mostly harmless

Yes, I’ve been neglectful. The ease of an occasional facebook post, plus direct uploading of photos to flickr, plus an academically packed semester equals bad blog posting. Let’s remedy that, starting now!

On the way back from Thanksgiving in Portland I had an urge to read some good fiction, but didn’t have anything with me. In moment of rare book-buying sanity I managed to resist spending another $10-20 for a book I won’t finish, and instead plunked down $5 for the Atlantic. So much for fiction – the articles that grabbed me were one on motherhood by Sandra Tsing Loh (though as I’m not a mom it’s still escapist), and another that argues so-called “bad” genes that increase the possibility of depression, ADHD, etc, may also increase the possibility of achievement in the right environment, and likewise support the adaptability of human groups to new environments. Not a perfect article but this argument pleases both the evolutionary psychologist and the humanist/optimist in me (selves that, often as not, have to ignore each other until more is known):

Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people.