The Red Queen discussion thread

[kagame]

three cheers for the coming environmental collapse, I`m ready to be reincarnated as a some bizarro superior [censored] Erectus Dominatus primate that will make being [censored] Sapiens seem like being a declawed feline

[kagame]

[censored] H O M O ???????

[Steven_Q_Erkel]

After reading a handful of books mentioned in the same thread as OP I have to ask, why should I respect women?

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

[ QUOTE ]
After reading a handful of books mentioned in the same thread as OP I have to ask, why should I respect women?

[/ QUOTE ]
elaborate?

[WhoIam]

I’ve had this book lying around for a while and starting reading it as a result of this thread. One thing about the book I like that hasn’t been mentioned is the author’s writing style. It’s refreshing to read a science book written in a non-academic, almost conversational tone. He even cracks a few jokes along the way.

I’m now convinced that nothing humans are capable of can destroy all life on the planet. [ QUOTE ]
Even for microscopic animals, the bdelloid rotifers are peculiar. They live in any kind of fresh water…and when their watery home dries up or freezes, they adopt the shape of an apostrophe and go to sleep. This apostrophe is known as a “tun,” and it is astonishingly resistant to abuse. You can boil it for an hour or freeze it to within 1 degree of absolute zero—that is, to -272 degrees Centigrade—for a whole hour. Not only does it fail to distintigrate, it does not even die.

[/ QUOTE ] I’m now on the “tragedy of the commons” chapter and I think this idea has a lot of parallels, including online poker. During the time I’ve been reading 2+2, there have periodically been posts in the internet gambling forum saying essentially “guys, please stop 12-tabling with HUDs. You’re making things worse for everyone, including yourselves in the long run even though you’re profiting now.” They usually ended up getting flamed, but their argument made some sense. No one was willing to lower their hourly rate for the sake of the poker community. As Ridley says:
[ QUOTE ]
But the individual who grazes one too many cows or catches one too many netfuls still gets the whole of the reward of that cow or netful. So he reaps the benefits privately and shares the costs publicly. It is a one-way ticket to riches for the individual and a one-way ticket to poverty for the village. Individually rational behavior leads to a collectively irrational outcome. The free-rider wins at the expense of the good citizen.

[/ QUOTE ] This also goes a long way to explain why it’s so difficult to solve problems that affect everyone, like global warming.