can't help it

what makes us human? we share 98% of the same DNA as chimps, so what separates us from chimpanzees and the other primate species?

one study says it is our (possibly) innate desire to help others. the author suggests it is shared intentionality that creates our social norms and our need to enforce those norms. we evolved the ability and desire to take care of our group, which allowed us to survive and outlast all other hominids.

a fascinating article in the NYT describes several studies that point in the direction of this answer. however, daily observation of humans (and how stupidly mean they are to each other) makes this hard to believe. of course, we have to study children to uncover what is actually innate. adults are way too fucked up.

one of my favorite parts of the article described how the whites of our eyes were an important adaptation --

An interesting bodily reflection of humans’ shared intentionality is the sclera, or whites, of the eyes. All 200 or so species of primates have dark eyes and a barely visible sclera. All, that is, except humans, whose sclera is three times as large, a feature that makes it much easier to follow the direction of someone else’s gaze. Chimps will follow a person’s gaze, but by looking at his head, even if his eyes are closed. Babies follow a person’s eyes, even if the experimenter keeps his head still.

-- if you can easily tell what someone is looking at, you can glimpse their intentions. other especially nerdgleeful fun --

This could have happened at some point early in human evolution, when in order to survive, people were forced to cooperate in hunting game or gathering fruit. The path to obligatory cooperation — one that other primates did not take — led to social rules and their enforcement, to human altruism and to language.

---

We evolved to be nice to each other, in other words, because there was no alternative.

If people do bad things to others in their group, they can behave even worse to those outside it. Indeed the human capacity for cooperation “seems to have evolved mainly for interactions within the local group,” Dr. Tomasello writes.

Sociality, the binding together of members of a group, is the first requirement of defense, since without it people will not put the group’s interests ahead of their own or be willing to sacrifice their lives in battle. Lawrence H. Keeley, an anthropologist who has traced aggression among early peoples, writes in his book “War Before Civilization” that, “Warfare is ultimately not a denial of the human capacity for cooperation, but merely the most destructive expression of it.”

The roots of human cooperation may lie in human aggression. We are selfish by nature, yet also follow rules requiring us to be nice to others. “That’s why we have moral dilemmas,” Dr. Tomasello said, “because we are both selfish and altruistic at the same time.”

(the bear pic is from a completely unrelated book by mykle hansen)

lark toys

i have written about lark toys before twice, and here goes again. they have a newly launched AMAZING website that you must check out. learn about the history of the store here. you can now order from them online. chriskwanzikamadaan gifts, anyone?

a beautiful carousel, incredible toys, nerdy gadgets, llamas, mini-golf, some of the best children's books, party glasses, the greatest owners in the world, and more. oh, and the freaking fudge! it will melt your face off happy.

what are you waiting for? do those hot gay frogs look like they're waiting?!?!

doesn't suffer fools lightly

and now, for part two.

this was micah's favorite friend that day at the dog park. they demonstrated their frantic love by pushing up on each other and wrapping their front legs around the other. then a little sideways hop and round you go like retarded little bunnies.

this is joy

the wiener and the hound.

I was aroused... then furious

Sunshine oozes

In San Diego for the nasty feasting and the dog petting. Tonight we
hit In and out burger - if you've never been, you need to add it to
your "before I die" list. It's a big hot gut punch that you never knew
you wanted so badly. So dirty fat delish.

whatcha mcchicken go boom

there was a collective, slightly french, nerdy sigh of relief last week when the Large Hadron Collider when back online after 14 months of repairs. the LHC is the largest and most expensive machine ever built, 27 km around, and is poised to make some of the greatest discoveries of our time. if it works. it will shoot packets of atoms at each other at (close to) the speed of light and then watch the atoms go boom. measuring and analyzing this boom millions of times may reveal the Higgs boson particle, which is believed to (yawn) explain the presence of mass in atoms. i get that most people probably don't wonder about the fact that scientists don't understand why some particles have mass (like your ass) and some don't (like a photon of light), but i do.

in some far more real news, my routine of sunday laundry was lightened by the fact that i was doing laundry for my trip to california! going to sandy eggo to share thanksgiving with my sweeties.

see how it sparkles down there

a couple weeks ago, a visit from mika whirled me down south to Lark Toys. SO refreshing to spend time with peeps like meekz and the geebs. we had fabulous times under the sugar loaf.

probably my favorites were watching labyrinth as we all fell asleep then waking up to hours of putting together an enormous 12 million piece puzzle. i might be exaggerating the number of pieces.

"wow, these glasses are really scratched up. did you party in them?"

forget about the baby, baby... go back to your room, baby...

later, as you can see above we partied hard for halloween. that mullet is party up front AND 'round back! darn, she's pretty.

after a long period that felt like we were just skipping fall and diving right into winter here, last sunday we suddenly had gorgeous fall weather. we wandered along minnehaha creek and gawked at the willows. then i brought mika to the airport so she could return to cookies.

we are being spoiled with another warm weekend in minnesota. but the beauty stings your eyes the slightest bit because the photons know it's going to get ugly here really soon.