On one hand it does perhaps lack imagination, but on the other it makes perfect sense that aliens we first find would be much like us since they'd be attracted by our radio waves, and to become a space traveling civilisation they'd likely have similar motivations and their brains/reasoning capabilities would have evolved in a similar way. Afterall the human brain seems to be hardwired to find other humans - we see faces in the clouds and random floor patterns etc.

That new movie Arrival (2016) (not the Charlie Sheen 90s one) did a great job of unique aliens.

I guess another reason why fiction makes aliens like us is so that it allows a story to be told without the story getting bogged down on the details (unless that is the focus of the story).

Prejudice - Walking down a city street, seeing 2 black kids dressed like they're in a gang, being scared.

Racist - Walking down a street, seeing two black men in decent suits and briefcases, thinking they are probably defence lawyers for gangs.

Prejudice - Finding out the white guy you just hired goes to AA meetings, so you fire him before he shows up drunk.

Racist - A theft happens at your store, so you first check the black girl's handbag, even though she says it was Cindy, the blonde with the nice ass.

Prejudice is hardwired into the human psyche. The term "intuition" is just prejudice with coating of deodorant.

Racism requires generalization. You have to have a unwarranted view of the majority of a race to be racist.

Prejudice can exist without racism. Racism on the other hand MUST contain prejudice.

How so? If anything, it means gay people can normalize into family units, rather than choosing paths of rebellion against their families.

I've never understood your path of logic. The only thing I can imagine you mean is... well, sort of what this video is poking fun at. Gay marriage does not convince heterosexual people to be gay, nor does it convince them to somehow give up on the concept of the family unit.

Have you even really thought this out beyond some abstract belief that somehow *gasp* through the process of natural selection, we slowly EVOLVE into homosexuals... Is that what you're trying to say? That the hardwired heterosexual drive in some humans will fade out, sort like how eventually all white people will be gone because of all the Mexican and Chinese immigrants in America?

Who knew that the our final step in evolution is the break down of the family unit via gay marriage. I guess that means no more babies. Is this the end of the world God predicted for us? Gay marriage apocalypse!!

I don't think it's quite that clear cut; I think it's perfectly reasonable for someone to want to feel sexy without wanting to be harassed by every jerk on the street.

I'll admit that if I saw her walking down the street, my eye would be drawn--that's pretty damn hardwired in my brain. However, I'd avoid gaping at her, and I sure as hell wouldn't make any comments to her. The most I'd do is smile. Why? Because I don't have the right to be a jerk just because she dressed attractively.

It's interesting. While I'd never make a comment like that, when I think about it honestly, I do find myself judging her attractiveness. I wonder if its a hardwired or learned behavior. I wonder if women are more likely to do the same with men or other women.

Speaking of how hardwired we humans come into existence, I once read something about a study that they did with newborn babies. Like just some days old newborns. They put these two items above these kids, so that they could look at them while they lie in their beds and tracked the babies eye movements. The two items where a little car, made of metal and a nice round sun (like a stuffed animal). The interesting thing they found out was that the majority of the male babies looked way more often and longer at the car, whilst the majority of the female babies looked at the sun.
It's quite impressive to see how predestined we are.... some people are just born car mechanics.

...a glutton for punishment, I listened to the whole thing.

An interesting discussion, but one point that they seemed to skim and not fully engage was this idea of belief and knowledge. Zizek is fine with insisting that belief is not an absolute thing, nor does that make religion any less potent. But, I think he cuts modern atheist arguments off at the knees before giving them the same respect as he does Christian apologists.

Maybe its because of the venue, but this discussion is more concerned about why and how things are believed, not what is more likely to be true. One thing they do talk about a little is the way belief (the kind associated with religion) is something we, as humans, are hardwired to engage in. It almost seemed like they dismiss atheist arguments with this reasoning, in that because our minds work like this by default, religions must be in some way "true."

I'll give it an upvote for being interesting even if it made me want to argue, not a bad thing.

I can't concentrate on what he's saying. My brain is hardwired to start laughing as soon as I hear Cleese's voice. Of all of my heroes, Cleese is the only one I wouldn't want to meet, because no matter what he was talking about, I'd be unable to stop cracking up and I'd humiliate myself.

[Edit: But I'm sure it's good, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and upvote.]

Every man with a pulse will be staring at those, it's just hardwired.. I bet non-hetero guys would do it too and feel extremely uncomfortable..

I've heard about that study. I think the key takeaway is:

However as they were all adults it was hard to say whether their brains had been born that way or had developed through experience.

Interesting article. Political views might be hardwired into the brain. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8228192/Political-views-hard-wired-into-your-brain.html

>> ^petpeeved:

Neat enough.
I'm probably a freak but in my ripe old age of 38, I feel like my brain hasn't really evolved much beyond what Windows XP offers. I'm sure children weened on game controllers with dual joysticks and a trillion buttons will have brains hardwired to enjoy these operating systems that seem to encourage not actually concentrating on one thing at a time but just watching all the task switching in this video made me physically nauseated.
Could have been the veggie dogs I just ate though.
I guess the "bigger" point I'm trying to make is that it seems like perhaps we've reached the point where the user interface is beginning to mold the way our brains work rather than our brains molding the UI.


Society is being dumbed down. Meaning, newer OS are easier to use than older ones. New features? A quick 5 minute tour once you get your new software installed. It's really not a big commitment, but it's well worth it IMO

Neat enough.

I'm probably a freak but in my ripe old age of 38, I feel like my brain hasn't really evolved much beyond what Windows XP offers. I'm sure children weened on game controllers with dual joysticks and a trillion buttons will have brains hardwired to enjoy these operating systems that seem to encourage not actually concentrating on one thing at a time but just watching all the task switching in this video made me physically nauseated.

Could have been the veggie dogs I just ate though.

I guess the "bigger" point I'm trying to make is that it seems like perhaps we've reached the point where the user interface is beginning to mold the way our brains work rather than our brains molding the UI.

Wow, Ray has some mental issues he needs to see too or get help for his low I.Q. (or atleast a problematic reasoning center). He literally, BARELY, grasps English definitions. He also doesn't seem to realize that this is an issue even though it's gently pointed to constantly in this.

I heard a lot of reasons to believe or look into what science has provided from this, but Ray couldn't demonstrate even ONE point to believe or go on faith.

How can you not realize that these guys are giving you a MULTITUDE of information and you plug your ears, hum a tune, then repeat what you just said. From my own belief in God, to me this is a conversation where you could literally interpret it as a Christian of God YELLING the truth at you; and yet he can't figure out the differences in species and clings onto the only thing in his life that gives him power/authority.

Like they say, power corrupts absolutely. I don't think even God in human form could change his mind if he's wrong and he basically admitted as much.

Very sad. Very humbling, to realize I understand something that seems he and many others are incapable of. You could almost call it revelation. BUT, I know A LOT about the human mind and I know that this precept can merely be a miscommunication or hardwiring problem within my neo-cortex...

But you did start this off by saying you weren't into "hardwired buttons" because Windows isn't as solid as the OS on an ipod Touch.
I just don't think that makes any sense - what's the point of comparing them when they are so different?

The fact that phones use haptics suggests to me that the feedback from physical buttons is something that we all need and miss with touch devices. Personally I would like a real keyboard on my phone but getting that bigger screen seems like a fair trade-off. Maybe a slide-out keyboard is a future option for me.

>> ^jmd:

I wasn't refering to keyboards, neither the droids nore the iphones have a hardware keyboard. The majority of their interface use is not by typing either. I was concentrating more on the visual user interface..the windows themselves. The majority of Windows naggles are related to the operating systems upkeep of its internals and overhead, and how it handles application launches and such. The OS simply priorities the UI with the rest of the program, and that falls apart when under windows rules "It is acceptable to use most or even all cpu cycles for another program or windows upkeep process". Comparatively, the iphones/itouches put a bigger emphasis on making sure applications startup, run, and exit smoothly, and that video (interface visuals) does not lag or stutter while you are trying to use the touch screen to touch and move things.
Exiting 3d games has always been one of the most uggliest things in windows as a residual black window is left on the desktop for a second or more and the OS thrashes as swap memory of the windows that just became viewable is loaded into the freed memory. On the iphone on the other hand, while playing a 3d game, if I hit the home button the screen scales out and fades smoothly, and the audio slowly fades out. No pauses..no black screens..no sudden sound cut outs. It is extremely graceful. But that is enough of me rambling.