Silly Hair

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
In general, women are smarter than men.
There are times, both now and ago,
When it’s just not quite so,
And it’s our hair that’s the problem.

I heard it said long ago, by my very smart wife no less, that a hair that is cut or plucked from the body comes back thicker and blacker.

The situation happened to be one in which arguing or even a discussion was extremely contrary to the moment.  So nothing was said.

Over the years I’ve heard this comment from quite a few more ladies, usually younger ladies.  And I’ve continued to think to myself that this was quite silly.

After all, how does the body know a single hair has been cut?  If it’s plucked, the body might know, but so what?  Why should it bother making it thicker or darker?

What about hair that falls out all the time?  I know a lot about this because I’m about 50% hair.  Thanks Dad.

Perhaps it’s simply us getting older?  Maybe the follicles would be doing that no matter what.  Simply because there is a relationship between cutting a hair and it getting blacker or thicker doesn’t mean that’s the reason for it.  That’s called correlation versus causation.

Here’s a good article that argues against what people think.

Then why do smart women continue to think such things?

What other silly things to smart people consider to be true?

Why can’t we tell the difference in this supposedly super sciency age of ours?

I have some ideas, but it’s more fun to let the questions run free and see what you think.

Now, go get a haircut.

 

Don’t Hold Your Breathe for AI

Are you a believer that someday soon artificial intelligence will be driving your kids to school, flying your family on vacation, and operating on your cancer?

As one who has seen the anticipation of AI rise and fall over several decades, I would like to warn you.  Artificial Intelligence has great limitations.  The greatest one of which is that we don’t know what it means.

Here’s the first piece of evidence for you.  A journalist has compiled a list of AI terms for the first AI glossary.  I don’t see the terms for Intelligence, nor AI.  It’s important to define EVERYTHING when you’re being a serious scientist.  Never assume anything.

Here’s the next piece of evidence.  Today’s most powerful AI vision systems can’t tell the difference between a stop sign and a speed limit sign.  Or a turtle versus a rifle.  How’s that for security?

Perhaps you say that this is only for vision systems, and doesn’t apply to other types of AI attempts.  Perhaps.  Then again, consider this article about how the Watson system of IBM has done as a doctor’s assistant.

Not well.  It’s been fired from several hospitals that were giving it a try.

Perhaps you know of a success story, or someplace that has a great AI dictionary and making great strides.  I’d love to hear from you.

My emotional and scientifically conservative side says “be skeptical” and “don’t hold your breath.”  We’ve been through this once, twice, maybe three times in the past 40 years.

Maybe that’s my “natural intelligence” talking.

 

Sex and Romance Education

Last post suggested a crazy idea.

Put women in charge of all sex and health education.

The biggest advantage to this would be that male teachers would no longer be able to pass on their own misconceptions about what women really want.

This also presents us with another great opportunity.

A lot of women appreciate romance.  They appreciate respect.  They deserve tenderness, physically, emotionally.

Those things aren’t being taught in class.

Why not?

It’s the perfect time.  Want to spend time with a new friend of the OPPOSITE sex?  Class giggles.

Here’s how you do it.  Be polite.  Act with courtesy both ways.  Don’t touch unless you’re invited.  No means no, always.  Even when you’re married for 40 years.

No money?  This is what you do.  Lots of money?  Then do these other things.

Is the class advanced enough?  Then go ahead and teach them “advanced” techniques.  After all, that’s what school is for.  And if they don’t learn it in a safe classroom where they can get it right, what’s left?

There’s always that street corner, or that back seat late at night.  And the internet, all by themselves.

 

Sex and Health Education

Inventing can be a messy process.  Once crazy idea can lead to another, and that eventually leads to something that makes sense.  Here’s a recent example.

For instance, there was a story about a young woman who jettisoned her fiance.  Why?

She secretly inspected his phone and found lots of pornography.

I’m going to skip a lot of the more obvious questions this raises, but go to a deeper issue.  Pornography does hurt so many people indirectly.  However, it hurts many women very directly, consuming young women and changing them for their lifetimes.  What can we do?

Perhaps society can legalize and regulate pornography?  Why not?  Many countries have successfully done the same thing with dangerous substances, like cigarettes.

Once it’s been legalized, is there anything else we can do?

Yes.  We can restrict all ownership, all management, and all employment opportunities to nothing but WOMEN.

Imagine that.  An entire industry that is nothing but women.  Well, there would be some men.  But those would only be part-time positions paid on an hourly basis.

That was the first crazy idea.  And that led me to think about how sex and health education are taught in our country.  Poorly, overall.

What if it was also taught entirely by women?

The material itself might not change, but the misleading stereotypes about women would probably stop.  After all, it’s men talking to boys that keeps a lot of those stereotypes going.

Would classes be segregated?  Probably yes, it’s still for the best.  Young people don’t know how to handle the other gender so well at that age.

As I said at the start, one crazy idea often leads to another, and another, and sometimes, perhaps a good idea.

What do you think?

 

 

Democracy versus Trump

Politics is usually highlighted by conflicts between selfish egos, and not necessarily relevant to the study of behavior as a whole. However, the Drumpf presidency is of an unusual magnitude, and bears a quick comment.

Background. President 45 declared he would shut down the government if the Democrats in the house didn’t give him a wall. Why he didn’t ask the majority Republicans in his first two years wasn’t addressed.

The Democrats said no. The Democrats passed two bills funding government, but the Republican Senate and the White House both refused to entertain them.

The Speaker of the House, Pelosi, suggested that Trump should write his annual State of the Union speech instead of addressing the nation. In retaliation, he refused to let her fly military aircraft on what was supposed to be a secret fact-finding mission to war zones.

My observations: Evidence has mounted, and tensions are building. It’s not inconceivable that the USA could see massive strikes and even demonstrations in the near future. However, what’s more important is what the Democrats have NOT done.

Impeachment proceedings seem inevitable. Why are they taking so long? Because of Nixon.

When Tricky Dick was near the end of the impeachment process, he saw the writing on the wall and resigned. Then his hand-picked successor, Ford, pardoned him. Such an escape for a nearly convicted felon has never been so painful to watch as it was then.

Conclusion: The Democrats remember Watergate. If Trump were impeached today, there’s a good chance his successor would pardon him. Therefore, were I the Democratic party, I would consider making the impeachment process a very long and painful part of history. Then, only when a new president (possibly unfavorable to Trump) is ready to be installed, only then would the hammer fall.

You heard it hear first, folks. Pass it on.