The Scientific Fundamentalist

A Look at the Hard Truths About Human Nature

Satoshi Kanazawa is an evolutionary psychologist at LSE and the coauthor (with the late Alan S. Miller) of Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters. See full bio

January 11, 2009, Evolutionary Psychology

Comments on "Avoid boring people"

Avoid boring people

By Satoshi Kanazawa on January 11, 2009 in The Scientific Fundamentalist

Someone once asked me, right before we parted the very last time I ever saw her, who my hero was. I had to think long and hard before answering. I didn’t want to give obvious answers like “Darwin” or “Newton” or “Batman.” I had in the past expressed my admiration for Leda Cosmides, Simon Baron-Cohen, and Robert L. Trivers, for their scientific work, but I wasn’t sure if they were well known enough in public to count as my “heroes.” I racked my brain, as we walked across a foot bridge over the Thames. The answer I finally came up with when we reached the end of the bridge was “Jim Watson.” Read More

Bravo

Submitted by Curious on January 11, 2009 - 11:35am.

An excellent post in the wake of the uproar generated by your previous one.

Great post!!!

Submitted by YG on January 11, 2009 - 5:02pm.

Well, Satoshi, you are certainly not boring!!
: )
YG

finishing books

Submitted by Matthew Hutson on January 12, 2009 - 10:20am.

Or at least read How To Talk About Books You Haven't Read.
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainstorm/200804/is-psychology-to...

And here I had heard he was kind of a bigot

Submitted by Raoul Duke on January 12, 2009 - 4:49pm.

I'm not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV, but I've had academic jobs and a fair number of my friends are in academia. From them I've gathered that while Watson has some interesting things to say, he's also kind of a big freaking bigot. Which is a bit of a let down. Oh well -- doesn't mean the book isn't a good read, or anything, and I don't mean to be a jerk like "oh here I am Mr. Nihilist to say your Hero sucks." Or, well, maybe I do.

Question

Submitted by John Maxwell on January 15, 2009 - 8:16pm.

What did Watson do besides discovering the double helix?

He couldn't even have done

Submitted by Anonymous on January 25, 2009 - 9:40pm.

He couldn't even have done that without two years of spying on, stealing data from, and seeking advice from a superior scientist - the very female Rosalind Franklin. Jim Watson is, and always was, a pathetic loser. Some hero.

Jim Watson

Submitted by Shekhar on January 18, 2009 - 10:08pm.

You did not have to read the whole book to know both the meanings. Title is "Avoid Boring Other(Other being faintly visible on closer look) People" both on the front as well on the spine of the book.

Huh?!

Submitted by Martian Bachelor on January 24, 2009 - 12:24pm.

"...that scientists are driven to do creative scientific work in order to impress girls"

Uhm, it's pretty obvious from early on in about high school that there are no girls in the science club (or math club, or chess club...), hence there are no girls around to be impressed by "creative scientific work".

So how's this supposed to work, exactly?

Aren't all the hottest babes cheerleaders being impressed by the antics of the jocks? I've also failed to notice hoards of groupies at the Nobel Prize ceremonies - at least compared to, say, NFL or NBA games, or the Academy Awards.

The physics majors at my local university have a saying: Physics is an "Oh" major, because when you meet a girl and tell her you are one, they always say "Oh...".

So, again, how's this supposed to work?

Put me down as being rather incredulous about the veracity of the quoted statement. If anything, girls' lack of interest in things scientific would be a distinct disincentive to any male thinking about going into a scientific field.