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there’s nothing common about common sense.
The allergy to evolution in the social and cognitive sciences has been, I think, a barrier to understanding.
Think of the genes and putative genes that have made the headlines: genes for muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, obesity, violent outbursts, dyslexia, bed-wetting, and some kinds of retardation. They are disorders, all of them. There have been no discoveries of a gene for civility, language, memory, motor control, intelligence, or other complete mental systems, and there probably won’t ever be.
separate the scientific from the moral issues.
Gloria Steinem: “There are really not many jobs that actually require a penis or a vagina, and all the other occupations should be open to everyone.”
A linguist friend of mine who studies the Wari in the Amazon rainforest learned that their language has a term for edible things, which includes anyone who isn’t a Wari.
