MetaFilter posts tagged with human

Intelligence Tests

kliuless — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0800

Is Psychometric g a Myth? - "As an online discussion about IQ or general intelligence grows longer, the probability of someone linking to statistician Cosma Shalizi's essay g, a Statistical Myth approaches 1. Usually the link is accompanied by an assertion to the effect that Shalizi offers a definitive refutation of the concept of general mental ability, or psychometric g." Myths, Sisyphus and g - "Over the years I have not encountered a single endorser of Shalizi's article who actually understands the relevant subject matter. His article is loved for its reassuring conclusions, not the strength of its arguments. I am sure many 'thinkers' resisted Darwinism, the abandonment of geocentrism, and even the notion that the Earth is a sphere, for similar psychological reasons." Nuthin' but a 'g' thang

So I've always had the intuitive hypothesis that there are different types of intelligence; that different people tend to process information in different ways, whether due to habit or nature. But then there are all those people who say that intelligence can be boiled down to a single factor, the mysterious "g" (which I assume stands for either "general intelligence" or "gangsta"). Since this went against years of casual observation, I was somewhat pleased to see the eminent Cosma Shalizi write an essay debunking the notion of "g". But then I saw this blog post defending the notion of "g", and claiming that Shalizi makes a bunch of errors. Basically, the disagreement revolves around the question of why most or all psychometric tests and tasks seem positively correlated with each other. Shalizi points out that this correlation structure will naturally lead to the emergence of a "g"-like factor, even if one doesn't really exist; his opponent points out that if no "g" exists, it should be possible to design uncorrelated psychometric tests, which so far has proven extremely difficult to do. The latter post, by a pseudonymous blogger calling himself "Dalliard", contains a bunch of references to psychometric research that I don't know about and have neither the time nor the will to evaluate, so I'm a bit stumped. Normally I'd leave the matter at that, shrug, and go read something else, but I realized that my intuitive hypothesis about intelligence didn't really seem to be explicitly stated in either of the posts. So I thought I'd explain my conjecture about how intelligence works. In a nutshell, it's this: What if there are multiple "g's"? ...just imagine several dozen hyperplanes, and project them all onto one hyperplane... Remember that psychometric tests are simple mental tasks, but most of the mental tasks we do are complex, like computer programming or chess or writing. And for those tasks, learning and practice matter as much as innate skill, or more (for example, see this study about the neurology of chess players). Therefore, everyone can be "smart" in some way, if "smart" means "good at some complex mental task".

also btw To Make Mice Smarter, Add A Few Human Brain Cells (previously)

Get your hi-hat on.

iamkimiam — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:30:59 -0800

Real-time MRI study of human beatboxing, with lots of videos. See what snares, kick drum effects, cymbals and more look and sound like as they happen inside the head. Here's a BBC radio segment on the project.

Dolphin seeks assistance.

panaceanot — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 04:29:51 -0800

A (presumably) wild dolphin entangled by fishing line approaches divers for assistance. Another heartwarming intervention: Baby elephant getting rescued from a hole (Warning: Coldplay soundtrack) Previously: Humpback whale rescued from net Source: reddit

"once aroused, it seeks out its object, as hatred does, in its entire"

the man of twists and turns — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:56:59 -0800

The Delights Of Disgust

I confess I am disgusted by a great many things about people (and about myself, but let's put that aside). I do not believe it is particularly urgent for me to overcome my disgust, even if I recognize that this emotion must remain entirely separate from my thinking about which laws would be most just. I am disgusted by other people's dandruff, facial moles, food stuck in their beards, yet I do not accept that in feeling this way I am judging those people to be subhuman. I take it rather that humanity, while endearing, is also capable of appearing disgusting.

WIRED: Sexual Arousal May Help Women Ignore the Yuck Factor

According to the study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, humans have somehow managed to strike a successful balance between two important evolutionary functions — sex and disgust. The latter is considered by some psychologists to be a natural defence mechanism against disease — other peoples’ mouths, for instance, pose a higher risk of contamination and are therefore considered an external threat perceived as highly disgusting. When it comes to the nitty gritty of sex, there are plenty of “disgust elicitors” that we relate to contamination says the paper, namely saliva, sweat and semen

PLOS ONE: Feelings of Disgust and Disgust-Induced Avoidance Weaken following Induced Sexual Arousal in Women Language Log: Hydrated And Delicious: - "A food writer recently tried to find an effective euphemism for moist, in order to avoid the associated word-aversion problems" Disgust as Embodied Moral Judgment:

In this paper we cannot say whether people ought to follow their feelings of disgust; we are concerned with whether they actually do use such feelings to guide their judgments, and the limiting conditions upon such use. However, philosophers who argue for the importance of “psychological realism” in ethics say that philosophers must know the psychological facts before they can issue normative guidance (Flanagan, 1991). There are several good reasons for supposing that disgust does in fact shape moral judgments, even when it is extraneous to the action being judged.

This post inspired by this post: DO NOT CLICK: Trust Me, You Do Not Want to See This Video of a Giant Parasitic Worm Slithering Out of a Dead Spider’s Stomach Previously: Little Holes The Worms Make

“Mom, I maximize your utility.”

infini — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 05:41:49 -0800

The Economics of Caring There's something deeply flawed about an economic system that measures utility but not the attachments we feel to another person, or to one's homeland.

Our Robot/Meatbag Space Future

Artw — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:36:13 -0800

Almost Being There: Why the Future of Space Exploration Is Not What You Think

Breast cancer rules rewritten in 'landmark' study

Blasdelb — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:58:09 -0800

What we currently call breast cancer should be thought of as 10 completely separate diseases, according to an international study which has been described as a "landmark". The categories could improve treatment by tailoring drugs for a patient's exact type of breast cancer and help predict survival more accurately. The study in Nature analysed breast cancers from 2,000 women [Abstract] . It will take at least three years for the findings to be used in hospitals. The genomic and transcriptomic architecture of 2,000 breast tumours reveals novel subgroups [Abstract] The elucidation of breast cancer subgroups and their molecular drivers requires integrated views of the genome and transcriptome from representative numbers of patients. We present an integrated analysis of copy number and gene expression in a discovery and validation set of 997 and 995 primary breast tumours, respectively, with long-term clinical follow-up. Inherited variants (copy number variants and single nucleotide polymorphisms) and acquired somatic copy number aberrations (CNAs) were associated with expression in ~40% of genes, with the landscape dominated by cis- and trans-acting CNAs. By delineating expression outlier genes driven in cis by CNAs, we identified putative cancer genes, including deletions in PPP2R2A, MTAP and MAP2K4. Unsupervised analysis of paired DNA–RNA profiles revealed novel subgroups with distinct clinical outcomes, which reproduced in the validation cohort. These include a high-risk, oestrogen-receptor-positive 11q13/14 cis-acting subgroup and a favourable prognosis subgroup devoid of CNAs. Trans-acting aberration hotspots were found to modulate subgroup-specific gene networks, including a TCR deletion-mediated adaptive immune response in the ‘CNA-devoid’ subgroup and a basal-specific chromosome 5 deletion-associated mitotic network. Our results provide a novel molecular stratification of the breast cancer population, derived from the impact of somatic CNAs on the transcriptome.

Humans are less human than we thought.

Sleeper — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 03:37:03 -0800

Icky face-pooping flesh mites are only the tip of the iceberg. You've heard that your gut bacteria are necessary to help you digest, meaning not all germs are bad. Without them, we couldn't digest healthily. But stop and look at how far our interconnectedness with other forms of life goes: 1. Human DNA itself is at least 8.3% ancient viruses; without one of these viruses you could never have been born. 2. Mitochondria in human cells originated when the same type of bacteria that causes typhus disease raided one of our cellular ancestors and instead of hijacking it was pressed into service. (The same origin as chloroplasts in plants from cyanobacteria). 3. Far more of the cells in your body are non-human microorganisms than actual human cells. This relationship is not just interconnectedness. This is integration. This post was inspired by a recent post about Demodex Folliculorum. 4. There has been a reported case of a bacterium acquiring some of our DNA in the aforementioned manner, though it might have just been sample contamination. With the completion this year of both the ENCODE project (previously) and the human microbiome project, it's possible that information from one might lead to insights into the other. Life is fractal: We're complex individuals who are part of a complex society that's part of a complex species that's part of a complex biosphere. Threads in the tapestry of life. We're also tapestries ourselves: We are the universe for trillions of smaller organisms. Each of the Earth's 7 billion-plus human bodies contains about ten times more microorganism cells than human cells. Turns out, human biology is a lot like an old article in The Onion:

World's Top Scientists Ponder: What If The Whole Universe Is, Like, One Huge Atom? ....Among the revolutionary ideas expected to be raised at the historic week-long summit is the possibility that, like, our whole friggin' universe might be just one big atom in, say, some super-duper huge thing out there somewhere, or something. ...."Even weirder is, like, if we're just one big atom in a larger universe, how do we know all the little atoms don't have, you know, little universes in them, with, like, little people living on them, with little cars and little houses, and maybe even itsy-bitsy tiny-ass international symposiums on cutting-edge theoretical physics, even."

Duuude. The relationships between different organisms sharing a body is either symbiotic, commensal, parasitic, or pathogenic. Just as some microorganisms maintain symbiotic relationships with us, their hosts, we might someday find a way to be more symbiotic with the global biosphere of which we're a part. Before our host planet recognizes us as a pathogen.

Reaching bottom at the top of the world

Brandon Blatcher — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:00:24 -0800

"As a climber goes up even higher in altitude, into the so-called death zone, the dangerously thin air above 26,000 feet, there is so little oxygen available that the body makes a desperate decision: it cuts off the digestive system. The body can no longer afford to direct oxygen to the stomach to help digest food because that would divert what precious little oxygen is available away from the brain. The body will retch back up anything the climber tries to eat, even if it’s as small as an M&M." -Excerpt from To the Last Breath: A Journey of Going to Extremes

Soloautocircumnavigation and more

anarch — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:26:25 -0800

Software engineer Erden Eruç left in a rowboat from Bodega Bay, California on July 11, 2007, after riding his bicycle from Seattle. The goal? Human-powered circumnavigation of the globe., including climbing the highest peak on each continent, in order to educate, inspire (and raise some money for) children's organizations. On the evening of July 21, 2012, he completed his trip, mostly successfully. Archives of regular dispatches from the trip can be found on the project site, including visits from sharks and reaching the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Records set include a new Guinness World Record for a solo ocean rower for longest time at sea: 312 days.

No motors. No sails. Erden Eruc used nothing but his broad shoulders and powerful legs to row, paddle, hike and bicycle his way literally around the world.

"The FDA recalled more than 60,000 tissue-derived products between 1994 and mid-2007."

zarq — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:26:25 -0800

"The business of recycling dead humans into medical implants is a little-known yet lucrative trade. But its practices have roused concerns about how tissues are obtained and how well grieving families and transplant patients are informed about the realities and the risks." After an eight month international investigation, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has published an extensive four-part exposé into the black market for cadavers and human tissue: Skin and Bone: The Shadowy Trade in Human Body Parts (Via) The ICIJ (Previously on Mefi) was established by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) to serve as its international reporting arm. The CPI is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization. Key Findings: * Consent: There have been repeated allegations in Ukraine that human tissue was removed from the dead without proper consent. Some of that tissue may have reached other countries, via Germany, and may now be implanted in hospital patients. * Safety: Surgeons are not always required to tell patients they are receiving products made of human tissue, making it less likely a patient would associate subsequent infection with that product. * Tracking: The U.S. is the world's biggest trader of products from human tissue, but authorities there don’t seem to know how much tissue is imported, where it comes from, or where it subsequently goes.
Sections: * About this Project * Infographic: How Safe is Human Tissue? * Part 1: Human Corpses are Prize in Global Drive for Profits * Part 2: Body Brokers Leave Trail of Questions, Corruption * Part 3: Traceability Elusive in Global Trade of Human Parts * Part 4: Abusing the 'Gift' of Tissue Donation * Key Questions About Human Tissue * Japan has almost no regulations on human tissue. Includes a link to an Asahi Shimbun investigation with further details. * Video: Skin and Bone * How We Did It: Analyzing the Data behind Skin and Bone The investigation utilized software from Palantir to analyze networks and data on an impressively large scale: "We uploaded more than 1 million companies, individuals and events (such as imports, seizures and recalls) into Palantir to build out a network previously buried in data sets and documents. The result was a rich and dense dataset that made it easy to grab a comprehensive picture of any entity in just a few key strokes. It therefore becomes a powerful reporting tool, rather than merely a way to visualize networks." * Methodology: Behind the Numbers * Video: How ICIJ investigated human tissue trading networks * Multimedia: Products made from human tissue

The crocodile whisperer

unSane — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:23:16 -0800

Rather than trying to tame wild stallions, fearless Costa Rican fisherman Chito preferred a playful wrestle in the water with his best pal Pocho - a deadly 17ft crocodile. For several years, the 52-year-old daredevil drew gasps of amazement from onlookers by wading chest-deep into the water, then whistling for his 980lb buddy - and giving him an affectionate hug. Crazy Chito said: "Poncho is my best friend. This is a very dangerous routine but we have a good relationship. He will look me in the eye and not attack me. It is too dangerous for anyone else to come in the water. It is only ever the two of us. Sadly Pocho died last October, at the age of 50. But his fame lives on.

Ain't no spoon or fork or knife.

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:58:59 -0800

“There are no images and no representations in our minds,” he insisted. “Our visual experience of the world is a continuum between see-er and seen united in a shared process of seeing.”

I was curious, if only because, as a novelist I’d always supposed I was dealing in images, imagery. This stuff might have implications. So we had a beer together.

Transference of Power

rtha — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:59:00 -0800

The human form in chains. Bicycle chains.

Digital Images are SomeThing to aspire to? (A reflection on Hito Steyerl's proposal)

0bvious — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:13:43 -0800

Artist and film-maker, Hito Steyerl, asks us to stand shoulder to shoulder with our digital equivalents. Digital images are Things (like you and me) - a plethora of compressed, corrupted representations pushed and pulled through increasingly policed and capitalised information networks. If 80% of all internet traffic^* is SPAM - a liberated excess withdrawn^** from accepted channels of communication - perhaps it is in The Poor Image we find our closest kin? * In her recent October Journal article (Digital Debris: Spam and Scam), Steyerl claims that "80% of today's email messages are spam" ** This piece by Finn Brunton, (Roar so wildly: Spam, technology and language), is referenced by Steyerl in the same October Journal article

Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil

Meatbomb — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:48:29 -0800

Entire genome of extinct human decoded from fossil

Anatomical quilling: paper cross sections of the body

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:51:31 -0800

Anatomical quilling: paper cross sections of the body - a showcase of artist Lisa Nilsson's tissue series

this is not a double post

zarq — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:28:03 -0800

How can we better understand the interplay of nature and nurture in determining our personalities, behavior, and vulnerability to disease? Perhaps we should be looking at identical twins. (National Geographic January 2012 cover story) Related * Photo Gallery One * Photo Gallery Two * Interview with psychologist Nancy Segal, Director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton. * Behind the Scenes Video of the cover shoot In September 2010, the magazine also published a special feature of five different photo galleries, from the Twinsburg, OH Twins Day Festival mentioned in the above article: * Festival Photos * Oldest * Youngest * Most Alike * Least Alike * Match Game Also see: A Town Full of Twins, (video) for a look at a town in Brazil where the rate of twin births is nearly a 1000% above the global average. Previous coverage of the Ohio Twins Day Festival on MeFi: 2005, 2007

The Human Slingshot

Surfin' Bird — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:02:13 -0800

This is THE original human slingshot developed by the Pope family in Hobble Creek Canyon, UT. Just a couple posts and some bungee cords. Filmed with Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.

NASA's new ride

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:41:46 -0800

NASA is designing a spiffy new rocket, the Space Launch System, which will lob people and cargo to the moon, an asteroid and eventually Mars. The rocket and plans for it are a bit controversial. Everything from the price tag, who builds it and even the choice of the SLS have been cause for debate.

Surely this..

FatherDagon — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 22:33:01 -0800

A new BBC Documentary titled This World: Spain's Stolen Babies alleges that up to three hundred thousand Spanish infants were stolen from their mothers at birth over a fifty year period, and then sold by the Catholic Church through illicit adoption services.

Some studies can go either way on the subject

The Whelk — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:28:44 -0800

Researchers at Northwestern confirm that Male Bisexuals exist ( NYT )

"Where there is culture, you can't have true nature."

Kokopuff — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:25:18 -0800

Is human history every bit as important and worth saving as natural history? William Cronon explained that the 1964 Wilderness Act and National Park Service policy separates "nature" and "culture" as two very distinct things. This attitude means that, in lots of places, the Park Service has actually torn down historic buildings and removed traces of past human habitation in order to make National Parks more "natural." The Apostle Islands, the northernmost part of Wisconsin, appears to be totally wild. But less than 100 years ago, it was thriving stone quarry that supplied building materials to NY, Chicago and other major metropolitan cities.

Hair today...

infini — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:15:26 -0800

Le Figaro has a great article with photographs of the journey of human hair obtained as offerings to the gods by pilgrims in Tirupati to the beauty salons of New York and the heads of such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce. Since its in French, here's Mother Jones covering the same in English. A Spaniard in London does a photo essay while exporters show you a flowchart of the entire process. Highly valued and in short supply, remy hair, as it is known, is very different from the stuff you find being used in pesticides, pizza base and deer repellent (warning: Fox News link).

Give me that old time religion - or not.

IndigoJones — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:32:07 -0800

In 2002 a Mrs. Soile Tuulikki Lautsi, a Finnish/Italian woman and member of the Italian Union of Atheists, Agnostics and Rationalists objected to the crucifixes on the wall of her child’s public school. Failing to win their removal through Italian courts, she sued in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming it violated European Convention on Human Rights. In 2009, she won. Some were dismayed. Italy appealed. In March 2011, the court’s Grand Chamber reversed that ruling in a unanimous vote(pdf). Some were dismayed. The decision is final. There are further links here for those interested in the legal arguments on both sides. (For those who simply enjoy good prose, I recommend the concurring decision (pdf), by Judge Bonello of Malta.) Americans gear up for this kind of suit every Christmas, but the European venue naturally brings out other flavors. Consider these observations from Lithuania. See also the plaintiff's open letter (pdf) after the first judgement.