Stanford's Robert Sapolsky lectures on the science behind human sexuality (Video):
Thoughts:
There were a few things that really stood out to me in watching this:
-So many things people are debating in the popular media were resolved a long time ago by science. It's actually one of the fundamental principles behind this blog. We have a lot of answers to things, people just haven't read them. To paraphrase William Gibson: The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed.
-Testosterone follows behavior, it doesn't drive it. I believe I first read this in one of Sapolsky's books, and it really contradicts so many popular notions about male behavior, steroids, and genetics.
-We're more machine-like than we might like to think and we're not as unique as we'd like to believe. We're animals. Exquisite, intelligent, powerful animals, but animals nonetheless. Forgetting that is hubris and leads to the base acts which we associate with animals.
There's much to be discussed here. Post a comment.
If you'd like to check out more of Sapolsky's work, I highly recommend his books "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" and "Monkeyluv."
You can hear him explain the connection between heart disease and chair upholstery here. Yes, I'm serious. And it's great.
