tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post2424592646474372570..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: You're as good as your face makes you be -- phrenology is back!Anne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-83399550336507880572011-07-12T02:24:47.793-04:002011-07-12T02:24:47.793-04:00Each of us, in our own experience, can perhaps mak...Each of us, in our own experience, can perhaps make generalizations. But our experiences don't need to be a random sample of anything, and in any open search for pattern in limited samples will be able to find something. Or, at least, that could be a plausible reason for the idea.<br /><br />There's no reason in principle why a gene 'for' body size can't also affect brain activity patterns (i.e., one can imagine it is possible).<br /><br />But the extension of these rudimentary ideas to this kind of research is a stretch, especially given the determination of people that they will find such things and that they'll be both clear (significant as well as important) and that they can safely be extrapolated back over evolutionary time. To me the latter is the most questionable of the aspects of this kind of work, along with the motivation that drives it.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-50393703055141756182011-07-12T02:15:28.998-04:002011-07-12T02:15:28.998-04:00Wow.
What is interesting is why, in the first pla...Wow.<br /><br />What is interesting is why, in the first place, is it so common for us to think that we can predict a person's behavior from their anatomy?Holly Dunsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05260104967932801186noreply@blogger.com