin in this respect, but again at a greatly reduced magnitude, alcohol spurs our body to produce a little opiate-like high. 4. Alcohol makes us happier, at least while it’s in our system. Like a “do-it-yourself Prozac kit,” alcohol modifies and increases the efficiency of our serotonin receptors.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“our cooperation extends all around the globe. The next time you buy something—shoes, a computer, a bunch of bananas—look at where it was made. For most of us, it is impossible to survive without the help of thousands of strangers all over the world. We have never met these people, but they are enmeshed with us in globally extended networks”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“Evolution is a competitive game in which victory comes not from achieving some fixed number of points but by simply outscoring the opposition”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“Why do Yanomamö men risk killing another? Those who do and survive end up with more wives and more babies. In one extensive, long-term study, 137 men were Unokais and 243 were not. The Unokais had, on average, 1.63 wives (polygamy is legal) and 4.91 children. The non-Unokais averaged only 0.63 wives and 1.59 children.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“Consider that women are better than men at remembering the location of objects. Thousands of men and women all over the world have taken a test of object memory, and women perform better, on average.”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts

“Strategy 1 is to rely on willpower. Make no mistake, willpower can work; we do not advocate giving in to passions without mounting efforts at restraint. For any real problem with which you continue to struggle, however, you have already likely tried willpower and not fared so well. Strategy 2 is to create an alternative option that is better than the behavior that is causing problems. Roller coasters are safer than cars. Nutrasweet has fewer calories than sugar. Strategy 3 is to remove (or reduce) your ability to engage in the bad activity. Lock the refrigerator overnight. Don’t take any credit cards to the casino. And don’t hang out with other smokers. Strategy 4 is to take an action that changes your desires before you reach a decision point. Take a nicotine vaccine so that you will not enjoy a cigarette. Eat a protein bar just before going to a barbecue with junk food. Arrange for automatic payroll deductions that lock up your money in savings accounts and reduce your access to discretionary cash. What”
― Terry Burnham, Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food: Taming Our Primal Instincts