Biology/Evolution Lecture (UCLA mirror)

[MCSKeelar]

@disquisition73 You clearly don't understand evolution. I bet you didn't even watch the whole video.

[HisEmptyHouse]

The great part about evolution is that it still occurs whether or not creationists want it to. The world does not turn on opinion - only fact. Evolution is one such fact of life.

Also I am laughing at the people who insist we aren't related to other forms of life. We share the same bits of DNA code though so sorry, seems we are related after all! In fact all life on the planet is.

[dpowens]

Hahaha, oh, creationists.  You are ridiculous.

[1994TYREL]

Let me tell you this... If your not a christian don't curse at christianity please. If you wanna be monkeys then stay monkeys... And FUCK OFF!!!

[likeroby]

@1994TYREL LOL

[MCSKeelar]

@1994TYREL Okay, and if you wanna be dumb then stay dumb.

[RespectMyHate]

I've realized in biology, evolution is unnecessary

[PifflePrattle]

@RespectMyHate and I've realised that communicating with dumbasses is futile.

Sometimes I waste my time.

[Murdilizer]

What would you do if you saw a big naked fat man eating a burrito in the middle of the woods and he asks you if you want a bite?

[Cyrathil]

One's been in our environment for as long as we have, and the other is relatively new. One we have a "natural" fear of, from some views of psychology, and the other we have yet to. Same reason we fear snakes more than cars, even though a car could kill you much easier and painfully.

[Cyrathil]

"because we're never going to have any reason to be"

Tell that to the people who are afraid of looking up, getting peanut butter on the roofs of their mouths, afraid of getting wet. People are scared of things which have very little to do with rational reasons. Compared to all those, I would much rather be afraid of guns than them( considering it's a fairly good correlation between seeing a gun and having shots fired).

Welcome to the irrational world of Humanity!

[RabidApe]

JLO, the argument is VERY simple.

FACT: guns kill a lot more people now than snakes do

FACT: guns have only existed for several centuries

FACT: snakes (as well as humans and/or our primate ancestors) have been around for MILLIONS of years

FACT: humans tend to be more afraid of snakes than guns

THEORY: this fear of snakes is "hardwired" by thousands of generations of natural selection, and guns haven't been around long enough for such an instinctive fear to develop

[RabidApe]

"guns dont kill people, people kill people. "

I think the gun helps.

[RabidApe]

"FACT: no gun has ever killed anyone"

::facepalm::

I don't want to split semantic hairs with you. Sorry.

I'm pretty sure that you understand that people have been killed because their body was damaged by a high-velocity projectile ejected from a device wielded by some other person.

"FACT: guns could have existed forever and we wouldnt have a fear of them"

That is pure speculation.

[foxlake02]

"guns dont kill people, people kill people."

"snakes dont kill people, people kill snakes. "

[pandstar]

Quick comment about vanilla extract.

As he says, in double blind tests in BAKED goods there is no difference in taste.

But in other items; custard, frosting, creme brulee, where the temps are lower, there is a noticeable difference.

Artificial vanilla is made of only one, very stable molecule. Natural vanilla is more complex with many other, more volatile molecules.

When you bake, these more volatile molecules evaporate, leaving only the same molecule that artificial vanilla contains

[RabidApe]

Right on.

I know that in one of the "Animal Behavior" lectures (from UC Berkeley, not sure which one), Roy Caldwell goes into some detail about how careful one needs to be when generalizing from the results of experimental data.

All you've technically shown is that X happens in specific situation Y.

I've also heard Richard Muller say "the most dangerous assumptions [for a scientist] are the ones you don't know you're making."

Your vanilla extract elaboration is a perfect example.

[HeyHeyHarmonicaLuke]

@RabidApe i love Richard Muller's physics 10 series!!

[jonstewartfanboy]

50:15 51:30 Does that mean we are going to evolve to fear CARS too? I think the proper evolved fear is a KILLING OBJECT 'x' possessed by an agent. When something that demonstrates AGENCY possesses something that has a killing purpose, we might fear that COMBINATION all other things being equal. NOT the object itself. When guns have agency (robot guns, HK's) then we may evolve to fear them like snakes. Snakes have agency and are often poisonous. We don't fear fangs on a table do we?

[jonstewartfanboy]

15:00 Of course his extract example doesn't control for HER ability to detect vanilla extract tastes at all (i.e. variations in people's ability to discriminate on vanilla extract). His example is GREAT in that of how to objectively test and really "know" something rather than hearsay or general opinion. It's just that we only learned what SHE can detect, but to generalize about fake vs. real van. extract, one would need many subjects and batches of extracts and statistical testing...

[pokermaster54]

I think I can answer the last 2 questions. James Watson is wrong because the blueprint in the human genome project would only apply to one person and not all humans. All humans have a unique DNA. Walter Gilbert is wrong because he neglects the effect of environment on the formation of a person. They are both irresponsible because they mislead the public. Watson gives the false impression that babies are blank slates with the same predilections.

Sorry for the choppy sentences. Wut do u all think

[RabidApe]

Sounds pretty good to me!

[playgrrrr]

also natural selection doesnt necessarily lead to "better" genome. it leads to organisms that are better adapted to some situations and maybe less good to others. better is a relative term.

[playgrrrr]

he only looked at one quality of his vanilla extract for his comparison. i dont think his result is conclusive form just examining taste. he didnt test the effect both extracts have on the body (ie wether one or the other may be more healthy than the other). the scientific method is great. just dont get arrogant and forget to look at half of the things.

[RabidApe]

"i dont think his result is conclusive form just examining taste"

I think he said he was trying to answer the question "can the two varieties of vanilla extract be distinguished by taste?".

"he didnt test the effect both extracts have on the body"

I don't think that was the point.

[playgrrrr]

if only that was his point then he didnt say it.

[RabidApe]

::listens again starting at 15:00::

::facepalm::

OK, he didn't explicitly define "better", but I think the implication is clear, and your perceived lack of specificity does not detract in the slightest from the point of the example:

Use of the scientific method to objectively test a hypothesis.

[playgrrrr]

science needs to be precise ;)

[TheSoSoAgnostic]

UC Berkeley must be having budgetary problems - they can't afford new bllinds.

[GimbleTheWizard]

Wouldn't our regular lives be similar to a mouse maze?

With this idea, we could very well see that the smart get smartter and the dumb get dumber.

How long before we have people (who are always taught that they are victims in society) start running their head into walls?

The working population works more. The lazy gets taken care of more and more...

[adolthitler]

They might not be lazy, they might be taught from birth thats their lot in life. Our culture is great for kneecapping individuality and proactivity.

My mother and I are nursing my father and I watch her try to take all responsibility for him and thats a problem. He needs to do what he can for himself while he can. So I stop her, and get him to do as much as he can himself.

Children get over mothered and have their proactivity taken away.

[AtheismandSkepticism]

21:30...Did he say Chernobyl is in Russia??

[playgrrrr]

"21:30...Did he say Chernobyl is in Russia??"

referring to his picture he did. even though it is in the ukraine today it was a sowjet facility at the time and possibly during the time the picture was taken.

plus he teaches evolution, not geography. ^^

[Charlymaumushi]

Black people. o.o

[JustaEropeanGuy]

"Yo"??

[RabidApe]

I love the bit about vanilla extract....

Does that sound like anything we've experienced....?

(except the friend finally comes around in the face of mounting evidence...)

;D

[svaught32]

The fossils where buried in that sequence to test our faith.

[TheSupremeSkeptic]

God says:

Fossil record? Evolution? Science?

You believed that crap?

BURN IN HELL!!!

[RabidApe]

watch?v=R370YkYhV0w

Bill Hicks is always relevant

[svaught32]

thanks :)

[RabidApe]

durka durka

:D

[svaught32]

Muhammed jihad!

:-)

[trloyalist]

Nice comment. Bill Hicks was brilliant and his untimely death was tragic.

[Justinfh2point0]

Are you joking? It's hard to with text.

[ThorsDecree]

Thanks for uploading these, RabidApe. Really enjoy this stuff ^_^

[TheSupremeSkeptic]

But.....

.....evolution is just a theory.

[TheJacolyte]

Theories mysteriously become "just theories" when they make people /really/ think