Archibald Boyd’s Comments (group member since Jan 31, 2021)

Archibald Boyd’s comments from the future in genetics group.

the section titled Duplication is on pg 146

ooh, gross, men become aroused at a sexual level while watching football? bwahahaha, no wonder they become addicted to the sport.

it is interesting that we use the same pathways for multiple purposes.
i am now reading a textbook on cognitive psychology. it states that no two decisions are alike for a human being. it is literally impossible to activate the same exact neural pathways to form a decision even under identical circumstances. this means that we are constantly changing and adapting, and that we are only predictable to a certain degree. even our hormones change throughout life, so someone who is testosterone laden and male centric may adapt or prune certain pathways to adopt more female centric behaviors.

have not heard of the cast iron theory

here's a cooler fact: men are at an increased likelihood to be predisposed to homosexuality with each successive birth. it was thought that this was mostly due the psychology of the younger male not needing to procreate himself to pass on his genetics, but now it seems that certain women become adept at creating homosexual males. their bodies literally prune the male genome to create homosexual males. it sounds like science fiction, i know...
another one...
the male Y chromosome is actually losing it's potency within the population and becoming shorter and shorter. perhaps our species will evolve to the point where men become obsolete within our species, lol.

people who cohabitate are not necessarily homosexual. in our oversexed society it would seem unlikely that they would not be sexually intimate. i have heard of cases where women remain celibate their entire lives and adopted a life living as men.
also, i never stated that there was no such thing as such emotional intimacy occuring during the roman empire. in fact, I'm sure their relationships were founded on admiration for one another, and it's unlikely to continue the relationship without loving one another. whether the romans characterize this love as more of a brotherly love than a romantic one, I couldn't say.

the portrayal of homosexuality within a culture usually is inaccurately portrayed. right now it has become a fad within the united states. I believe that homosexuals are actually being overrepresented. things like a homosexual man marrying a straight women are often portrayed on television, and men are seen making other men uncomfortable with their sexual ambiguity- and everyone laughs. I think the idea if throwing a parade about it is ridiculous. homosexuality is almost viewed as if it's an accomplishment. I'm sure the romans took the issue far enough, but americans are way over the top, just like we are with everything countercultural.

i think it's funny how giraffes have more homosexual encounters than heterosexual ones. Back when the roman empire was at it's peak homosexual behavior was perfectly normal between older accomplished men and younger aspiring ones. sexual intercourse is so important in socialization. it can mean the difference of gaining an ally or making an enemy.

the part about our species evolving duplicate genes to enhance to improve our radial glia as well as our dendrites is fascinating. I wonder how many of us possess genes which further augment the brain and provided a greater advantage. such traits would be difficult to assess.

finally... what if mankind had gone down a similar social evolution as the bonobos? with sexual stimulation being the primary occupier of our free time. would we live in a more peaceful world? have we had several chances to pursue such a path only to have the more aggressive homo sapiens wipe out the more peaceful ones?
war is supposed to provide the necessity for invention. would our society have experienced such technological developments without such conflicts?

you're right, i dont know for sure if people actively chose for similar skull shapes. given how easily we discriminate against each other over insignificant differences- I think it was an active choice in selective breeding. this is probably why neanderthal dna is beeing breed out of the population as well.
pretty soon all of mankind will look and think alike. this is most likely why the genetics for our tongues spread so rapidly as well. one would ve superficially judged as being stupid just because they could not pronounce the words properly. being selected against for breeding.

in order to carry a larger brain a bird needs to have a larger wing span such as the albatross.
a funny story-. the cockatoos of sydney australia have learned to open dumpsters and the behavior has spread amongst them.

I would recommend the Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould if you want to read about the subject of how we are judged by our IQ

ill post what i found interesting in the book next

actually, i think I'll wait in case you would like to discuss these ideas further...

no worries, I'm glad that you didn't forget.

my response
#1and #3. little genetic change has occurred in homo sapiens(at least in the last 10,000 years) to allow us much to provide intellectual advancement.
at some point, man decided there was more advantage to being like one another. i believe due to the social environment. so much so that our scull shapes became remarkably similar where as they varried greatly in the past.
I believe our minds have evolved to be malleable and plastic(see book The Plastic Mind) thus allowing for a human being to adapt to any environment. though, of course, such plasticity decreases when we grow older. modern western culture, i believe, began with the greeks. each country then copied this culture and adapted it to their own purposes, intermingling the greek influence with their own individual influences.
the evolution of our tongues is a date you might be interested in looking up. this point in time is a point in which we became able to pronounce our modern languages and is a very recent evolution. so advantageous is this trait that it became ubiquitous within homo sapien.

#2 i dont believe neanderthals were able to speak whatsoever. they were more solitary as well which is why they were conquered by wave after wave of humans.
even today you can see how mans ability to communicate will allow even the weakens of people to take control of or destroy a much stronger opponent.
i believe neanderthals ability to make spear heads predates man's, so they were perhaps more intelligent than humans. thought they were stronger than human beings they also had limited mobility due to their smaller legs so genetic drift in which their descendants spread far and wide was limited.

#5 i believe the book stated that trichromatic sight evolved out of our species at two different point within our evolution, which is where color blindness stems from.
i must have skimmed over the word tetrachromats. I'm familiar with the idea that some females have enhanced color perception. do they view all colors with greater perception, or just the green spectrum?

6. i like that idea of what if birds had hands. the fact that they are so intelligent in spite of having smaller brains (more densely packed neurons). means that if they walked on land that their body mass and brain mass would both increase. with hands they would be able to manipulate tools as well as human beings. it would be the same as in an anime where animals are humanized, and they might be a competing species if that were the case

7. this question delves into psychology. the question of nurture versos nature. education, for example, has focused on a read/write ability for thousands of year. it is not really part of our nature to have this ability, so how does this play out in the measurement of an individuals intelligence?
also, many traits, such as being able to sit still in a classroom, and docility, prove to be more beneficial in our school environments. such selection for traits allows such a great advantage for those who possess them

I'll post later once i thumb through the book again about anything i have found interesting

:) I'm ready

im new to this as well. i thought we would just start messaging through this app. I'll be more attentive to this discussion once it begins. i think around page 100 it becomes very entertaining about animal sexuality. have you reached that far?

how is your progress? anything of interest you would like to chat about?

i just finished reading that one,. Read it as quickly as possible so it's fresh in my memory, lol

okay, that works for me. do you have your copy all ready? the book is 214 pages long. how about we read to page 77 which covers the entire section on tools, and discuss it this upcoming tuesday?

another suggestion i have is The Mutant Project: Inside the Global Race to Genetically Modify Humans. it was free for me to download off of amazon. see if it's free for you

this title is not available from the libraries in my area. do any of the titles which I've suggested sound interesting?

hey, sorry it took so long? i did not receive a notification. would you like to read a book for october?

I'll offer up five selections to choose from for this month.
(a repeat from the first month since no one had joined )
whoever would like to participate in this book club please post the title you are most interested in as well as a second choice. As this is a new club I'm allowing the next three weeks to permit someone(s) to join and cast their votes and we will read the most popular title. If you are the first and only member then we will read your selection. In subsequent months I will take suggestions.
The titles are

living with our genes: the groundbreaking book about the science of personality, behavior, and genetic destiny. By Dean Gamer and Peter Copeland

The agile Gene how nature turns on nurture. By Matt Ridley

The book of humans a brief history of culture sex war and the evolution of us. By Adam Rutherford

The greatest show on Earth the evidence for evolution by Richard Dawkins

Superhuman life at the extremes of our capacity by Rowan Hooper

3 months ago

I just finished Pleased to meet me: genes germs and the curious forces that make us who we are by Bill Sullivan
If anyone has read this book or would like to read the book and discuss it with me I would really appreciate it.

Welcome all!
I'll offer up five selections to choose from for this first month. whoever would like to participate in this book club please post the title you are most interested in as well as a second choice. As this is a new club I'm allowing the next three weeks to permit someone(s) to join and cast their votes and we will read the most popular title. If you are the first and only member then we will read your selection. In subsequent months I will take suggestions. We will begin this reading at the beginning of March.
The titles are

living with our genes: the groundbreaking book about the science of personality, behavior, and genetic destiny. By Dean Gamer and Peter Copeland

The agile Gene how nature turns on nurture. By Matt Ridley

The book of humans a brief history of culture sex war and the evolution of us. By Adam Rutherford

The greatest show on Earth the evidence for evolution by Richard Dawkins

Superhuman life at the extremes of our capacity by Rowan Hooper