archive

The problem of the human

Jonathan Tucker (MIIS): Double-Edged DNA: Preventing the Misuse of Gene Synthesis. Eric Kraemer (Wisconsin): Towards a Philosophical Account of Explanation in Behavioral Genetics. From The Journal of Evolution and Technology, a special issue on Nietzsche and European Posthumanisms; and an essay on Deconstruction and Excision in Philosophical Posthumanism. Neanderthal genome decoded: Paleogenetics shows our ancient cousins aren't so extinct. A look at the Human Genome at 10: What it did and didn’t deliver (and more). Emotions such as empathy and disgust might be at the root of morality, but psychologists should also study the roles of deliberation and debate in how our opinions shift over time. A review of Self and Society: Studies in the Evolution of Culture by William Irwin Thompson. Neuroscientists have shown they can influence people's moral judgments by disrupting a specific brain region. A review of The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness by Oren Harman. A review of The Brain and the Meaning of Life by Paul Thagard (and more). A review of Beyond Blood Identities: Posthumanity in the Twenty-First Century by Jason Hill. Gillian Beer on late Darwin and the problem of the human. One reason why humans are special and unique: We masturbate — a lot. A massive genetic study of people who lived for more than 100 years has found dozens of new clues to the biology of aging. Tibetans may be the fastest-evolving humans we’ve ever seen. It's not just our country of ancestral origin that our DNA can show; the villages our ancestors lived in may also be determined. Humans, like all other primates, are obsessed by their peer group of colleagues and acquaintances — and and that's for good reason because, for primates, being excluded from the group can be lethal.