The New Humanist has an article on genetic modification of human beings, addressing some of the reservations of critics. John Harris is primarily taking on Jurgen Habermas, who seems to think genetic engineering is yucky.
So I arrived here in Washington D.C. several hours ago, and made the mistake of taking some shuttle service from Dulles…which proceeded to take the passengers direct to their homes, which meant I got a long, long tour of winding narrow suburban roads all over the outlying parts of the city, sitting behind the choked traffic as the wall-to-wall cars parked on both sides meant we were constrained to basically one lane. How do you people live in this chaos? It took me almost as much time to get from Dulles to Capitol Hill as it did to drive all the way across the state of Minnesota this morning! I’m thinking now that I’m going to have to leave awfully early on Monday to make sure I get to the airport in time.
Anyway, I’m going to depressurize here in the hotel for a few hours and then strike out (on foot) for food. There’s some kind of big white marble building near here…there’s probably beer nearby.
Synesthesia is going to be the discussion topic for our upcoming neuroslam in two weeks. Synesthesia is the rare ability of a select few individuals to see numbers as colors or as in the article that I’m preparing to discuss (Hubbard 1996), experience varying degrees of light and dark as melodic intervals. The observed pattern is that individuals experience lower pitches or descending melodic intervals in correlation with darker stimuli and higher pitches or ascending melodic intervals in correlation with lighter stimuli. The important detail about synesthesia is that individuals experience it involuntarily whereas most individuals without synesthesia can choose to consider a set of stimuli using a secondary sense that they normally wouldn’t.
One of the experiments discussed in this article was conducted with undergraduate students coaxed into participating with the offer of some credit for an intro to psychology course. The students were placed in front of an Apple RGB color monitor and grey squares of differing light intensities were presented in conjunction with a perfect fifth for four seconds. Eight perfect fifths were used, each beginning on a different tonic and thus each having a unique frequency. The squares were presented on either a white or black background. The students then rated how similar the square and the interval were on a scale with one as the least and nine as the most. One of the questions considered with this experiment is the effect of contrast between the background and the grey squares on perception.
A second experiment was set up similar to the first experiment except that students (who had not participated in the first experiment) were presented with an interval at one of the selected frequencies and asked to choose among several light intensities of grey which correlated best. Correlating one perfect fifth to a light intensity that was presented with multiple light intensity options successfully diminished (no pun intended) the effects of background contrast on perception.
I thought of some questions when I was reading this article and then afterward studying for music theory. Are there individuals who experience synesthesia such that they correlate varying degrees and intensities of lightness with more complex types of music intervals? Do minor or diminished intervals correlate to a different light intensity than major or augmented intervals? What about different intervals of the same quality? Do ascending minor sixths correlate to a different light intensity than ascending minor thirds? If an individual with true synesthesia enters a concert hall do they experience sensory overload? (just kidding) I’m sure one of us neurobio students will post about neuroslam in a couple weeks to fill everyone in on our discussions but until then there is a lot of good reading on the subject.
References:
Timothy L. Hubbard. “Synesthesia-like mappings of lighness, pitch, and melodic interval.” American Journal of Psychology. 1996. v109n2: p219
I’m on an airplane on my way to Washington DC, for an event sponsored by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It should be good — I’ve heard that Blue Gal, D-Cup, Phil Plait, and some of the gang from Corrente will be there…and we’ll find out who else. I’ll report back later!
Until then, here are a few carnivals to browse.
Linnaeus’ Legacy, a brand new carnival dedicated to classification
And of course, feel free to talk among yourselves! Except any lingering denialists. You can go look for a rock to crawl under.
How strange: Antony Flew was, and maybe is, a eugenics sympathizer. This is really going to mess up the great story of his conversion.
Hi, Stan. You’re new here, like a whole lot of people. You’ve just shown up, and here’s your very first comment.
I noticed that this blog is in the running for a Best Science Blog award.
I’ve looked over the site. Cna someone point out where the science is on it. I have looked but I can’t find any.
Let me introduce myself. My name is PZ Myers. I’m an associate professor of biology at a small liberal arts university in the upper midwest. I make no grand claims for myself, but I have been exceptionally busy lately, with lots of travel and lectures, and it’s all on top of teaching two courses, one of which is both new to me and a new course in our discipline, so I’m writing lectures at a frantic pace and trying to keep up with 80 students. I’m also working on a book and have a magazine column to write, in addition to other irregular writing jobs. I’m stretched very, very thin right now, I’m a bit frustrated myself that I haven’t had much spare time for the blog, and I’m feeling extremely cranky.
Welcome, Stan Palmer, I’m going to unload on you as a proxy for all your fellow denialist idiots!
Is everyone looking forward to the new Nova program, Judgment Day? Look for it next Tuesday, 13 November, on PBS. The first review I’ve seen is available in this week’s Nature, and it’s positive.
Hot on the heels of several books chronicling Kitzmiller vs Dover, comes Judgment Day, a rigorous television documentary from the producers of the prestigious science series Nova. This two-hour montage of interviews and reconstructions, to be shown on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States, features all the main players, bar one. Michael Behe, inventor of the specious meme “irreducible complexity” and guiding light of the intelligent-design movement, refused to participate. His testimony — the cornerstone of the defence — revealed a definition of science so loose that it includes astrology.
I thought Behe was so proud of his testimony! Why should he now be reluctant to expound further on it in a documentary?
Herein lies the dramatic challenge of retelling this important story. The feebleness of the intelligent-design case, and the overwhelming strength of the prosecution in systematically deconstructing it, render the verdict clear just minutes into the programme. The makers of Judgement Day inject tension with eyewitness accounts from the people of Dover, and home-video footage of raucous school board meetings shows how passionate and divided this small community became. It works: it is inspiring to hear parents and educators,such as Sunday school and physics teacher Bryan Rehm, recount how they refused to be steam-rollered into bringing religion into the science classroom.
I’m happy to see that due importance is being attached to the real center of the argument: while they are important, the testimony of the scientists is secondary to the role local communities play. This is a battle that’s got to be fought in the minds of ordinary citizens, not just in laboratories.
Be sure to tune in next week!
Rutherford A (2007) Dover trial documentary screens. Nature 450:170.
Cool — Russell Blackford was noticed by the Dawkins site for this very nice article, “The New Atheism rocks”. Russell is a commenter here, too, you know — give him a gold star. The article begins,
The New Atheism deserves our cheers.
This is not a time for hyper-scrupulous
misgivings about how robustly religion
should be criticised, even leaving aside the
relative mildness that the New Atheists actually display. Books like The God Delusionand
God is Not Great should give confidence to
anyone who embraces secularism and
deplores the political influence of religion.
These books will convince at least some
intellectual opponents, or play a role in doing
so, expose the population to the idea (doubtless shocking for some) that there are alternatives to theism, and provide a rallying
point for opposition to religious influences
on public policy.
Exactly. This is not the time to moan and worry — let the other side do that. This is the time to exult and push a little harder, and I’m glad some people get it.
Hey, everyone, I said I was going to be in Washington DC this weekend, with the notorious Phil Plait. We’ve compared notes and figured out our schedules, and are ready to announce a time and place for a general meetup: 9pm, Saturday, 10 November at the Senators Sports Bar at Holiday Inn on the Hill (here’s a map). There may be some other infamous bloggers on hand, too — we’ll invite them, but well, you know, this is going to be a gathering of High Nerddom, and it may be a bit intimidating to normal people.
Now go vote for Bad Astronomy for Best Science Blog. He’s behind that front for denialists blog, and this is the last day…help him out! If he doesn’t win, everyone will have to buy lots of Bubble Me Blue martinis to console him.
