Recent content by nonlinear

Of course some things are innate, very likely in personality traits too. However it´s often said that brain development is most rapid in the first three years, and my idea is that this is the crucial time for parenting, as every experience will be a new one, and first impressions really do...

Doing it right now. I have some recent papers on my desk at the moment and you´re right. It has been questioned. There seems to be two different kinds of views, energy-scale and time-space based, one possible observation on the former, and nothing conclusive yet. Very interesting stuff indeed...

Great to hear that many people here like Chopin. I love that stuff as well. If I had to pick one piece maybe I´d pick nocturne in G minor, op. 37,1. And Mononoke Hime from the Miyazaki films.

This is of course slightly off-topic, but I feel I must comment on this one. I know very little about physics, but I believe what is said above to be inaccurate. I have the picture from relativity that individual photons must always travel at c, the so-called speed of light in vacuum, and may...

Some people define evolution strictly as changes in gene frequencies and some people use more or less general definitions with or without "theory of". If I need to be precise I say that yes, I do think the theory of evolution is very useful, but neither the darwinian or any of the neo-darwinian...

I had to do this test twice. First time I did it I got the Reclusive Artist. But since I´m neither reclusive nor an artist I decided to redo it with better answers. This works in any other test as well... Finally I got something I can live with: Spy 61% Intrigue, 71% Civilization, 63%...

The basics of global warming are very simple. CO2 concentrations are easy to measure, and it seems to be increasing on a global level. The positive correlation between CO2 concentration and temperature has been shown from deep ice cores from Vostok station, and there is a good physical...

Knowledge pleases some people, safety we can achieve by using it appeals to even more people. The ability to use theories to make predictions is truly important. As is the ability to make tools. Science and arts are what sets us apart from other great apes. And so far we have been way more...

Interesting topic Satya. My guess is that upbringing has an important effect. I´ll offer some countercounterarguments to the counterarguments you listed: 1. Bigotry may or may not be genetically controlled and we just don´t know that yet. Most things are to a certain extent. But as...

Generally normal viruses aren´t considered life, as they don´t have metabolism of their own. The same goes for computer viruses I think. There is no clear definition of life that everyone could agree on, but most do require more than just the code. I might agrue though that computer viruses...

Brian Wansink, who has done research on this topic, was on the local newspaper some time ago. He says the problem is the size of the portions, just like Lurker pointed out above. Theres stuff about him in Wikipedia if you´re interested. I myself have always been a picky eater, and for the last...