Brain imaging study sheds light on moral decision-making

Princeton University press release ^ | September 13, 2001 | Steven Schultz

[Nebullis]

How the problem is framed (or the battle post-attack rhetoric) is indeed of consequence.

[Nebullis]

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[BMCDA]

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[Nebullis]

Whale Fossils Show Link To Cows

[fire_eye]

Whale Fossils Show Link To Cows

This is news?

Anyone who's been in a bar after 1AM can tell you that whales and cows share a common heritage...

[VadeRetro]

The key factor in both papers is that the fossil animals' ear cavities have specific formations that link them to whales, while they also have legs and a distinctive ankle structure similar to other artiodactyls.

Sounds like a couple of heretofore missing links. In other words, as the fossil and molecular evidence trails flesh out, perceived conflicts based upon incomplete data tend to be resolved.

So the good news for the C side is they can crow that all that old stuff about whales descending from mesonychid carnivores is unlikely. Science has had to change its story again.

The bad news for the Cs is there's fossil evidence for the alternate hypothesis and it's still evolution.

[VOA]

Brain imaging study sheds light on moral decision-making

Maybe we now have the means to show that Hillary Clinton does NOT possess a moral compass.

[Nebullis]

Sounds like a couple of heretofore missing links.

A few very important missing links. These are major finds.

[VadeRetro]

Might be worth a thread of its own, but I'm not up to it tonight.

[AndrewC]

How the problem is framed (or the battle post-attack rhetoric) is indeed of consequence

I consider these types of studies as curiosities. There is a world of difference between a cold question and a hot event. Heroes don't ponder, they do.

[AndrewC]

Whale Fossils Show Link To Cows

Thank you for the link. I have no comment as the topic has been "proved" to my satisfaction by the DNA evidence and "old bones" considered in isolation are very likely to lead one astray.

[AndrewC]

Researchers Focus on Histone Code

Histones, the proteins around which DNA coils to form chromatin, are moving toward the forefront of epigenetic research (see also, "The Meaning of Epigenetics"). A recently floated hypothesis states that the highly modifiable amino termini, or tails, of these proteins could carry their own combinatorial codes or signatures to help control phenotype, and that parts of this code may be heritable. ...

What do you think about this?

[Nebullis]

There is a world of difference between a cold question and a hot event.

If anything, a hot event would be more emotionally laden.

[Nebullis]

What do you think about this?

I like it.

[AndrewC]

If anything, a hot event would be more emotionally laden.

Yes, precisely and also subconscious. Many "decisions" never reach the conscious level yet influence our actions. As one gains more life experiences, I believe more and more of this experience is condensed in "feelings" that are not expressed as a logical conclusion that can be expressed as a series of logical statements leading to the conclusion rather a vague nagging "something doesn't feel right" or "this is the right thing to do".

[AndrewC]

What do you think about the context sensitive nature of the code?

This will not be static like the genetic code, he says, but something that is context-dependent--meaning different things in different situations.

It's like language.

[Nebullis]

But this subconscious level is exactly what this study is exploring. Moral consciousness is in that realm of "feeling". Something feels right or wrong. And it appears that the first pattern that neurons are fired in, at that subconscious level, is the pattern that all subsequent neurons "run with".

[Doctor Stochastic]

Absent the names of the persons involved, the questions are meaningless.

[Nebullis]

What do you think about the context sensitive nature of the code?

I think it is absolutely correct that the code is context dependent. The reason for this lies not in the sequence but in the structure.

[AndrewC]

And it appears that the first pattern that neurons are fired in, at that subconscious level, is the pattern that all subsequent neurons "run with".

How could it be otherwise? First comes first and the brain is organized volume-wise.