By David Futrelle
So an amateur phrenologist in the Men going Their Own Way subreddit has come up with a new (to him) bogus reason why men are smarter than women: their brains are a little bit bigger. (Never mind that brain size doesn’t actually correlate with intelligence.)
Then he has some thoughts on dogs and cats and the right to vote.
Speak for yourself, dude. I would totally let dogs and cats vote. Not so sure about humans, though.
My favorite response to this post?
Know wonder why they say there light on their feet. They have half a brain.
Know wonder.
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@Yutolia:
Are you familiar with Creek Valley Critters? It’s a YouTube channel devoted to the lives of Yukon resident Aud Fischer’s rescue mice:
http://www.youtube.com/c/CreekValleyCritters
And here’s an account of how a mouse proved capable of learning the concept of consent. (Warning—just to be safe—for incidents that would qualify as rape and domestic violence if the participants were human):
@Surplus
Certain schools of Buddhism might somewhat fit your request. Judaism (especially Reform and Reconstructionist groups) also has some of the traits you request, like an emphasis on action rather than belief aka “deed not creed” and support of science. There are some supernatural aspects, but they are mostly discussed in liturgy rather than expected or described in the modern day.
Or maybe something more deist?
Although not technically a religion, a philosophical system you might find relevant is Spinozism, created by excommunicated Jewish theologian Baruch Spinoza, which says that all morals should be derived from the belief that the universe is God as a living being and that each individual is a part of that being, which could foster a panhumanist system of behavior.
Dalillama said
Ooo, did not know that, thanks!
There was also a mockingbird pair that took over when the jays left. Between the jays, the mockingbirds, and the toad that lived in the underbrush, my dad’s tomato plants were always clean of tomato worms.
Ooh corvids!
I’ve just been catching up with the thread so apologies if this has already been covered; but have we done about how corvids will pretend to hide food in one place whilst they know other birds are watching. Then when the other birds go away they will move the food to somewhere else.
Which does seem to demonstrate they have a theory of mind.
@ Surplus
Personally I’m really skeptical of the general idea of linear technological advancement based mostly on Europe and sometimes Asia a little bit. Different cultures developed different technologies based on what they needed. White supremacists from the colonial era to today reject non-white civilizations on the basis of not crossing some technological threshold or another, when the reality is that they didn’t need to cross those thresholds.
Most women would rather forfeit their right to vote than live your garbage life dude, so idk why you care
Re.: the Neanderthal discussion:
There’s a series of books I reviewed in January by A E Warren, called Tomorrow’s Ancestors about a future where humans have been artificially enhanced and segregated by how many enhancements they have, and there’s museums where Neanderthals have been bred, along with other extinct species of animals. The main characters rescue Neanderthals and escape to a free town where different groups mix freely and they all realise they’re all human and the artificial distinctions are social control methods.
Re.: the OP
*eye roll* someone has been reading Victorian scientific clap trap.
@Impish Pepper : I am just as skeptikal that there is linear progress. However, in the earlier example of Surplus, cities, money, public investments and writing is more or less common to every continent, if not every regions. I believe it’s due to be the easiest path once you have agriculture and need for more specialization in work.
After that, it’s indeed a lot more speculative. Industrial age is not a straight improvement over other kind of societies, and the transition only happened once. It’s pretty hard to be sure if scientific advance happening at the same time was coincidental or not. Most likely, it could have happened at different time and different place, and only started in Europa by sheer luck.
The scientific method was created step by step over several centuries, with key contributions by arabs, indians, and europeans. It also started to be the leading cause to innovation quite a bit later than the industrial age – at the time of steam trains, scientists were not super sure of how it worked exactly, and it was mostly engineers and “inventors” that leaded innovation until end of XIXth century.
And then the modern biologists publish things that specifically say that women with larger brains are more intelligent (but have less children, because they went to university instead of making babies early).
This is borderline eugenics… but totally alive thought even in academic circles. I hope the link comes through.
I also think it would be better to have the voting age be a time when the folks were still in school. It will be a lot easier to teach everyone about registering, voting locations, how to read a platform and determine a preferred candidate, the difference between municipal and provincial/state and federal elections, etc etc etc. if there’s a concrete engagement to prepare for, rather than just mock ones.
@Catalpa
In addition to the educational reasons you mention, younger people will be affected for longer by the policies than older voters, so I think they should get a say. As well, as young activists have shown in the last few years, it is very clear that teens can understand and organize politically and so should be granted the right to vote.
@ naglfar
You may enjoy Logan’s Run on that theme. The book not the film; although the film is also great.
@ North Sea Sparkly Dragon, re the neanderthal discussion, the author Jasper Fforde has a series of books which include neanderthal characters. The first (?) book in the series is The Eyre Affair.
Ravens are quite smart, and total assholes to dogs. And also reckless.
I used to watch them harass the neighbour’s dog all the time. At feeding time they’d flock around, surround the dog. A few would harass the dog. Soon as he snapped at them they’d fly away while others would raid the bowl. They took turns.
Another favourite game when the wind was right: hover right above the dog sunning himself on his doghouse. Peck at his back while he was sleeping, then hover just out of reach. For no reason, just being assholes.
And then there was the surfing on the flag. That was only one raven (a couple others tried but failed).
I miss them!
Serendipitously, I have been rereading Stephen J. Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man, about various attempts to reify “intelligence” as a single thing and establish a hierarchy, with white Northern European men at the top, of course. Measuring the size of crania was one of the earliest methods, and, of course, has long since been discarded.
Maybe Incel Boy up there could read The Mismeasure of Man and get back to us, though it takes some smarts to follow.
Ha! That’s some raw talent. 🙂
My uncle’s friend – she were no pet, though she lived in the house when she willed to – tormented the dog in a way i think is unique. Certainly smart, anyroad.
Uncle were a shepherd, and his dog were a working collie – so bad tempered and suspicious, but by no means thick (come to think of it, describes my uncle fairly well too!)
The raven taught itself my uncle’s whistle command for “wide circle left” and used it at feeding time to eat first while the dog obeyed. Uncle were far too amused by the whole thing to do more than top up the bowl before the dog got back from his bird’s errand.
So, corvids will also plan and execute a heist, complete with a division of labor between those who distract the guards and those who swipe the stuff, and ensuring all get an equal share of the spoils in the end. Fascinating.
And another of my comments got eaten.
What must I do to be treated with respect? Even by inanimate objects like computers?!
Gah.
@Surplus
I originally read the last sentence of your post as “ensuring all get an equal share of the polls in the end” and thought you were talking about birds committing election fraud.