Posts by Agustín Fuentes
Chimpanzees Can’t Tell Us Much About Being Human
Although there is merit in recognizing how we resemble our primate relatives, sometimes we need to understand what sets our species apart. Do we gain insight by comparing President Trump to a chimpanzee? Can we learn something useful about gender-based violence among humans by studying other primates? Can observing chimpanzees or bonobos tell us why humans go to war or how…
Read More‘Enlightenment’ Now and Empathy Later?
Steven Pinker wrote Enlightenment Now thinking he was making the case for “reason, science, humanism, and progress.” But instead produced a 556 page text filled with some interesting statistics, a few valid insights, a lot of naiveté, and a stunning lack of empathy. Let me be clear about a few things: I both practice and love science,…
Read MoreWhy dogs don’t trust POTUS 45
CNN recently reported that the current first family will be breaking presidential tradition by opting not to have a pet in the White House. This is not surprising. Everything we know about the daily behavior of POTUS 45 suggests that most animals, especially dogs, would not be comfortable in this White House. Dogs are highly…
Read MoreRevisiting the Google Manifesto
Scientists cannot allow the ignorant and erroneous misuse of “biology” The following blog was published in an earlier form on PLoS SciComm nearly a month ago. But much misrepresentation of the information about this topic remains and I think the Psychology Today community is an important place to continue this conversation. First the reality: There are biological…
Read MoreGet the Science Right!
What popular books get wrong about human evolution. Popular books about human evolution tell us why we are the way that we are. A broad swath of the public looks to such books to translate the enormity of information from scientific research into accessible, and engaging, narratives informing about human nature. When Albert Einstein cautioned…
Read MoreFight the power: oppose governmental suppression of scientific literacy
When we hear about governments that censor science and literacy, we’re likely to presume said governments are totalitarian dictatorships or fundamentalist regimes. But such governmental censorship also occurs in countries with democratic processes like, say, the U.S. (D’oh!), which is beginning to look a lot like Turkey. Think that sounds far-fetched? Think again. The Turkish…
Read MoreHassles Are Part of Being Human, Even for Our Ancestors
It’s never easy being human, or even almost human, but that hasn’t stopped us. Being human is messy. Our lives are often filled with multiple hurdles and obstacles, often small, but nonetheless important. Whether it is social conflicts with our friends and co-workers, expectations and obligations to relatives, conflicts and challenges in our living spaces,…
Read MoreNature’s Most Creative Copulators
EXCERPT Why have humans taken mammalian sex to a whole new level? For humans, sex is risky, socially complicated, and culturally loaded—but it’s almost always fun. David Williams BOOK EXCERPT The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional. Dutton, 2017. Googling “sex” in 2016 yields approximately 3.34 billion results in 0.29 seconds. That’s nearly four times…
Read MoreScience Strikes Back: The Power Of Data In The Face Of “Alternative Facts”
The new president and his cabinet are taking great strides to avoid discussions that include data and analyses from scientists worldwide. It is almost as if they fear data (and science). Why? Probably because copious amounts of scientific data contradict many of their key assertions. Data are the facts and statistics, the qualitative and qualitative…
Read MoreIs It Too Late to Get Along?
Can we bridge the gap between Americans? If you randomly select 5 Americans and give them the statements (or tweets) of a certain conspicuous politician and ask them “is this truthful?” chances are you will get at least 2, if not 5, different responses. Why do some people believe what is an obvious lie to…
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