Category: Zeitgeist

Origins of Hierarchy: How Egyptian Pharaohs Rose to Power

Stephanie Pappas has an interesting post at LiveScience:  Origins of Hierarchy: How Egyptian Pharaohs Rose to Power. The rulers of ancient Egypt lived in glorious opulence, decorating themselves with gold and perfumes and taking their treasures with them to the grave. But how could such a hierarchical, despotic system arise from egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies? The … Continue reading Origins of Hierarchy: How Egyptian Pharaohs Rose to Power →

Graham Priest on Buddhism and logic

This feels somewhat related to our discussion on logic over the last week.  Priest's essay left my mind feeling like it had been twisted into a knot (in a good way).  I have some sympathy with the skepticism Massimo's expresses in his write up, although I still found Priest's essay thought provoking.  Although it probably … Continue reading Graham Priest on Buddhism and logic →

The War Photo No One Would Publish – The Atlantic

Stan Hummel called my attention to this article: The War Photo No One Would Publish - The Atlantic.  I didn't embed the specific image here.  If you want to see it, you can follow the link.  Warning: it may not be something many people want to see. The Iraqi soldier died attempting to pull himself up over … Continue reading The War Photo No One Would Publish – The Atlantic →

The vast majority of us are not “Homo economicus”.

Often, when I write about moral instincts, people respond with assertions that we're essentially selfish creatures and that nothing about morality is natural.  There's a name for this concept of the solely self serving  human being, "Homo economicus."  The Neuroskeptic discusses a study that looked for them:  Spotted at last: "Homo economicus"? - Neuroskeptic | DiscoverMagazine.com. … Continue reading The vast majority of us are not “Homo economicus”. →

Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows.

Some of the ways that mothers can teach offspring is pretty primal: Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows -- ScienceDaily. Babies can learn what to fear in the first days of life just by smelling the odor of their distressed mothers, new research suggests. And not … Continue reading Learning the smell of fear: Mothers teach babies their own fears via odor, animal study shows. →

How did our legends really begin?

Steve Conner looks at a new book by Peter Witzel that argues that the world's myths have common origins: How did our legends really begin? - Features - Books - The Independent. The similarity of the narratives could be just coincidence. Each culture might just have devised its own folklore independently of the other, coming to surprisingly … Continue reading How did our legends really begin? →