Favorites, addiction, anthropology, memes, and mind this week. Enjoy.
Top of the List
Greg Laden, The Falsehoods
Greg lays out common mistakes and bad assumptions about biology, culture and evolution – a fantastic summary
ScienceDaily, Facial Expressions Show Language Barriers, Too
The title doesn’t quite get it; the point is that Ekman’s universal expressions of emotion has just taken a serious data-driven critique: “FACS-coded [Facial Action Coding System] facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion.”
Melvin Konner, Obesity 2
“Obesity is an evolutionary legacy, which is why it’s so hard to control.” The esteemed anthropologist reflects on our modern obesity epidemic.
Robert Wright, Jerry Coyne and The Evolution of God
The author of The Evolution of God responds vigorously to Coyne’s critique in The New Republic, which I featured a couple round-ups ago.
Dan Myers, Get a Theory – Part II
Some great reflections on what makes for a good conference paper
Christophe Heintz, How Cultural Is Cultural Epidemiology? The Case of Enculturation
An argument for a more robust cultural epidemiology through generative entrenchment and the cultural determination of cognitive tracks
Addiction
Robin Young, Homeless Heroin Addicts
Here and Now NPR interview with Phillippe Bourgois about his new book Righteous Dopefiend. Also has a nice selection of Schonberg’s photos.
