Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
The Party of Sea Squirts
I am very much enjoying Natalie Angier's witty science primer, The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science. Little did I know that it would give me a brilliant insight into the decidedly nonscientific world of politics.
Witness page 173, where she describes the curious behavior of one particular creature:
. . . the tunicate, or sea squirt, is a mobile hunter in its larval stage and thus has a little brain to help it find prey. But on reaching maturity and attaching itself permanently to a safe niche from which it can filter-feed on whatever passes by, the sea squirt jettisons the brain it no longer requires. "Brains are great consumers of energy," writes Peter Atkins, a profssor of chemistry at Oxford University, "and it is a good idea to get rid of your brain when you discover you have no further need of it."
Now, am I crazy, or is this not the the perfect analogy for the modern Republican Party? After many painful years of having to "justify" "beliefs" and "policies" with "reasons" and "evidence" -- all of which requires energy-consuming thought -- now they have Fox News to tell them to have teabag protests for no discernible reason. The point was to be angry, not thinky.
Unfair? Okay, well, you can't possibly argue with the sea squirt as analogous to the Bush presidency. Prizing the informational processing power of his "gut" over his brain, relying on instinct and faith over data and reflection. Bush (I assume) never physically ejected his gray matter onto the Oval Office carpet, but he might as well have. For a guy who slept as much as he did, you can bet he was looking for ways to conserve energy. What better way than to shut down a major organ he wasn't using anyway?
There's something sublime about this sea quirt metaphor. The GOP's wholesale rejection of the intellect, their disdain for the educated, their anxiety over science, none of it because they are bad, per se, but because they have adapted to the environment in which they live. Finding that their brains were doing them no good whatsoever, that thoughtful, intellectual discourse was getting them nowhere, they hit the eject button and got Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, and Glenn Beck. Now they need waste no more precious energy on building neurons and firing synapses. They are a miracle of evolution.
Update: Apparently, Arlen Specter agrees with my take, and has opted for continued use of his neocortex.
[This is recycled blather from Near Earth Object. You're welcome.]
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Not just the Repub party,
Not just the Repub party, most politicians of any stripe, for that matter many of my co-workers (learn enough to get the job, then vegetate)
To be truthful, it may be human nature. Work to get yourself securely established within the tribe, then divert resources to mating and other evolutionarily necessary processes.
Yeah.
Yeah, let's not blame the Republicans too much for being incompetent, fascistic, parasitic, anti-knowledge, anti-American, Christianist, murderous liars over the past 8 years (and STILL, come to think of it). Hey, everybody's doing it — shrug, shrug, wink, wink — it must be human nature.
Well, when you put it that way...
...it doesn't sound so bad. I think I might try it.
No, you aren't crazy
Good analogy. I first learned about these little creatures by reading Dawkins "The Ancestor's Tale". Fascinating. Let us know about Angiers when you finish. Maybe I'll pick it up.
I'm a chapter away from the end
And I can tell you now that it's overall a great read. If you're well versed in science, maybe a little pedestrian. If you're a novice, maybe a little too detailed. Luckily, I am in the Goldilocks area. Lots of puns and wordplay, lots of cuteness, perhaps a tad too much, but overall a very pleasant read.
Goldilocks here too!
I don't have a science background, but I've been interested enough in evolution (in particular) to have read many books. I'll put this one on my "to read" list.
Brain Ejection
Pretty much explains ALL religion, too.
Alternatively,
Alternatively, he turned that job over to Darth Cheney - why bother to think when the Dick would suffice? (Hey, wait, I think I'm back in that discussion of virgin sacrifice ...)
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Maybe that explains
Arlen Spectre leaving the party.
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.