Hebrew bible!
― quincie, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 19:50 (twelve years ago) link
i frankly disbelieve a lot of the core(ish) evo-psych claims. they strike me as are specious and ultimately unsubstantiated, i.e. i don't countenance the assertion that in 2011 "gentleman prefer blondes" happens because younger healthier cavewomen with high chances of reproductive success tended to be more fair, and cavemen evolved a response to fair, slender, less-bearded ladies with a higher waist-to-hip ratio. i mistrust because, let's be honest, this is a highly culturally-based aesthetic, and innate psychological behaviors would tend to be applied with greater distribution and not just to substantiate current behaviors and preferences. a lot of of evo psych tends toward the teleological, and it's mostly non-falsifiable and non-testable. i don't doubt that in the whole field there are interesting and amazing things, but i also don't belief a lot of the chaff that's currently being bandied about. (i agree w/ crüt, for the most part).
― remy bean, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:07 (twelve years ago) link
let's play 'spot the typo' above.
― remy bean, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
surely there is, on some level, something that men find attractive about women that is related to evolution?
― iatee, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:11 (twelve years ago) link
I think it's the vaginas.
― Octavia Butler's gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiised (Laurel), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:15 (twelve years ago) link
don't forget the boobies!
obviously most (heterosexual-defined) men of reproductive age tend to be drawn toward women who indicate some potential for reproduction, even if there's no intention of reproducing. we're not attracted, by and large, to children and the elderly; to the sickly-skinny or morbidly obese. but the signifiers are many and varied, and individual, it benefits the continued success of the species to cultivate diversity in taste (and breeding partner) rather than depend on a few explicit indicators of beauty and reproductive readiness.
― remy bean, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:19 (twelve years ago) link
obv i am no expert in this stuff at all, i just took a course on it
― remy bean, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 20:22 (twelve years ago) link
I think this kind of caveman sociology gets a lot of attention but doesn't represent a lot of the field (at least in my experience). I also truck w/ the assertion that that kind of thing can sound a lot like, "1950s stereotypes of domesticity are actually authentic original human behavior!" But there's so much in behavioral psychology that doesn't make those claims and stuff like rationality/signaling/group dynamics are really interesting. Just stay away from the justifications for why women should stay in the kitchen.
― Mordy, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:01 (twelve years ago) link
Has anybody read 'Sex at Dawn'?
― What does one wear to a summery execution? Linen? (Michael White), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:05 (twelve years ago) link
Tried to get it out of the lib the other day and they didn't have it, the bastards.
― Octavia Butler's gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiised (Laurel), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:05 (twelve years ago) link
voted for financial markets
― markers, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:11 (twelve years ago) link
women should stay in the kitchen b/c their subcutaneous fat layer makes them better equipped to handle hot pans, clearly.
and men should spend as much time fishing as possible, because their beards are the perfect place to store a whole caboodle of lures and hooks.
― remy bean, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link
<3
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
Voted excitedly for the chemistry - I think a science course would be best for the whole 'learning a thing that is true' aspect, plus it's harder to get that experience from a book?
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 09:06 (twelve years ago) link
remy otm about evo psych
― dayo, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 10:26 (twelve years ago) link
I am kind of assuming that the "what kind of women do men prefer" branch of "evolutionary psychology" is not what's being taught in that course.
― ethanol crops (not to mention arugula) for the green aristocracy (crüt), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
guys evolutionary bio is all about fruit flies iirc
― horseshoe, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 17:40 (twelve years ago) link
fruit flies having s.e.x. though
― StanM, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 17:44 (twelve years ago) link
will the chemistry class teach us how to make meth & bombs?
― HOOTERS FOOD AND BEVERAGE (Pillbox), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:01 (twelve years ago) link
The class that practically pays for itself!
― Octavia Butler's gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiised (Laurel), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:02 (twelve years ago) link
general chemistry b/c I did so awful in it in college
― dan m, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:05 (twelve years ago) link
would actually be interested in taking any of these tbh
Science and Cooking (Harvard)Intro to Hebrew Bible (Yale)Financial Markets (Yale)Moral Foundations of Politics (Yale)Evolution, Ecology and Behavior (Yale)
― HOOTERS FOOD AND BEVERAGE (Pillbox), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:06 (twelve years ago) link
so basically you're alright w/ anything as long as it's harvard or yale
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:07 (twelve years ago) link
oops, didn't mean to have a Harvard one on the list. Yale full-stop accept no substitutes!
― HOOTERS FOOD AND BEVERAGE (Pillbox), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:09 (twelve years ago) link
General chemistry because I failed it twice in college.
― Jeff, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:11 (twelve years ago) link
i can see how all of these could possibly be interesting (or make me want to fall asleep and/or barf), but what resonates right now are Financial Markets and Moral Foundations of Politics
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
so this can also be used to suggests ways this can be run...I can 'run' the first class which means we pick a day and I'll post a link to the lecture on that day.
w/ some of these subjects there are people who know enough to answer questions. if you do, it'd be cool if you'd lurk the thread?
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
These are like podcasts, right? I can put it on my ipod and listen to it/watch it away from a computer?
― Octavia Butler's gonna be piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiised (Laurel), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
If it ends up being comp sci I will be happy to TA.
― ilx user 'silby' (silby), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
yeah at least for the yale ones I know there are audio-only files
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
(there are video files too)
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 19:38 (twelve years ago) link
the comp sci one has video, audio & transcripts of lectures all avail
i might follow along w/it by myself lol
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
do these come with syllabi? the lectures are going to lean heavily on the reading I think, but knowing what some famous and respected professor has to say about Locke is probably just as useful as knowing the original text, probably more so
― dayo, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
hoos I would join you
I think they all have syllabuses
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:12 (twelve years ago) link
The Bits course at Harvard is pretty interesting, and might be a better (more fitting?) option than the Intro to CS one . Bits is designed as a non-major perspective on the field, but not dumbed-down, and with heavy doses of theory and application to current events. The Intro to CS course is a prereq for a lot of later coursework, and tends to be a little drier/techier more intended as a gateway to a later CS career. (Says my girlfriend)
― remy bean, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:19 (twelve years ago) link
is it online?
― iatee, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:22 (twelve years ago) link
all i saw on the harvard extended edu site was some excerpts from lectures, but i'd be down for that for sure
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link
I did about 80% of Shiller's financial markets course. It's fascinating at times but parts are hard to understand without the textbook and homework (it's literally just a recording of him teaching his Yale class live). I think it's useful for general concepts if you're willing to just shrug at the techincal parts that you can't really learn without practice problems and such.
― Disraeli Geirs (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
Also IIRC there are cool guest speakers, including the guy who manages Yale's endowment, and Carl Icahn (who is very entertaining and firebrandy).
― Disraeli Geirs (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
In fact Carl Icahn goes on a tear about how the top executives at most companies are a bunch of idiot frat boys who got where they are by not making any waves.
― Disraeli Geirs (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link
yale's endowment guy was pretty legendary until he too got hammered in the 07 crash
― dayo, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:34 (twelve years ago) link
Well, I mean him getting slammed in the crash like everyone else doesn't really do anything to discredit his methods.
― Disraeli Geirs (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
I accidentally had votef for Intro to CS without having read the whole first post. And the class probably wouldn't be as helpful to me as something like intro to SQL. I'd also like to learn more about coding for websites
― ℓ٥ﻻ ﻉ√٥υ (CaptainLorax), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:40 (twelve years ago) link
Here are the free Harvard courses:
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative
Here's the actual website for Bits:
http://cm.dce.harvard.edu/2011/02/22883/publicationListing.shtml
― remy bean, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:42 (twelve years ago) link
here's the entire list of MIT open courseware courses:
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/
― remy bean, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:46 (twelve years ago) link
what is wrong with me that i see 'abstract algebra' and go 'ooooo'
― thank you BIG HOOS, you brilliant god-man (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:48 (twelve years ago) link
i was just thinking that a class in neural plasticity and learning seemed like a good thing to work out to
― remy bean, Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:54 (twelve years ago) link
xps to hurting2, yeah, the class syllabus for Financial Markets oourse (2008) said: "Some facility with elementary algebra and calculus required. Course exams consist of roughly 50% math and theory problems and 50% facts and general understanding questions about financial markets." So i imagine a textbook would be pretty necessary there, i mean, for those of us who haven't done algebra or calculus since we were teenagers... But i'd be into it!
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 21:56 (twelve years ago) link
When I worked for Harvard I could take classes at the Extension school for $40 a pop so I did a few lit ones just for the hell of it and they were awesome. I can't praise the extension school enough tbh. Would have done my MA there (almost for free too) if they'd had a course of study I was really interested in.
― will eat pudding (ENBB), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 22:00 (twelve years ago) link
bragging!
how do i get a job at harvard
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 28 September 2011 22:06 (twelve years ago) link