Daily Data Dump (Thursday)

Experiments in cultural transmission and human cultural evolution. I've read plenty of models of cultural evolution (Cavalli-Sforza & Feldman, Boyd & Richerson, come to mind), but a post which reviews some more empirical literature. One criticism of modelers of cultural evolution is that they're all talk, no action, and so basically just mathed up versions of armchair humanists. Wired for Sex. The existence of two sexes is of obvious evolutionary genetic interest; males are an "expensive" cost for a lineage. But obviously there are other angles to explore, including neurological. Because sexual dimorphism takes a while to evolve I think one possible way to get a good grip on sex differences in the brain might be to look at male vs. female anatomy, function and neuochemistry across the great apes + humans. Presumably many of the differences are basal characteristics. Psychopaths and Rational Morality. Would Mr. Spock have been a psychopath? The Arc of Evolution Is Long and Rarely Bends Towards Advantageous Alleles: Why Does Popular Science Ignore Neutral Theory? Love the title. I think writing a book like "Climbing Mount Improbable" is going to be easier than writing "Probably Random Walking All Over." Can’t Pivot to the Economy With Magic. I disagree. It's a world filled with magic & mystery, we need to just open our eyes and appreciate it. We can can use magic & mystery as fuel to generate productivity gains. A wizard in every home I say!