That's quite a reputable newspaper here.
>I have come across Damasio before making extravagant claims in a neatly
>documented wide-readership article.
Yes ... based on an enormous sample of two, with very "normal" backgrounds.
Very convincing.
>The biologization of "scientific" psychology becomes that much scarier
>when it purports to have such direct application, doesn't it ?
Especially when it's based on such narrow normative models of behaviour.
>It is reminiscent of the racist biological determinism of early research
>on group differences in intelligence.
There is a genetic engineering group forming at the moment. It's being
funded by some of the richest people in the world, as well as a bunch of
international fora. A colleague attended a meeting with them. They have
three main objectives to work on:
1. To "engineer out" the sex urge.
2. To "engineer out" "intelligence deficiencies" which they consider to be
inherent in specific races (no points for guessing which ones).
3. To "engineer out" "intelligence differences" between men and women. Of
course, women are considered to be less intelligent than men.
I cannot emphasise the degree of seriousness with which this neo-eugenics
is being undertaken, even though I may sound like a raving, paranoid lunatic.
>How does one make a wise determination on which targets to accord the time
>of day ? Should one, for instance, spend time reading Jensen's new book
>for the sake of inserting a paragraph in the litany of peer reactions in
>BBS ? What kind of counter-evidence or reasoning would carry any weight in
>the fora that acclaim such work ?
The kind of mind that can presume to argue that, since someone was
well-educated, middle-class, and brought up in a stable home, they could
not be capable of telling lies or of stealing or of not feeling remorse for
doing so, is unlikely to be dissuaded by what many people would consider to
be rational arguments; they would be considered as irrational.
This is not an isolated incident. It pervades a lot of the biotechnology
lit. The whole "competition" paradigm is inherently eugenic (so it's not
surprising that we're seeing a repeat of the discourses of a century ago).
These people think they're doing good things. Someone in Britain has begun
selling ova from models to ensure that people get 'perfect' looking babies.
I'll pass on the web address which as at work. I think the site is called
"Bob's Bunnies".
Phil
Phil Graham
p.graham who-is-at qut.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8314/index.html