Links to Consider, 7/30

Joseph Bronski on declining conservatism; Rob Henderson on relationships; David Oshinsky on mental asylums; Vivek on the trans phenomenon

Joseph Bronski is a man with a world view. He is much more convinced than I am that one can take a scientific approach to the study of what I call human interdependence. With that caveat in mind, consider what he has to say about the rise of leftism and the decline of conservatism. Bronski offers

the mutational load hypothesis, which says that leftism is a psychological defect caused by high mutational load induced by the low selection pressures of modernity.

I put him in the same category as Peter Turchin, who he admires. That is, they offer interesting speculations backed by data manipulations that strike me as idiosyncratic if not downright suspect.

Rob Henderson writes,

Relationships used to begin with courtship, meeting families, spending lots of time together, etc. and then finally sex. Today, relationships among young people commonly begin with sex, then turn into a “situationship,” then “seeing each other,” then perhaps a discussion about monogamy (“are you seeing anyone else?”) then maybe exclusivity. But a lot of relationships don’t even go that far. They get stuck in a holding pattern of casual sex, which guys often enjoy. Girls don’t want to seem vulnerable so they don’t bring up the possibility of commitment and hope maybe the guy will like them enough to raise the topic themselves.

Oy. Is casual sex really all that great? I wouldn’t know. But what I think is really fun is getting to know what someone is like, what values you share, what quirks they have, what their funny stories are, and how they differ from you. All the while with romantic tension in the background.

And of course there’s this:

56% of women say they would be less likely to date someone who is “much shorter” than they are

David Oshinsky writes (WSJ),

In the past decade, a growing number of scholars from across the ideological spectrum have suggested a return to asylums. Among them is Ezekiel Emanuel, a leading medical ethicist, who joined with two colleagues in 2015 to recommend the building of “safe, modern and humane” state institutions to end the revolving door of homelessness-hospitalization-prison that passes for policy today.

…The very word “asylum” brings shivers to those old enough to remember its abuses. It has a disturbing cultural legacy to confront in the sadistic Nurse Ratched of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Bringing it back in any form will face the twin obstacles of cost and image. But for the most vulnerable among us, who exist in a world of peril to themselves and to others, it is a far better option than the alternatives of homelessness and incarceration.

Recall our conversation with Freddie deBoer.

In this podcast, Vivek Ramaswamy explains why he is ok with the gay rights movement but not the trans movement.

the gay rights movement was predicated on the idea which I'm quite sympathetic to that the sex of the person that you're attracted to is hardwired on the day you're born…

I think what's happening in many cases is somebody who claims to be trans is really just gay and part of what we're saying is it's not okay to begin so to answer your first question part of what the trans movement is effectively telling people is that it's not okay to be gay

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this gender dysphoria is what I've said is a mental health disorder…I think the compassionate thing to do is to recognize that there's some other psychological struggle manifesting itself

…I think the mental health epidemic is not limited to gender dysphoria anxiety depression drug usage fentanyl suicide these let's have the conversation more holistically these are symptoms of the deeper void

Vivek claims to be in third place in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination. For that matter, he probably could start an operating system for smart phones in the United States to compete with IOS and Android, pick up a few thousand users, and then say “Looky looky! We’re in third place!”

It’s hard for me to see him connecting with the average voter. And he’ll need to connect with below-average voters in order to have a chance. He seems less goofy than Andrew Yang, but his candidacy is presumably headed for a similar fate.

Substacks referenced above:

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Swiping and Dating Preferences

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Decline in Conservatism Between Generations Correlates Highly with Potential Signals of Mutational Load