I'm still not very convinced of the scientific definition of "pack leader".
Behavior science is sensitive to interpretation, in my view.
It's a human bias to see human concepts in other species.
Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
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Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#72“Semi-dormant tissue cysts form in the brain, eyes and heart muscle, persisting the infection for life”
“Can also infect humans”
Well that doesn’t give me nightmares at all.
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#73I'm still not very convinced of the scientific definition of "pack leader". Behavior science is sensitive to interpretation, in my view. It's a human bias to see human concepts in other species.
What do you mean by that? I thought it was a pretty accepted/normal thing for wolves to have a pack leader?
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#74Imagine how dystopian that would sound in humans, like some science fiction horror. "All the leaders are secretly infected by parasites". Sounds like interesting sci fi movie premise.
People engaging in dangerous behaviour (fast-driving motorcycles, sky-diving and... entrepreneurship) are more prone to be infected with toxoplasma.
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is the idea that anyone that wants to be a leader probably shouldn't be a leader. These are the types of people who crave being in positions of authority over others. They'll step on anyone they need to in order to get the the top. They might be the leader, but they usually aren't necessarily the types of people that are looking out for the best interests of the people they lead.
There's also the Dunning-Kruger Effect; Incompetent or dumb people don't recognize their own failings and assume they are geniuses. Smart and competent people know their own deficiencies and assume they're limited or dumb.
so if you feel like you are limited/dumb are you actually smart or does realising that loop back to you actually really being dumb. seems like a catch 22
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#76Imagine how dystopian that would sound in humans, like some science fiction horror. "All the leaders are secretly infected by parasites". Sounds like interesting sci fi movie premise.
"There's a secret cabal of beings that are making my life personally miserable" is already a common enough position that cyclically occurs in human history every hundred years or so that I don't think it's a fiction. I don't think it's an untenable premise to suspect that toxoplasmosis pandemics are cyclically-occuring in humans already and are responsible for revolutionary periods and/or imperialism. What people mig…
“Cats began their unique relationship with humans 10,000 to 12,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, the geographic region where some of the earliest developments in human civilization occurred ”
Correlation or causation?
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#77Parasitized wolves (omegas being forced to eat the rotten leftovers) are losers that are often chased off the pack.
And most of them die for that.
Two titles. Same article; just without the starry-eyed documentary lens
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#78"Risky business: linking Toxoplasma gondii infection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30051870/)
>Among professionals attending entrepreneurship events, T. gondii-positive individuals were 1.8× more likely to have started their own business compared with other attendees (n = 197). Finally, after synthesizing and combining country-level databases on T. gondii infection from the past 25 years with the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor of entrepreneurial activity, we found that infection prevalence was a consistent, positive predictor of entrepreneurial activity and intentions at the national scale, regardless of whether previously identified economic covariates were included.
"The association of latent toxoplasmosis and level of serum testosterone in humans" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5994116/)
>Comparison of testosterone concentrations and control groups showed that testosterone concentration in study group was higher than that in control group with statistically significant difference.
"Toxoplasma gondii infection enhances testicular steroidogenesis in rats" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.12042)
>Testosterone, a testicular steroid, is known to reduce fear and enhance sexual attractiveness in males. Here, we show that Toxoplasma gondii infection enhances expression of genes involved in facilitating synthesis of testosterone, resulting in greater testicular testosterone production in male rats.
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#79"Risky business: linking Toxoplasma gondii infection and entrepreneurship behaviours across individuals and countries" ( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30051870/ ) >Among professionals attending entrepreneurship events, T. gondii-positive individuals were 1.8× more likely to have started their own business compared with other attendees (n = 197). Finally, after synthesizing and combining country-level databases on T…
I can see the headlines now "you won't believe this one weird trick for bigger gains and better performance in bed".
Re: Parasite gives wolves what it takes to be pack leaders
#80it would be fascinating to see a plot of toxoplasma gondii hitting the first page of HN vs time.
It seems periodic, and i'm not kidding. (kinda like Jodi Foster in Contact with the headphones on)
Not this time, but usually it's a revelation about the protozoan with mice being fearless around cats, or about humans living with cats, with associated proposals of drama, perhaps to drive pageviews.