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algebraically | 4 years ago | on: G-20 Climate Talks Threatened by Clash over Coal Ahead of COP26

Sure thing chief, cost is very important when facing a global existential crisis. That's why global CO2 output is now on the rise because people asking for more nuclear power plants (the only reliable low carbon source at this point in time) are stooges for big coal, gas, and oil.

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: G-20 Climate Talks Threatened by Clash over Coal Ahead of COP26

Nuclear solves all these problems and potentially buys enough time to figure out how to mitigate the worst effects of 2C+ degrees of warming which at this point is basically inevitable. France seems to be the only sane nation in the world right now while everyone else is doubling down on what brought us to this point. [1]

> France has 56 nuclear power reactors in operation, with two units closing in 2020 at Fessenheim (61 370 MW(e)) and one EPR reactor under construction at the Flamanville site. Nuclear power plants accounted for 70.6% of total French electricity generation in 2019, and about 90% of France’s electricity comes from low carbon sources (nuclear and renewable).

1: https://cnpp.iaea.org/countryprofiles/France/France.htm

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: Why are our brains shrinking?

That wasn't the claim. The claim was about the effects of domestication on cognition and at least for dogs it is very obvious they are less intelligent than their non-domesticated counterparts. Same is true for rabbits. So, at the very least, in at least 2 cases it is clear that domestication has lead to a decline in cognitive abilities. It doesn't take much to infer the same is true for people, domestication has reduced selective pressures on cognitive abilities.

If you know of cases and studies where the opposite is true then I'd like to see the research.

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: Why are our brains shrinking?

That wasn't the argument. You seem to be saying that the increasing volume of digital information will require new cognitive adaptations and I'm saying that's not the case because I don't need to be as smart to appear smart on a digital medium, I can just rely on external cognitive aids like google.

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: Why are our brains shrinking?

This is a good point but it does seem like people consistently select for less intelligence because less intelligent animals are more tame and easier to control.

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: Why are our brains shrinking?

Ya, I also don't know if it's true or not. I was just making the point that an animal can domesticate itself by changing its environment and then adapting to the new environment in a way that ends up being essentially a self imposed domestication process.

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: Why are our brains shrinking?

Because we no longer need to run away from predators and process information at the same rate we'd need to in a more wild enviornment. The survival pressures of our ancestral environment are no longer relevant. We've essentially destroyed and driven to extinction every other predator on the planet and now the only selective pressure is adaptation to the human created environment which is much nicer and simpler than the wilderness we came from. Simpler and safer environments make simpler brains and that's my best guess at why our brains are shrinking but I'm just an armchair scientist so it's better to ask the experts. The only remaining selective pressure is basically human predators, a.k.a. sociopaths.

algebraically | 4 years ago | on: Why are our brains shrinking?

It's possible for an animal to domesticate itself. This is one of the theories for how wolves were domesticated. It's not that humans did anything special to domesticate them but that wolves started hanging around humans and eating the scraps that were left over at campfires and other human habitation sites. Eventually the less fearful and tame wolves became human companions. Once people realized they could hang out with wolves they started actively breeding more tamer variants.

The same is true for humans. The process is obviously slightly more complicated because unlike wolves people have more influence on their environment but it's undeniable that humans are now domestic animals. No modern human can survive in the wilderness and this process is accelerating. We are now, for all intents and purposes, dependent on mechanical tools and technology for our continued existence. Feeding 8B people is impossible without industrial farming and agricultural techniques, e.g. Haber-Bosch. [1]

1: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/haber-bosch...

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