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Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

medicalxpress.com

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Re: Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

#61

Post by Nasrudith »

lm28469 wrote: post #58
pyronik19 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And antibiotics, computers, fertilizer, electricity, cars, stem cells, etc Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying throw caution to the wind, but ludditism also isn't the answer.

> And antibiotics, computers, fertilizer, electricity, cars, stem cells, etc What did it bring ? At what cost ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction

The Holocene extinction was started when pointed sticks were state of the art and we ate most megafauna to extinction. It would be more the Anthropocene to blame if anything. Blaming high technology is thus rather anachronistic.

Personally I'm of the opinion that the world was already on fire as it were, what with the mass extinctions caused when we became an invasive species out of Africa. If we were still stuck in the stone age like our predecessors we would still be an ongoing mass-extinction. There is some hope to eventually not be an ongoing mass extinction but that would require some combination of even better technology and the right priorities.

Re: Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

#62

Post by endofreach »

dekhn wrote: post #42
suoduandao3 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rather enjoy talking to smart 15 year olds. They're curious about the world and more likely to have fresh takes. What's not to like?

The problem is, even smart 15 year olds with fresh takes have to learn that no matter how interesting their ideas are, the scientific establishment is much more focused on finding good evidence to support incremental discoveries, rather than wide-eyed speculation about how complex biological processes work. (I was that 15 year old, and then after many years of sciencing, realized that it was nothing like what I thoug…

...and why not encourage to keep being like the 15 year old instead of accepting the status quo?

The only problem i see here is, apparently this "establishment" got to you faster than you could remind yourself of what's truly important to you.

I hate when people get discouraged by other people who mostly don't care that much & are afraid... they feed on your Neugier. Don't feed them. Feed other minds alike & screw the establishment.

Re: Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

#63

Post by endofreach »

garyrob wrote: post #53
kylebenzle wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found that way of writing terribly arrogant and annoying, like a smart 15-year-old.

I find your harshness, in response to a purely positive and informative comment, to be terribly arrogant and annoying, like someone pretending to be as smart as a smart 15 year old.

I always think when people react so negatively on text (comments, articles, blog-posts), they reveal a lot about themselves.

Not in the sense of a "moral high-ground" type of argument that is usually aimed for with this phrasing.

Rather: To be so convinced about knowing how a text must have been meant or what the author must have thought that one writes a very absolute judgmental statement, the reactor is most likely either very narrow-minded and isn't capable of dealing with thoughts that are not the first to salute ones mind, or, they reveal that in their mind their proposed "intention" or background is the truth, because they themselves would have only written a similar text with that intention or background... so either way: people being so negative (especially to strangers on the internet) about positive things, for no reason & without being asked, are just full of... themselves... (like me, i mean who am i to ramble this irrelevant stuff).

(I was about to delete it again, as i usually do after writing things down & then realizing they're stupid or not polished enough to convey the idea, but hey, i am also just a 15-year old arrogant mind that already wasted his time... so now, that you are here, i successfully also wasted yours. Your welcome!)

Re: Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

#67

Post by londons_explore »

llamaimperative wrote: post #48
maratc wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once we get past the diseases research, what's stopping us from going further? Could we discover e.g. a DNA sequence in human genome "linked" to higher intelligence, or better leadership qualities? And if yes, what can guarantee that instead of the Nazis' "master race" based on pseudo-scientific scull measurements we won't discover "master genes" based on actual DNA science? What frightens me is not what we can disco…

Because DNA won't tell you whether the genetically-genius person smashed their head on a rock and is now totally unfit for your high-paying engineering job. Nor will it tell you whether the genetically-average intelligence person spent 14 hours per day for the last 8 years in the code mines building awesome stuff. I.e. it won't tell you the types of things that interviews are designed to suss out.

Any test mixes signal with noise (Maybe that superstar candidate is just awful at interviews? Maybe the super lazy coder puts their laziness aside only for the interview day?)

Combining many noisy factors into one, with the correct weighting, will always, on average, give better results than a single test.

That means that as soon as DNA tests give even a weak prediction of 'iq' or 'leadership abilities', companies will integrate them into hiring processes if legal and cheap.

Re: Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

#69

Post by dekhn »

endofreach wrote: post #62
dekhn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is, even smart 15 year olds with fresh takes have to learn that no matter how interesting their ideas are, the scientific establishment is much more focused on finding good evidence to support incremental discoveries, rather than wide-eyed speculation about how complex biological processes work. (I was that 15 year old, and then after many years of sciencing, realized that it was nothing like what I thoug…

...and why not encourage to keep being like the 15 year old instead of accepting the status quo? The only problem i see here is, apparently this "establishment" got to you faster than you could remind yourself of what's truly important to you. I hate when people get discouraged by other people who mostly don't care that much & are afraid... they feed on your Neugier. Don't feed them. Feed other minds alike & screw th…

becase when the 15 year old grows up, unless they are an absolute true genius (and even then), if they try to go around chasing wild ideas, they won't get funding or the ability to run the experiments to build a case for their hypothesis.

Re: Viral DNA in the human genome linked to major psychiatric disorders

#70

Post by suoduandao3 »

dekhn wrote: post #69
endofreach wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and why not encourage to keep being like the 15 year old instead of accepting the status quo? The only problem i see here is, apparently this "establishment" got to you faster than you could remind yourself of what's truly important to you. I hate when people get discouraged by other people who mostly don't care that much & are afraid... they feed on your Neugier. Don't feed them. Feed other minds alike & screw th…

becase when the 15 year old grows up, unless they are an absolute true genius (and even then), if they try to go around chasing wild ideas, they won't get funding or the ability to run the experiments to build a case for their hypothesis.

That seems like a problem with society (maybe an academia) more than 15 year olds no?

Besides, a lot of people interested in a wild theory greatly ups the chances someone gets funding to test the hypothesis, no?

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