131–140 of 152 posts
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That isn'y evolution if it is epigenetic, it would be another type of adaption, Lamarckian really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism#Epigenetic_Lamarcki...
This is incorrect. Evolution is simply change over generations by natural selection. the mechanism by which that happens, be it DNA or epigenetics or whatever, is not strict
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> Autism - Depression, ADD, and similar disorders My personal impression is that the rise of mental conditions is an increase in diagnosis, not occurrence. An awful lot of people who, just a few decades ago, would have been dismissed as lazy, stupid, whiny, or the all-purpose "crazy" are actually starting to receive recognition and treatment. That's a good thing.
> My personal impression is that the rise of mental conditions is an increase in diagnosis, not occurrence Do you have a source for this? It goes against much I've read myself recently—for instance, depression has strong links to inflammation—perhaps shitty diets and no exercise are catching up to people.
In reading up on the histories of various classical composers, for instance, several of them appear to have suffered regularly from depressive orders (a very definitive example is Sergei Rachmaninoff). A few of them such as Erik Satie and Anton Bruckner appear to be afflicted with what we now know as OCD. Can we definitively diagnose, though? No, we only have reports to go off of.
Heck, we're still pretty fuzzy with the diagnosis and root cause of some of these mental conditions now. (See: the definition of Aspergers)
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I'd heard that the most violent areas in New Orleans are those with high concentrations of lead in the environment, and a quick Google search brought up this piece from February that states that precisely: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure...
Couldn't that be correlation as well? That is - those neighborhoods are the least likely to be rehabilitated and the buildings retrofitted to remove pollutants?
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I would imagine a global smoking increase statistic would be per-capita as well but without a citation we won't know.
"In his own studies of smoking, Stebbins has shown how the tobacco industry has turned to markets in the developing worl to make up for loss in sales first in the United States and subsequently in parts of the European market. Governments in developing nations often do not have the ability to limit tobacco marketing and, usually in need of financial help, they are open to introducing taxable commodities to their citi…
It's an awful cycle. It's possible that a system built on nurturance and development, one that empowered people with a wide array of tools including compassion and self-realization, would produce corporate leaders who could themselves balance multiple constructive ends. Imagine if the mega-corps who routinely disenfranchise poor communities and third world countries not only sought money and power, growth and impact, but also felt internally compelled to be accountable, admit mistakes, build constructive non-manipulative and non-bullying relationships, empower others when possible, and respect others when not possible even when taking care of oneself, etc.
I'm a big fan of free-will and independence and no human having more authority than another, but I also see a huge importance in nurturing and developing children to bear those responsibilities constructively, for example free from low self esteem and arrogance, and rich with curiousity, support networks, courage and inventiveneess. Unfortunately, nurturing, developing and supporting others are tasks that are largely seen as "feminine" and therefore economically unimportant (stay at home parents are free labor, and teachers, nannies, etc earn very little money, and research in those areas is similarly seen as lesser science to math and engineering). These professions are often shunned by those needing to defend their "masculinity", and in fact nurturance and emotional support is often required of women and people of color as free labor (the classic "mother" and "grandmother" and "POC friend" role). So it's a strange world we live in, where corporations are seen as people under the law, and are of course directed by people in charge, and yet we keep the bar very low for how mature and capable these people-corporations are.
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Clinically speaking, perhaps biological evolution had a chance of dealing with this. Now, biological evolution has been replaced by "social evolution". A trait of physically debilitating condition, that is treatable, is no longer a reproduction fullstop. Those genes carry on. What genes will peter out are the absence of skills that are employable and not being able to find a partner because of that. Of course this is…
Unemployed people have plenty of kids. Not sure what's being selected for, but it's not that
Latex allergy
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I would imagine a global smoking increase statistic would be per-capita as well but without a citation we won't know.
"In his own studies of smoking, Stebbins has shown how the tobacco industry has turned to markets in the developing worl to make up for loss in sales first in the United States and subsequently in parts of the European market. Governments in developing nations often do not have the ability to limit tobacco marketing and, usually in need of financial help, they are open to introducing taxable commodities to their citi…
At least in Brazil, smoking rate is much lower than what it was by then.
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> Autism - Depression, ADD, and similar disorders My personal impression is that the rise of mental conditions is an increase in diagnosis, not occurrence. An awful lot of people who, just a few decades ago, would have been dismissed as lazy, stupid, whiny, or the all-purpose "crazy" are actually starting to receive recognition and treatment. That's a good thing.
The increase in suicide rates seems to be evidence against this hypothesis.
Basically, you have to watch someone like a hawk when they first go on antidepressants until they get over the hurdle and start feeling good again.
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A comment like this could be very insightful, but you didn't mention what h-pylori is, or why water treatments help reduce it.
The cool thing about the internet is there's a whole universe of information at your fingertips: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori