Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Bruce Cohen: "Humans evolved, and are so constituted at a very basic level, that religion is inevitable for us. We're pattern-recognizers and pattern-creators way back up the evolutionary tree, and religion is just an attempt to look for larger and more all-encompassing patterns."

abi: "I'd say that religion and science are born of the same impulse. To posit a path of human evolution that includes science but not religion is like positing a world where cheese is possible, but not butter."

Comments to Making Light, 2007-09-19

Bruce Cohen: "Humans evolved, and are so constituted at a very basic level, that religion is inevitable for us. We're pattern-recognizers and pattern-creators way back up the evolutionary tree, and religion is just an attempt to look for larger and more all-encompassing patterns."

abi: "I'd say that religion and science are born of the same impulse. To posit a path of human evolution that includes science but not religion is like positing a world where cheese is possible, but not butter."

Comments to Making Light, 2007-09-19

Quick how-my-week-is-going update:

Television news just announced, as though it were a New Interesting Surprising revelation, that "depression affects more than your home life; it can also affect your performance at work." Can I get a "well, duh!" from the congregation here?

The study they were talking about still matters (and still counts as news) because a) one important aspect of Science! is experminentally confirming (or refuting) the common wisdom, and b) if I understood the report right, the study was more about quantitatively comparing different employer approaches to dealing with depressed workers than about verifying that depression sucks. I just bristled at the "Oh look, something nobody had suspected yet!" tone with which it was introduced.

And as for the "other shoe dropped" bit, I finally realized (I think) why the nurse at the clinic can't just take my description of the injection site for the TB test, but has to see it himself to write it down: I bet this is at least as much a Public Health issue as it is a preventative-medicine-for-the-individual matter. TB is one of those things where the state wants to identify latent cases and get them treated before they spread it wider, right? So even though my getting the test was presented to me as optional, I bet there's some regulation about reporting the test (maybe with certain identifying info filed off per HIPPA?) once it's been given ... I should really Google that instead of guessing; maybe I'll look it up later.

Quick how-my-week-is-going update:

Television news just announced, as though it were a New Interesting Surprising revelation, that "depression affects more than your home life; it can also affect your performance at work." Can I get a "well, duh!" from the congregation here?

The study they were talking about still matters (and still counts as news) because a) one important aspect of Science! is experminentally confirming (or refuting) the common wisdom, and b) if I understood the report right, the study was more about quantitatively comparing different employer approaches to dealing with depressed workers than about verifying that depression sucks. I just bristled at the "Oh look, something nobody had suspected yet!" tone with which it was introduced.

And as for the "other shoe dropped" bit, I finally realized (I think) why the nurse at the clinic can't just take my description of the injection site for the TB test, but has to see it himself to write it down: I bet this is at least as much a Public Health issue as it is a preventative-medicine-for-the-individual matter. TB is one of those things where the state wants to identify latent cases and get them treated before they spread it wider, right? So even though my getting the test was presented to me as optional, I bet there's some regulation about reporting the test (maybe with certain identifying info filed off per HIPPA?) once it's been given ... I should really Google that instead of guessing; maybe I'll look it up later.