111–120 of 189 posts
Perhaps it is impossible to distinguish stupid boldness from real vision without complex communication.
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2 billion people already have the Toxoplasma gondii in their brains. If it were to affect humanity is some profound way, we would have already linked it to something more substantial than n=197 studies of correlating success in entrepreneurship to the virus.
There are other studies that link Toxoplasmosis to increased risk taking. Here one on increased likelihood of getting into car accidents: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC117239/#__ffn_s... . It's widely known for many years now. Twenty years ago there was a huge report about it on German public radio. The article I looked references research from the seventies. It's been a strange philosophical point to…
We don't have any way to undo whatever the parasite did while it was active. It's probably possible to create a vaccine, but the full impact in humans is still being explored and a vaccine for a pathogen that's been with us mostly unnoticed since cats have been with us isn't a high priority.
I'd also say decades of research into the effects of T. gondii is explicitly not the medical system ignoring it. It's the medical system being aware of it, but there aren't any great solutions at this point.
I'd also like to point out the difference between difficult to define risk-taking behavior in adults vs. miscarriage, blindness, neurological issues, and hydrocephalus among other risks to a fetus.
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Decades ago, the Boston University Free Press (the alternative views newspaper) was managed in this manner. My buddy ended up running the paper for a year because he was the least political, most liked guy working at the place. He just wanted people to be happy. After a year, he was no longer happy and was glad to give up the job.
Managers, like politicians, should have term limits. The temptation for abuse and favoritism is too strong.
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What is the legal framework for a product that infects people with "beneficial" parasites ?
As long as it doesn’t affect my essential fluids, I’m game
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Culture is emergent behavior or a description of human behavior, it's not an external agent that becomes attached to humans, so the analogy really doesn't work.
Culture is literally an external agent passed on by our family, friends, peers, institutions, companies, and organizations. It is and always has been a meme. The analogy is sound.
So the analogy is very forced and doesn't really work.
Imagine 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.
Futurama made an episode kinda like this. But it's not so dystopic: if anything it kinda made me want to eat an egg salad sandwich from a vendomat in the bathroom of a truck stop!
Listen, you! I was born here. I raised a cloud of children here. My ancestors came over here on the sandwich.
One of my favorite episodes.
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Havent read the paper, but your quote doesn't change the core point that it could be correlation. E.g. perhaps aggression makes them more likely to eat infected animals and also more likely to challenge for leadership.
I had this thought but doesn’t the pack mostly eat the same thing?
Unless they can pinpoint the infection and a subsequent behavior change, it's not super conclusive.
It's like concluding catching an IST makes you more promiscuous, even if that would likely be supported by statistics...