The Scientific Fundamentalist

The legal scholar Kingsley R. Browne explains the quid pro quo type of sexual harassment in terms of men’s evolved psychological mechanisms which incline them to pursue short-term sexual relationships by any means available to them, exacerbated by women’s tendency to understate their sexual interest in a particular man and say “no” when they mean “yes” or “maybe.”  How, then, can evolutionary psychology explain the hostile environment type of sexual harassment? Read More

On 13 December 1994, in the aftermath of the publication of The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray, a group of 52 scientists, led by the courageous intelligence researcher (and the greatest nemesis of political correctness) Linda S. Gottfredson, published a joint statement entitled “Mainstream Science on Intelligence” in the Wall Street Journal.  Read More

Sociologists and social psychologists have long known that there is a widespread perception shared by many people that physically attractive people are more intelligent and competent, as well as hold many other desirable characteristics.  A large number of experiments over the years have shown that, when asked to rate the intelligence or competence of unknown others, people tend to rate attractive others as more intelligent and competent than unattractive others.  This sentiment is captured in an old aphorism “What is beautiful is good.”  But why is this?  Why do people believe that physically attractive people are more intelligent and competent? Read More

Another common misconception about science concerns human cloning.  Human cloning is not what you think, and, just like the production of “designer babies,” human cloning has been practiced for hundreds of thousands of years.  I personally blame Michael Keaton for the public misperception of what human cloning is and the public fear and hysteria about it.  In his 1996 movie Multiplicity with Andie MacDowell, Keaton’s character manages to clone himself and suddenly there are four identical versions of himself (the original and three clones).  Hilarity obviously ensues! Read More