Evolutionary Politics and Female Testosterone

Dr Valerie Grant, a psychologist at Auckland University has sysnthesised research linking the dominance level of Women to their testosterone level and shown how this skews the 50-50 sex ratio for their children towards boys.

One of the more interesting conclusions she draws is that these dominant male-rearing mothers is a tendency to be more politically right wing. The idea goes that these women are more likely to proactively interact with their sons, allowing them to take more risks and engage in more rough-and-tumble play. This adds up to these mothers having a greater proclivity to capitalist ideals like competition and personal independence, both due to their own personality and due to a consideration of what would be most conducive for their childrens' success.

These sorts of insights from evolutionary psychology are often dismissed as just-so stories not only by the general public but by prominent scientists like the late Steven J. Gould. While it is true that these theories are very much in their academic infancy, a hasty dismissmal is most unwise. This is because these sorts of theories have the potential to offer ultimate answers to questions of political behaviour, a framework into which the proximate forms of environmental causation can be integrated.

The article can be accessed here while a less technical summary and interview with Dr. Grant can be found here.

The Four Horsemen

Recently the four prominent atheists Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett had a lengthy discussion on atheism and religion. These four harbringers of the apocalypse have attracted much opprobrium for their consistent attacks on the dangers of religous belief but have remained vociferous in their critiscism.

This discussion is now available on the internet free, and is a superb exposition of the ideas and arguments of atheism approached in a constructive rather than adversarial fashion. Below is part 1 of 12.

If you have the wherewithal to purchase the DVD from Dawkins' website, proceeds will go to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali security trust, another worthy cause.

Catching Agreement Doesn't Stick

As the dust settles in the aftermath of the Sydney test match, an important development has emerged from the debris. As statesmen debate the semantics of "monkey" and "bastard", Anil Kumble and Ricky Ponting have quietly revoked the catching agreement implemented at the start of the series.

While inevitable, this move is significant in its implications about the absurdities of cricketers self-adjudicating their contests. The equilibrium required for this to be workable would be a climate where every single individual acquiesced to an agreement of this kind. However a single defiant batsman or over-eager fielder would render such an agreement useless, particularly when exacerbated by horrific umpiring as was the case at Sydney.

Unfortunately the issue has been cloaked by the rhetoric of the 'spirit of cricket' whereby it seen as virtuous to walk when they know they are out or to accept the opinion of your opponents on contested catches. Stephen Fleming seemed to sum up the basic ethos of this movement best:

"I'm a traditionalist. I still like the human element."

The fallacy of equating the quirks and nuances of the game with the method of arbitration on its rules is the main issue here. At the risk of overt partisanship, I failed to see the humanity in Andrew Symonds being gifted the oppurtunity to compile an extra 130 runs, or the early curtailment of the innings of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly on the fifth day.

While many issues emerged from the maelstrom, let's hope that the rest of the series can at least take a cue from the proper dismissal of these ridiculous gentlemen's agreements.

Personal Irrelevancies

Having progressed beyond high school and its regimented demand for written output, I have found myself woefully out of sorts. This blog represents a valiant attempt to focus my procrastination time to remedy that ailment.

Readers should expect a variety of fascinating and disparate topics to be discussed, which will be splendidly inconsequential to most. However I shall endeavour to make them worth the effort as stimuli for the procrastination of others who may in some way be aligned with my interests.

In any case, please tell your friends about this blog.