The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap • Hacker News Board

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#21

Post by astazangasta » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:12 PM UTC

golemotron wrote: post #16

vzip wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's kind of frightening that people are leaving university with a developed hostility toward the notion of sexual dimorphism in humans.

Steven Pinker's'The Blank Slate' explains it well. Western culture has a bias toward nurture explanations rather than nature explanations because admitting nature affects people's perceptions of their abilities and our sense of agency as a culture. If all differences are culture we can fix them. That's why it becomes political.

Pinker is full of shit on this subject. I remember his intro to psych lecture including an example of a how gendered thinking is hard-wired involving small boys playing with guns. Obviously an example of socialization; evolution did not teach anything to anyone about guns. There is a huge amount of sloppy thinking in this subject.

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#22

Post by zajd » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:13 PM UTC

golemotron wrote: post #9

> When you look at the subject of aggression there is no more important factor than gender. Something like 90 percent of the people in prison for violent crimes are men. Men have different brains than women, which comes from our different roles during evolution, when the brain was formed. Men had a role of being aggressive, which makes no sense for a woman because a woman was not endowed with the physical strength of…

Gender =/= Sex

How it is so many people don't grasp this is beyond me.

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#23

Post by zzalpha » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:18 PM UTC

colomon wrote: post #5

zzalpha wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. He's saying that what likely landed many, though probably not all, of them in jail ("snapping") has its basis in neurology, but flat out states that that response is due to numerous outside triggers, including things like stress, and that our responses to those triggers are something we can control once we recognize they're pressing these deeply wired buttons. That said, I do agree, the story as told here…

He talks about the Carnegie Award for Heroism, which is for civilians: http://www.carnegiehero.org/

Ah, I stand corrected! That's definitely more interesting... begs the question if there's bias in handing out the award, of course, but...

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#24

Post by sjs382 » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:20 PM UTC

zajd wrote: post #22

golemotron wrote: post #9

> When you look at the subject of aggression there is no more important factor than gender. Something like 90 percent of the people in prison for violent crimes are men. Men have different brains than women, which comes from our different roles during evolution, when the brain was formed. Men had a role of being aggressive, which makes no sense for a woman because a woman was not endowed with the physical strength of…

Gender =/= Sex How it is so many people don't grasp this is beyond me.

gender = {biological sex, social structures, gender identity, ...}

There's no reason to assume that the author has any ill will toward the LGBT community. It's a misunderstanding that people are (with good reason) very passionate about, but something that the author probably hasn't given much thought to.

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#25

Post by JoeAltmaier » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:21 PM UTC

golemotron wrote: post #9

> When you look at the subject of aggression there is no more important factor than gender. Something like 90 percent of the people in prison for violent crimes are men. Men have different brains than women, which comes from our different roles during evolution, when the brain was formed. Men had a role of being aggressive, which makes no sense for a woman because a woman was not endowed with the physical strength of…

Way to miss the point. And a very important point it is. But lets just snark about vocabulary instead. Its the activist way - invent a new jargon, or redefine the old one, as a way to draw a circle around the in crowd of savvy activists, and all the rest of us jerks.

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#26

Post by bonoboTP » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:27 PM UTC

zajd wrote: post #22

golemotron wrote: post #9

> When you look at the subject of aggression there is no more important factor than gender. Something like 90 percent of the people in prison for violent crimes are men. Men have different brains than women, which comes from our different roles during evolution, when the brain was formed. Men had a role of being aggressive, which makes no sense for a woman because a woman was not endowed with the physical strength of…

Gender =/= Sex How it is so many people don't grasp this is beyond me.

Because the conceptual difference doesn't exist for about 99.9% of people.

Also, most languages have no such distinction. For example in my native language Hungarian we either use the English word "gender" or say (the equivalent of) "social sex" and "biological sex".

It's a niche thing. I understand that some people feel sensitive about sex/gender or the differences between transsexual/transgender/transvestite/queer/crossdresser/drag-queen etc. But for the vast majority of the people this just isn't a topic of interest.

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#27

Post by astazangasta » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:29 PM UTC

I'd just like to take this to task for how much supposition is floating around. Early on we are introduced to the idea of snapping via an anecdote. We are given a neuronal hook via something called a 'hypothalamic attack region', which produces rage in rats.

Is this region responsible for the opening episode of rage? We have no idea; it is pure speculation to assume it is. All of the subsequent examples (crime, heroism) are imputed to this circuit similarly without evidence.

Then we are given a model (LIFEMORTS), which is extended to cover race relations and much else. We are told our thinking is 'tribal'; we are expected to believe this is science, because recall the existence of the hypothalamus attack region! But there is no evidence chaining these three together (neurons, the model, the behavior) - we have zero reason to accept the model view of what happened in Baltimore. It is pure speculation.

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#28

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:33 PM UTC

jmngomes wrote: post #8

sjtrny wrote: post #4

> We’ve all been there: Some jerk cuts you off on the highway. You lean on the horn, scream abuse. You want to get out the car and kick the @#$% out of the bozo’s SUV. Nope

"The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that between 1990 and 1996 road rage contributed to 218 deaths and 12,610 injuries. The study analyzed 10,037 police reports and newspaper stories about traffic accidents that led to violence. What's more, AAA found that road rage incidents increased nearly 7 percent each year within that six-year period." in http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/anger.aspx

[deleted]

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#29

Post by eggie5 » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:36 PM UTC

golemotron wrote: post #9

> When you look at the subject of aggression there is no more important factor than gender. Something like 90 percent of the people in prison for violent crimes are men. Men have different brains than women, which comes from our different roles during evolution, when the brain was formed. Men had a role of being aggressive, which makes no sense for a woman because a woman was not endowed with the physical strength of…

you mean sex not gender right?

Re: The Brain Is Hardwired to Snap

#30

Post by shasta » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 3:40 PM UTC

astazangasta wrote: post #21

golemotron wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steven Pinker's'The Blank Slate' explains it well. Western culture has a bias toward nurture explanations rather than nature explanations because admitting nature affects people's perceptions of their abilities and our sense of agency as a culture. If all differences are culture we can fix them. That's why it becomes political.

Pinker is full of shit on this subject. I remember his intro to psych lecture including an example of a how gendered thinking is hard-wired involving small boys playing with guns. Obviously an example of socialization; evolution did not teach anything to anyone about guns. There is a huge amount of sloppy thinking in this subject.

Could you expound upon your definitely-not-sloppy thoughts on why boys obviously couldn't be predisposed to playing with weapons?