181–190 of 229 posts
Most people could use cocaine as safely as caffeine but since you have no idea if you get addicted or not mostly dumb people try and some suffer greatly.
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Does this mean you could be tested for the specific gene?
About 20% of the human genome is endogenous retroviruses. We've all got them, and there is significant evidence that they become more active in old age, and may be a factor in dementia and other illnesses.
Is it possible to just wipe all known virus remains from our DNA and if yes, what would happen? Would the resulting organism even be able to live?
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> Thus if intelligence is a factor at all in survival (and it seems like it should be) your ancestors may not have had a choice but to select for intelligent. And this explains the large collection of (in our understanding) not-terribly-intelligent creatures on the planet how? Not trying to be snarky, just pointing out that intelligence is just one of many paths, and it's very hard to have strong conclusion about how…
There's also the possibility that our concept of intelligence is totally wrapped up in our very anthropomorphic worldview. And we're simply incapable of understanding forms of intelligence that aren't distinctly our own.
Genetic test that could tell you: "You most likely won't develop physical addiction to cocaine." would be a game changer in some demanding professions. Most people could use cocaine as safely as caffeine but since you have no idea if you get addicted or not mostly dumb people try and some suffer greatly.
Every time I find interesting (and frighting) that we are nothing but a collection of ourselves and virus and bacterias, written down to our DNA and RNA or living together with close dependence deep in our guts (literally). Going further, a lot of what we do unconciously is just what a virus or something else "did" to survive or spread in the past, and our free will isn't that free... Edit: "did" wasn't meaning that…
That's our bodies, not us. "Every time I find interesting (and fighting)" that people believe they are nothing but a collection of cells, chemicals and feelings. Most people (outside the audience of the HN perhaps) don't even recognize that the feelings are actually the chemicals and have little to do even with the objective reality, needless to say with their true self. Believing you are your body is almost the same as believing that you are your car or your GitHub account. That's not we, that's our bodies, our "cars" with baggage (memories etc) in them, in our true self "we are all Kosh" © Overwhelming majority of people just live in permanent "rubber hand illusion". Getting rid of the illusion and recalling who you actually are is, however, easy as 1-2-3: 1. get cousciously aware of your emotions and thoughts, distance from them and obseve them 2. turn your inner gaze from them to the direction of where do you feel you observe them from 3. recognize that what you see there (it looks like just nothing, just conscious "empty space") is the actual you and you will never be able to "unsee' that. One doesn't need any kind of religion or spirituality to realize this (although it actually is taught in the Tibetan religious tradition of Dzogchen), it is as simple as realizing the rubber hand is not a part of your body.
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Yes, obviously, if that can be proven to be the cause? Proper criminal rehabilitation and reintegration is very important.
It is. But there are psychopaths out there who simply don't do violence out of fear from counterviolence. Remove the threat with social works and they laugh about it. So in general I agree, that there are better methods than punishment, but for some it works.
Is it possible to just wipe all known virus remains from our DNA and if yes, what would happen? Would the resulting organism even be able to live?
Considering viral DNA makes up approximately 8% of the human genome, eliminating it probably wouldn't end too well.
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Certain aspects? Sure. All aspects? No. I don’t mind the buying the use and the minor incidentsl things. But if the addiction causes harm, be it physical, material or other major impacts on others, then it becomes both a health issue and a criminsl issue (stealing, hit and runs, deception, and obviously more). But yes, let’s try and treat it first rather than seek punishment first.
Punishment runs counter to all forms of sustainable learning, according to the science of learning how to learn. Let's lovingly apply science to criminalization of people being human, rather than criminalizing human behavior. Let's not seek to punish. Let's start exploring other solutions spaces.
As I understand common animal training wisdom and the literature, punishment (+P/-R, in conditioning circles) does work. It just needs to be applied only when necessary, and in the right way. Punishment to avert a behavior is supposed to be short-duration and immediately after the behavior is observed. Judicial punishment fails on both counts. It also is supposed to be done only when the (natural) consequences of the misbehavior are potentially dire, or when the animal already knows what they're supposed to do, and is misbehaving due to some other drive.
But the judicial system of punishment is great for creating predators (prisons are great for reinforcing predatory behavior, on both sides of the bars), and it's also great for mis-training people to try to avoid getting caught, or to fight to the death in court, instead of training them to avoid criminal behavior in the first place.
Is it possible to just wipe all known virus remains from our DNA and if yes, what would happen? Would the resulting organism even be able to live?
Considering viral DNA makes up approximately 8% of the human genome, eliminating it probably wouldn't end too well.