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Late response, but I do have a difficult time talking about myself. Don't be too offended (or perhaps relieved), I have a tendency to stonewall my family, too.

CHM 260+261 - Organic Chemistry + Lab. BIO 121+122 - Human Anatomy and Physiology + Lab. PHI 207 - Contemporary Moral Choices. (Needed for humanities credit). CO 101 - Computer Applications. (Because I'm a computer retard).

This was an idea proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (often called Lamarckism). For the most part, it has been rejected, because any adaptation would have to be passed on through the gametes - changes in the genetics or epigenetics of somatic cells would not pass on to offspring. But as stated...

I'll respond to this when I have an opportunity to give it the time it deserves. In the meantime, I made a post a while back that gives a brief overview of evolution that may answer some of your questions: http://www.intpforum.com/showthread.php?t=6599 INTP Forum - View Single Post - A Brief...

Evolution is picked on a lot for some reason. I'm sure part of it is a positive feedback mechanism, wherein because it was picked on initially, there is a lot of misinformation and strongly opposed parties, which makes it seems like there must be something to it. The thing is, the theory of...

This thread became very long in a short amount of time. Being that any rebuttals I make, no matter how well supported by evidence and backed up by actual research they are (which I have been kind enough to reference) will be glossed over by the non-issues raised by easily answered...

Just because you don't accept the evidence doesn't mean it both doesn't exist and is well known to plenty of other people. Maybe you didn't get it from that particular site, but the point is, all you are doing is regurgitating the usual anti-evolution talking points, which have been shown to...

The Cambrian radiation likely occurred because of the emergence of HOX genes (amongst other environmental influences). I'm not sure how this is evidence against evolution. This is a judgement call based on your own sensibilities about the magnificence of DNA and whether it seems sensible...

This is being purposely obtuse. Even Darwin started "Origin of Species" by giving examples of unnatural selection ("Variation Under Domestication"). By unnatural selection, in this threads context, it's obviously referring to anthropogenically purpose-driven "intelligent design" by the...

My turn to ask calculus questions: From watching Khan Academy videos, I understand in an abstract way (eg I can do the calculations), but what practical purpose (physics application?) does Green's theorem serve? Or Stoke's theorem, for that matter? What would it mean, in a practical...

I think a better way to explain derivatives and integration is this: A derivative is the slope of the line at a point. It's like (Y2-Y1)/(X2-X1) if the difference between X2-X1 approaches arbitrarily close to zero - you are finding the slope of the line when there is only an infinitesimal...

It got you to respond. Next time I'll also put it in quotes so you can't just hit reply to read it. :D It's not the vicodin. The vicodin just lowered my inhibitions enough to make me say what I said. Fortunately I didn't go into any more detail.

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That's where I heard about it from :D

American Atheist organization upset about a cross shaped piece of rubble from ground zero being put in 9/11 memorial museum. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/ground-zero-cross-unconstitutional-because-it-exists/2011/08/04/gIQAFTyFuI_blog.html

When I'm at my tedious, 'mindless' job is usually when I do the most thinking. Often it's when I get home and actually have the opportunity to write things down or implement the ideas I came up with at work that my mind shuts off and laziness sets in.

Two TV shows often get me thinking about my childhood: The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Putting on my old Nirvana or Wu-Tang Clan albums does, too (the music that got me into music). I guess being that I grew up in the 90's I have the most nostalgia for the 90's. Oddly enough, I...

The usual way to measure this on an IQ test is they will quickly flash up numbers, one at a time, on the screen, and then ask you to type all the numbers you remember. Everyone can remember one, two, or three numbers. At four a few people might start having trouble, at five and six even average...

The rest of my post wasn't elaboration enough? :borg0: Maybe when I have time I'll see if I can make a more well thought out version of this.

I found this concept rather strange. Anyone familiar with simple calculus is aware that the derivative of displacement is velocity, the derivative of velocity is acceleration, and possibly familiar with further derivatives such as jerk, jounce (snap), crackle, pop, lock, and drop. Anyone a...

Indeed, the original article is more interesting and informative. Secondary sources are prone to sensationalism.

I'm interested in what sort of sexual selection may have taken place between Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. As a person opinion, I don't find the artist renditions of Neanderthals very attractive, and I can't imagine that a lot of other people do, either. Being that it was early on in the...

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This is my fear. I think a lot of people who buy into the 'heaven' scenario have a religious zealotry for their vision of paradise, a conviction so strong that possible problems and logistics don't phase them. I think transhumanism is, in a very real sense, a religion. I can't deny that I have a...

Assuming a solution could be engineered quick enough. It took a while for a vaccine for swine flu to be engineered - imagine if it had spread more quickly and been more lethal. The logistics of containing a pandemic are colossal, and we haven't even faced a bad one yet in the genetic age. For...

I've been reading a book called "Radical Evolution" that lays out three scenarios about what may happen when the 'curve' of technological progress approaches the singularity. The first scenario is called Heaven, which has been discussed several other times on this forum. The second is called...

Unit circle is a good place to start: Although if you take a trig class or a precalculus class, they will probably show you graphically why this works (it has to do with the repeating nature of sine and cosine). I would recommend not taking calculus II until you have trig mastered...

I've been in a psychedelic/weird mood lately, for some reason. Not just with music, but also with visual 'stimulation'. I'm very much a "noob" at anything rock, so these songs probably seem hackneyed to people in the know: A few you may not have heard:

Why is this true? Why is this 'considered' true? Can mass/energy be arbitrarily created or destroyed? If so, how? ...or, perhaps, why? (more of a philosophical question, maybe). Is it safe to base other theories/hypotheses of physics/chemistry on this "law"? How is this law proven aside...

Great video. For me, I often assume that I'm wrong. This is one of the reasons I fill some of my posts up with links, so I can at least feel confident that I have someone who agrees with my wrongness. I wonder if the feeling of being confident that you're right and the feeling of being wrong...

I don't have enough time to make a proper response right now, but I think this quote sums up what I would have said quite nicely.

Philosophically, I consider myself polyamorous (I haven't put it into practice yet - I'm still working my way up to monogamy) so I really don't see a problem with porn. If your partner watching porn is bothersome to you, it's probably more indicative of your neuroticism and insecurity than your...

Afterthought on my last post: Perhaps the exercise could be about building each part of ones body piecemeal. For instance, one could design what attributes they'd want each arm to have, then each leg, then their head. Just off the top of my head, it could go something like this: Arms: 20...

Point delegation: Durability ||| Survivability ||||| Attractiveness Modularity ||||| Flexibility Stealth Strength Weight Reduction Dexterity Agility Cognitive Augmentation ||||| Stamina || To me transhumanism is about survivability and information, so things like stealth, flexibility, and...

Too much to respond to piece by piece, so I'm making a more general response (although Mellvar is probably the one I mainly have in mind). I see two problems with the autodidact style of education, one practical and one philosophical. In a practical sense, the school acts as a day care...

I don't have a lot of time to make a proper response yet, so I'll just list a few of my first impressions for now: 1. Good use of facts. I've heard atheist raps before, but most talk about it from a personal point of view. This guy seems to know his science and incorporates it decently into...

Interesting. It makes me wonder if there are any personality or physiological indicators of someone who might be more prone to passing on mutations. I also wonder how much the modern day focus on monogamy and our new dietary habits have influenced the rate of human evolution.

It's most likely that a 'system overhaul' would not be the best approach. Probably starting private schools with a new system would be best, and the results could speak for themselves. My biggest problem with privatized school is the idea of prestige - as was mentioned in the article you posted...

I know. I suppose I'm hoping people will at least watch the videos (very little reading involved!) and maybe at least read the last two paragraphs of my post. I can sort of relate. I'm a tutor at my college right now, and some of the people I've had to tutor were completely clueless - I had...

It's a popular topic around here (at least with me) that education is a broken system - or, outdated at best. Since I've gone to college a few years ago after having spent six years in the "real world" after high school, I've certainly taken a notice of this, and this summer semester especially...

Re: Abe explains the popularity of high heels This offers the same explanatory power that others have supplied: mainly that it's a sort of behavioral sexual selection. Whether the raised heals of a woman causes her to "present" by protruding the breasts and ass or by heightening her lips and...

Overactivity in the brain is often attributed to epilepsy - perhaps you have parietal lobe and temporal lobe epilepsy with midline spikes?

To be honest, I can't really tell the difference between when someone is wearing high heals and when someone isn't. If I can actually see that they're wearing high heals, I instantly lose a bit of respect for the person - to put that kind of strain on the body and wear something that absurdly...

http://www.ticalc.org/pub/83plus/basic/math/calculus/ Found this site interesting. The ultimate calculus program is really nice and user friendly, with the downside that it requires a lot of memory. Another problem I've found is that the mean value theorem feature doesn't give the value of "c"...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13000253 I'm sure most people here know about gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. According to this article, they may have discovered the particle for a fifth fundamental force of nature - although the article doesn't...

I think the definition of intuition you are using is more along the lines of introverted intuition. My understanding is that introverted intuition is more about unconsciously sifting through the "raw data" and synthesizing it into a "knowing" or "intuition" about things/people. Extraverted...

That's a great way to put it. It's the same way for me. For some reason "being noticed" is about the worst feeling in the world to me. Of course, I have other psychological problems that may contribute...

You are using confusing terms like "breaking apart" and "scatter" and "fragmentation". Unless you are talking about evaporation, I thought you meant decomposition of water molecules (that's certainly what "breaking apart" makes me think, from one of your previous posts). Microwaves function by...

Browning meat: it occurs when the myoglobin in the meat (has iron in it, like hemoglobin) is oxidized. It goes from purple (deoxymyoglobin) to red/pink (oxymyoglobin) when exposed to air and the iron is oxidized into Fe+2, then cooking it oxidizes it further into metmyoglobin (Fe+3) when cooked...

I wish I had more time to make a proper response to this (I'll get to it at some point) so I'll make more of a short rant as opposed than my usual citations and at least semi-thought out type of posts: Standardized tests and education of any kind are a terrible and limiting way of conducting...