token white guy OK, I'm back. I've spent most of the last month moving from Seattle to SoCal, getting settled in, procuring internet access, studying math, and so on. What I've discovered is that it's nearly impossible [for me] to blog unless I read a couple of hours worth of news every day. And recently I simply haven't had the time to read much news. I'm hoping that will change starting now. -- My love for evolutionary psychology really started when I read Steve Pinker's How the Mind Works, and ever since I've been a big fan. The NYT magazine has a brief interview with Pinker regarding his new book, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature:

If biological processes are all, then it's hardly outrageous to claim that individuals are predisposed to having greater or lesser intelligence. Do you worry about becoming co-opted by the ''Bell Curve''-oisie? I think that would be a big leap. Rather than constructing a bomb, I hope the book is about how to defuse it. The explosiveness comes from a fear that certain empirical possibilities open the door to social and political evils. That's not the case. We can have an honest science of human nature without a Pandora's box of negative consequences. Anyone who's read the book can't attack it by saying, ''If we accept what you're saying about human nature, then all hell will break loose.'' The point of the book is that all hell won't break loose.

It's unclear (especially based on the preceding quote) whether Pinker's support for a "human nature" extends to support for human biodiversity. I guess I'll have to read the book to find out.